The Rubin Observatory’s alert system sent 800,000 pings on its first night

That’s coming on a little strong, maybe. | Image: Vera C. Rubin Observatory

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory's automated alert system is online and already bombarding astronomers with things to look at in the night sky. The system went live publicly on Tuesday, February 24th, and on the first night dropped some 800,000 alerts about asteroids, supernovas, and feasting black holes. And that number is only expected to climb to the multiple millions per night.

The observatory released the first...