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Frequently Asked Questions

Submit Bugs/Feature Requests to:
transienteventhelp@lsst.org

Q: Why do I get so many notifications?

A: If you have Unknown selected and you move the magnitude slider to 23 you will get alerts for every object discovered and for some objects you will get two alerts (see below).

Q: I understand why I get alerts in the middle of the night, but why do I get them during the daytime also?

A: When events are first entered into the system they are all unknown. If you have Unknown events checked you will get alerts when the event is first discovered. The events are then reviewed and classified by a person; usually this is done the following day. If an event is reclassified and you have that classification type checked then you will receive a second notification when the event is reclassified. For example, if you have Unknown and Supernova checked you will receive notifications for all events as they are first discovered. If the next day one of the events classified as a Supernova you will receive a second notification for that event telling you that a Supernova was discovered.

Q: I do not seem to receive as many notifications as there are new events. Why?

A: Sometimes multiple events are discovered in the same image frame. The server will send out notifications for all these events almost simultaneously. If these events arrive at your iPhone/iPod in rapid succession they overwrite each other and the only one you will see on your device is the last one received.

Q: Sometimes when I receive a notification and I open the app I see the blinking Alert sign showing me which event generated the alert and sometimes I don't.

A: When a notification arrives you have two choices how the handle the event. If you respond immediately by either turning on your device before it goes back to sleep or pressing the View button (which shows up if the device is running) then Transients will open and highlight the new event. If you ignore the alert or press Close then the iPhone OS assumes you want to ignore the event and it throws away the information.

Q: Is there a way to shut off the alert sound without turning off my ringer?

A: Open the Settings app and touch Notifications. Scroll down until you see "Transients". Touch the Transient row and you will be presented with a screen which allows you to turn off sounds, alerts and badge numbers.

Q: Do I need to use the Settings app to turn off alerts? I thought there was a way to do that in the app itself.

A: You can turn off alerts in either the Settings app or in Transients. If you turn off the alerts in Transients they will still appear to be on in Settings but our server will know not to send you any alerts.

Q: I often bookmark events so that I can use the information to set my telescope out in the field when I am observing. I really want to use the finder chart but it is not available.

A: Unfortunately, you must have internet connectivity in order to use the finder chart. This information cannot be downloaded and stored locally.