  Transient events have posed special problems in astronomy because of the
intrinsic difficulty of their detection, and a new class of observatories such
as the Pan-STARRS and LSST are coming up specifically to observe these
energetic events. In this paper we discuss the UV transient events from two
specific sources, such as possible collisions in extrasolar planetary systems
and M dwarf flares, to find the probability of their detection by space UV
observatories, in particular, by the Tel Aviv University Explorer (TAUVEX).
TAUVEX is an UV imaging experiment that will image large parts of the sky in
the wavelength region between 120 and 350 nm. TAUVEX is a collaborative effort
between the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) and Tel Aviv University, and
is scheduled for an early-2009 launch with at least three years of operations.
The scientific instrument has been fabricated at El-Op in Israel, with the
satellite interfaces, launch and flight operations provided by the Indian Space
Research Organization (ISRO). The ground-based software development is the
responsibility of the IIA while other aspects of the mission are the joint
responsibility of IIA and Tel Aviv University. TAUVEX Science Team (TST) have
created a coherent observing program to address several Key Areas science
objectives, one of them is a program to study short-scale UV transient events.
We have estimated that in one year of TAUVEX observations we can expect about
90-350 short-scale transient events. Because we obtain real-time telemetry with
TAUVEX, we will be able to catch transients early in their evolution and to
alert other observatories. We also present a description of TAUVEX mission,
including instrument design and its estimated performance.
