Toyz: A Framework for Scientific Analysis of Large Datasets and Astronomical Images

TL;DR

Toyz is an open source Python framework enabling remote visualization and analysis of large astronomical images and datasets through a web browser, facilitating accessibility for students and researchers.

Contribution

Introduces Toyz, a flexible, extendable web-based tool for visualizing and analyzing large astronomical images without local software installation.

Findings

Supports viewing images larger than 2 GB from DECam

Enables remote data interaction via web browser

Allows creation of custom visualization extensions

Abstract

As the size of images and data products derived from astronomical data continues to increase, new tools are needed to visualize and interact with that data in a meaningful way. Motivated by our own astronomical images taken with the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) we present Toyz, an open source Python package for viewing and analyzing images and data stored on a remote server or cluster. Users connect to the Toyz web application via a web browser, making it an convenient tool for students to visualize and interact with astronomical data without having to install any software on their local machines. In addition it provides researchers with an easy-to-use tool that allows them to browse the files on a server and quickly view very large images ($>$ 2 Gb) taken with DECam and other cameras with a large FOV and create their own visualization tools that can be added on as extensions to the default Toyz framework.