AEON+: Enabling time-domain and multi-messenger follow-up at all wavelengths

The U.S. has been at the forefront of new technologies that have given us new ways to study objects in space that change with time. Software can alert us to new discoveries, but the discovery data alone aren't enough for us to fully understand what's going on. Additional observations are required, often from several different telescopes.

These follow-up observations are often needed at short notice, to help us to understand objects that are changing quickly. This project will enable astronomers to contact telescopes and ask for the observations they need using software. This will make it possible to coordinate follow-up observations across optical, infrared and radio telescopes.

Astronomers will also be able to observe X-ray and UV signals using the Swift Space Telescope. The project will also foster collaborations between observatories and astronomers. The investigators will organize a program of workshops and collaborative visits.

By sharing experience and tools, they will reduce duplication of effort, and make tools developed by different teams work together.

To characterize discoveries from gravitational wave, neutrino and electromagnetic Time Domain and Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (TD/MMA) surveys, it is essential to coordinate timely follow-up observations across the electromagnetic spectrum from many different ground-and space-based telescopes. The Astronomical Event Observatories Network (AEON) has demonstrated how quite different telescope facilities can collaborate to enable observation requests to be submitted through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) with flexible modes of scheduling.

This enables the science community to directly request observations through software, streamlining observing programs, which can then be automated. This has proven to enable highly efficient and flexible observations that are critical to performing timely follow-up of TD/MMA targets. Historically, most observatories have developed their operating software independently, leading to a range of platforms customized for each facility.

Instead, this project will create a open-source software library that can submit observations to a wide range of AEON-compatible facilities. As a stand-alone library, this code can then be used within any community-developed platform or software. In addition to facilities that are already in AEON (Las Cumbres, SOAR, Gemini), this project, led by the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, will extend the new library to enable observations at the Keck Observatories, the Skynet telescope network and facilities operated by the National Radio Astronomical Observatory.

The project will host regular Observatories Forum workshops, bringing together observatory staff and science community developers to share experience and tools, and fostering interoperability between platforms. It will also enable staff from different observatories to collaborate directly by creating a Visiting Developers program.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.