# Accessing the Ledger Meta: Contract Events ## Ledger Meta Approximately every 5 seconds the ledger is updated and a new *ledger meta* is provided: the meta is a record of everything that happened in those 5 seconds: transactions, entry changes, contract events, etc. As opposed to the ledger which tracks a continuous state, the meta is the transition between ledgers. In our case, the meta is used specifically for accessing contract events. ## Accessing Contract Events Being pugged to Stellar Core, Zephyr has real-time speed access to the newly emitted metas meaning that for every ledger close, your program will have live access to the updated entries and especially contract events. Those will be easily accessed by users thanks to ZephyrVM host functions. That's for what concerns live data. It is also possible to access past events by running a [*data catchup*](#catchups). --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.mercurydata.app/zephyr-full-customization/general-concepts/accessing-the-ledger-meta-contract-events.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.