The survey was performed with a 12K × 8K, 7.8 square degree CCD array camera[4] re-engineered for the 1.2-meter Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory.
[2] PTF was a collaboration of Caltech, LBNL, Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, Berkeley, LCOGT, Oxford, Columbia and the Weizmann Institute.
Studies included compact binaries (AM CVn stars), RR Lyrae, cataclysmic variables, and active galactic nuclei (AGN), and lightcurves of small Solar System bodies.
PTF covered a wide range of science aspects,[5] including supernovae, novae, cataclysmic variables, Luminous red novae, tidal disruption flares, compact binaries (AM CVn star), active galactic nuclei, transiting Extrasolar planets, RR Lyrae variable stars, microlensing events, and small Solar System bodies of the Solar System.
PTF filled the gaps in the knowledge of the optical transient phase space, extended the understanding of known source classes, and provided the first detections or constraints on predicted, but not yet discovered, event populations.
The output of this pipeline was sent to UC Berkeley where a source classifier determined a set of probabilistic statements about the scientific classification of the transients based on all available time-series and context data.