TOM Toolkit

Introduction

Target and Observation Manager systems (TOMs, aka marshals) are designed to help researchers to manage all aspects of astronomical programs. With data rates and volumes increasing, keeping track of all targets, data products and observations can be a challenge. A TOM system provides a flexible database of all project information, with a built-in observation and data analysis control system, together with communication and data visualization tools. Hundreds of users can then use them to collaborate scientifically, share results and to coordinate the acquisition of new data.

The TOM (Target and Observation Manager) Toolkit is designed to make it easy for astronomers to build and customize a TOM system for their science goals. The package includes a full-featured TOM system out of the box, and this documentation describes how you can extend this system for your own needs.

More information about TOM systems and the TOM Toolkit project can be found in here.

Installation & Configuration

Full instructions for installing the package and creating your own TOM system can be found in getting started.

A range of common configuration options are covered in custom settings, including options to control user permissions.

TOM Demo Example System

It’s always helpful to have template projects as a reference, so we run a TOM demo system where you can explore the TOM’s features. If you want to see how this was done, you can explore the code on Github.

Customizing your system

The TOM is designed to be flexible, and there are a number of ways to customize it, from the look and feel of its user interface, to adding science-specific parameters to each target to adding custom functions and applications. All of these options are described here.

Plugins

In addition to the features of the base TOM, we also support a range of optional plugin modules. These extend the functions of the TOM in various ways that are useful for many users. Examples include data visualization tools for specific science goals, and interfaces for observations with additional telescope facilities. Click here to browse the list of options.

Support

Looking for help? Want to request a feature? Have questions about Github Issues? Take a look at the support guide.

If you just need an idea, checkout out the examples of existing TOMs built with the TOM Toolkit.

Contributing

The TOM Toolkit is a community-driven project and we welcome feedback and contributions from our users! If you find an issue, you need help with your TOM, you have a useful idea, or you wrote a module you’d like to be included in the TOM Toolkit, start with our contribution guide.

Acknowledging the TOM Toolkit

We hope you find our software useful for your research. If so, we would be grateful if you can include a brief acknowledgement in your papers and presentations, for example “This research made use of The TOM Toolkit”. We would also very much appreciate you including a citation to our paper describing the Toolkit Street, R.A. et al., 2018, SPIE, 10707, 11 (to export the BibTeX please click here).

Acknowledgements

The TOM Toolkit is managed by Las Cumbres Observatory, with generous financial support from the National Science Foundation grant 2209852. We are also grateful for support from the Heising-Simons Foundation and the Zegar Family Foundation at the start of the project.

Read about the project and the motivations behind it on the About page.