A Hitchhiker's Guide to Anomaly Detection with Astronomaly

TL;DR

Astronomaly is a modular, user-friendly framework that combines machine learning and human expertise for active anomaly detection in large astronomical datasets from next-generation telescopes.

Contribution

It introduces a flexible, extendable framework integrating active learning with anomaly detection tailored for astronomical data analysis.

Findings

Enables personalized anomaly detection recommendations.

Combines machine learning with human input effectively.

Designed for scalability to large astronomical datasets.

Abstract

The next generation of telescopes such as the SKA and the Rubin Observatory will produce enormous data sets, requiring automated anomaly detection to enable scientific discovery. Here, we present an overview and friendly user guide to the Astronomaly framework for active anomaly detection in astronomical data. Astronomaly uses active learning to combine the raw processing power of machine learning with the intuition and experience of a human user, enabling personalised recommendations of interesting anomalies. It makes use of a Python backend to perform data processing, feature extraction and machine learning to detect anomalous objects; and a JavaScript frontend to allow interaction with the data, labelling of interesting anomalous and active learning. Astronomaly is designed to be modular, extendable and run on almost any type of astronomical data. In this paper, we detail the structure of the Astronomaly code and provide guidelines for basic usage.