# 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.&#x20;

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.&#x20;

## 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.&#x20;

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).&#x20;