IVOA Recommendation: Sky Event Reporting Metadata Version 2.0

Understand

VOEvent defines the content and meaning of a standard information packet for representing, transmitting, publishing and archiving information about a transient celestial event, with the implication that timely follow-up is of interest.

• The objective is to motivate the observation of targets-of-opportunity, to drive robotic telescopes, to trigger archive searches, and to alert the community.
• VOEvent is focused on the reporting of photon events, but events mediated by disparate phenomena such as neutrinos, gravitational waves, and solar or atmospheric particle bursts may also be reported.
• Structured data is used, rather than natural language, so that automated systems can effectively interpret VOEvent packets.