{"dataset":{"slug":"alert-infrastructure","title":"Transient Alert Infrastructure","description":"The alert systems and observation-workflow stages that turn a transient discovery into science — GCN, VOEvent, TNS, ATel, and the Rubin stream.","version":"1.0.0","lastGenerated":"2026-06-29","license":"CC BY-SA 4.0","entityCount":16,"sources":["nasa"]},"entities":[{"id":"alert_system:alerce","name":"ALeRCE","type":"alert_system","domain":"science","description":"A community alert broker, led from Chile, that ingests a survey's alert stream and classifies its transients and variable objects in real time with machine learning — first for the Zwicky Transient Facility and, in the era ahead, for Rubin.","entryPath":"/astro-ml/alerce"},{"id":"alert_system:antares-broker","name":"ANTARES","type":"alert_system","domain":"science","description":"NOIRLab's alert broker for time-domain astronomy, which filters and annotates survey alert streams to surface the events most worth following up. One of the community brokers selected to process the full Rubin alert stream.","entryPath":"/astro-ml/antares-broker"},{"id":"observation_stage:classification","name":"Classification","type":"observation_stage","domain":"science","description":"A spectrum reveals what the transient is — the type of supernova, the redshift of a burst, the nature of the source — placing it in its class and distance.","entryPath":"/time-domain/classification"},{"id":"observation_stage:confirmation","name":"Confirmation","type":"observation_stage","domain":"science","description":"The candidate is verified as a real astrophysical transient — not an instrument artefact, asteroid, or known variable — and registered with an official discovery name.","entryPath":"/time-domain/confirmation"},{"id":"observation_stage:discovery","name":"Discovery","type":"observation_stage","domain":"science","description":"A wide-field survey images the sky repeatedly and flags anything that has changed — a new point of light, or one that has brightened or moved. The candidate is issued as an alert within seconds.","entryPath":"/time-domain/discovery"},{"id":"alert_system:fink","name":"Fink","type":"alert_system","domain":"science","description":"A community alert broker built to process the alert streams of ZTF and Rubin, adding machine-learning classifications and value-added information so that astronomers can select the transients and variables they care about from millions of nightly alerts.","entryPath":"/astro-ml/fink"},{"id":"observation_stage:follow-up","name":"Follow-Up","type":"observation_stage","domain":"science","description":"Other telescopes turn to the candidate to gather more data — deeper images, colours, and the first spectra — often within minutes to hours, before a fast-fading event disappears.","entryPath":"/time-domain/follow-up"},{"id":"alert_system:gcn","name":"General Coordinates Network","type":"alert_system","domain":"science","description":"NASA's network for the rapid distribution of alerts about transient events — gamma-ray bursts, gravitational-wave triggers, and neutrino detections — so that telescopes around the world can slew to a fresh event within seconds.","entryPath":"/time-domain/gcn"},{"id":"alert_system:lasair","name":"Lasair","type":"alert_system","domain":"science","description":"A UK-led community alert broker for the ZTF and Rubin alert streams, letting astronomers query, filter, and cross-match the live stream of changing objects on the sky.","entryPath":"/astro-ml/lasair"},{"id":"alert_system:lvk-alert-network","name":"LVK Public Alerts","type":"alert_system","domain":"science","description":"The public alert system of the LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA collaboration, which issues automated notices — within seconds to minutes — whenever the detectors flag a candidate gravitational-wave event, so that telescopes around the world can begin the hunt for a counterpart. The alerts are distributed through GCN.","entryPath":"/multi-messenger/lvk-alert-network"},{"id":"observation_stage:publication","name":"Publication","type":"observation_stage","domain":"science","description":"The result is shared with the community and the scientific record — as a rapid telegram, a circular, and ultimately a peer-reviewed paper — so that the event contributes to the wider science.","entryPath":"/time-domain/publication"},{"id":"alert_system:rubin-alert-stream","name":"Rubin Alert Stream","type":"alert_system","domain":"science","description":"The torrent of alerts the Vera C. Rubin Observatory will issue — millions per night — as it scans the whole southern sky every few nights, feeding community brokers that filter the deluge into the events worth chasing.","entryPath":"/time-domain/rubin-alert-stream"},{"id":"alert_system:scimma","name":"SCiMMA","type":"alert_system","domain":"science","description":"An open cyberinfrastructure project building the tools and networks — including the Hopskotch streaming system — to carry the flood of multi-messenger alerts between gravitational-wave, neutrino, and electromagnetic observatories quickly and reliably.","entryPath":"/multi-messenger/scimma"},{"id":"alert_system:astronomers-telegram","name":"The Astronomer's Telegram","type":"alert_system","domain":"science","description":"A short-notice publication service for rapidly announcing and commenting on new astronomical observations, widely used to share follow-up of transients within hours.","entryPath":"/time-domain/astronomers-telegram"},{"id":"alert_system:transient-name-server","name":"Transient Name Server","type":"alert_system","domain":"science","description":"The official IAU registry that assigns the discovery names of supernovae and other transients, and collects the reports and classifications that establish who found what, and when.","entryPath":"/time-domain/transient-name-server"},{"id":"alert_system:voevent","name":"VOEvent","type":"alert_system","domain":"science","description":"The Virtual Observatory's standard machine-readable format for reporting a transient celestial event — what, where, when, and how confident — so that alerts flow automatically between observatories, brokers, and robotic telescopes.","entryPath":"/time-domain/voevent"}]}