Publication outlines steps for building astronomy databases

Data access, or the availability of new and archival data for use by other scientists and the public, is key to scientific advancement. How data is presented, searched, and formatted determines accessibility, and it can be difficult to find a solution that fits everyone’s needs.

Researchers from LIGO Livingston, Louisiana State University, and Texas State University have recently prepared a publication that presents a generalized roadmap for developing a specialty astronomy database. The approach is illustrated through the development of the Spectra of Exoplanet-forming Disks (SpExoDisks) database, which provides infrared spectra and data of protoplanetary disks.

The work is published in the journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.

The new SpExoDisks database helps people explore trends in exoplanet-forming disks. The publication also provides a clear, motivated, generalized discussion of the many cross-disciplinary decisions needed for anyone creating databases. These decisions make it possible to provide on-demand data, set up the database to be maintainable and ready for growth, and allow broader community exploration of interactive data visualizations.

Expertise in an astronomy subdiscipline can provide two necessary components for creating a database: access to a large volume of specialized data and knowledge of how that data should be presented to the community. However, decisions regarding database development must consider both its utility and maintenance, a landscape that requires more than one person or discipline to address all concerns.

In the publication, Dr. Caleb Wheeler from LIGO Livingston, Dr. Natalie Hinkel of LSU Physics & Astronomy, and Dr. Andrea Banzatti from Texas State University introduce the database portal design, data organization, and demonstrate on-demand data distribution and access using publicly accessible database software.

“While it took many months to learn how to communicate effectively, we built a cross-disciplinary team of astronomers and computer scientists where everyone brought something that the rest of the group needed to be successful. We not only got an excellent product as a result, but we also trained many students, giving them something they could be proud of as they graduated and applied for jobs. I have a lot of pride when I look at the website and see all the innovations created by students that exceeded my imagination,” said Wheeler.

The intention of SpExoDisks is to support new observations of the formation of exoplanets in the era of NASA missions, like the James Webb Space Telescope or Habitable Worlds Observatory, as well as the next generation of ground-based instruments, such as the Extremely Large Telescope or the Thirty Meter Telescope. In modern astronomy, it is increasingly necessary to combine large datasets from multiple observatories to achieve better scientific results.

“We really try to show people the significant use that a specialty website—one that is organized and run by experts—can offer the community. In a lot of ways, creating smaller astronomy databases is like building higher and higher stories in a castle to connect to and eventually reach the castle towers, like the NASA observatories, which can see the furthest,” said Hinkel, who is the architect of the sibling-database the Hypatia Catalog, which provides stellar elemental abundances.

The goals are both education and data access, to pass existing expertise on to the next generation of astronomers, scientists, data enthusiasts, and early career researchers. It’s also to give the community access to high-quality, high-resolution IR spectra across different spectrographs for a large sample of protoplanetary disks.

“SpExoDisks is an ambitious vision that has become true thanks to the uncommon talents of multiple individuals, including many young students. It’s been like a challenging mountain hike, where at every higher peak conquered, a new and broader vision has been revealed. And this vision is now shared with the world community: the beauty and scientific value of combining large datasets to understand the origins of planetary chemistry in the universe,” said Banzatti.