Alert packets#

Avro files of measurements for 5-sigma source detections in difference images.

Citation: NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory (2026); Legacy Survey of Space and Time Prompt Products: alerts https://doi.org/10.71929/rubin/3020139

Access#

Alert packet contents are world public and have no proprietary period (see Section 3 of the Rubin Data Policy).

Schema: Alert Production Database (APDB)

Brokers#

Realtime access to alerts is available through community alert brokers. Alerts are delivered to brokers and accessed via individual brokers’ interfaces. See Data access.

Alert archive#

Important

The Alert Archive interface is not yet available.

As-transmitted alerts are stored in an archive accessible to Data Rights holders via the Rubin Science Platform.

Description#

Each alert packet contains information triggered by a single DIA source (coming soon): a positive or negative detection of at least 5 sigma in a difference image.

Contents#

Each alert packet contains:

a unique identifier (the diaSourceId of the triggering DiaSource)
scheduler metadata for the visit that produced the triggering DiaSource
the DIA source (coming soon) record that triggered the alert
the associated DIA object (coming soon) or SS object (coming soon) record
if associated with an SSObject, the corresponding mpc_orbits record
associated DIA source (coming soon) and DIA forced source (coming soon) records from the past 12 months
FITS-formatted cutout postage stamps from the Visit image (coming soon), Difference image (coming soon), Template coadd (coming soon)

Important

Estimates of upper limits for prior nondetections will be provided in the future for DiaObjects that do not yet have forced photometry measurements.

Schema#

A detailed description of the records contained within the alert packet is available at sdm-schemas.lsst.io.

Important

Some fields in the records are not yet populated.

Alert packets are serialized in the binary Apache Avro format. The Avro schema is alert packet schema.

Processing#

Alert packets are the result of Alert generation.