A Data Science Platform to Enable Time-domain Astronomy

Coughlin, MW, Bloom, JS, Nir, G, Antier, S, Du Laz, TJ, Van Der Walt, S, Crellin-Quick, A, Culino, T, Duev, DA, Goldstein, DA, Healy, BF, Karambelkar, V, Lilleboe, J, Shin, KM, Singer, LP, Ahumada, T, Anand, S, Bellm, EC, Dekany, R, Graham, MJ et al (2023) A Data Science Platform to Enable Time-domain Astronomy. Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series, 267 (2). pp. 1-17. ISSN 0067-0049

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Abstract

SkyPortal is an open-source software package designed to discover interesting transients efficiently, manage follow-up, perform characterization, and visualize the results. By enabling fast access to archival and catalog data, crossmatching heterogeneous data streams, and the triggering and monitoring of on-demand observations for further characterization, a SkyPortal-based platform has been operating at scale for >2 yr for the Zwicky Transient Facility Phase II community, with hundreds of users, containing tens of millions of time-domain sources, interacting with dozens of telescopes, and enabling community reporting. While SkyPortal emphasizes rich user experiences across common front-end workflows, recognizing that scientific inquiry is increasingly performed programmatically, SkyPortal also surfaces an extensive and well-documented application programming interface system. From back-end and front-end software to data science analysis tools and visualization frameworks, the SkyPortal design emphasizes the reuse and leveraging of best-in-class approaches, with a strong extensibility ethos. For instance, SkyPortal now leverages ChatGPT large language models to generate and surface source-level human-readable summaries automatically. With the imminent restart of the next generation of gravitational-wave detectors, SkyPortal now also includes dedicated multimessenger features addressing the requirements of rapid multimessenger follow-up: multitelescope management, team/group organizing interfaces, and crossmatching of multimessenger data streams with time-domain optical surveys, with interfaces sufficiently intuitive for newcomers to the field. This paper focuses on the detailed implementations, capabilities, and early science results that establish SkyPortal as a community software package ready to take on the data science challenges and opportunities presented by this next chapter in the multimessenger era.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	0201 Astronomical and Space Sciences; 0202 Atomic, Molecular, Nuclear, Particle and Plasma Physics; 0306 Physical Chemistry (incl. Structural); Astronomy & Astrophysics
Subjects:	Q Science > QB Astronomy Q Science > QC Physics
Divisions:	Astrophysics Research Institute
Publisher:	American Astronomical Society
Date of acceptance:	14 June 2023
Date of first compliant Open Access:	3 January 2024
Date Deposited:	03 Jan 2024 15:52
Last Modified:	03 Jan 2024 16:00
DOI or ID number:	10.3847/1538-4365/acdee1
URI:	https://ljmu-9.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/22160

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