Interactive 3D visualization for theoretical virtual observatories

Abstract

Virtual Observatories (VOs) are online hubs of scientific knowledge. They encompass a collection of platforms dedicated to the storage and dissemination of astronomical data, from simple data archives to e-research platforms offering advanced tools for data exploration and analysis. Whilst the more mature platforms within VOs primarily serve the observational community, there are also services fulfilling a similar role for theoretical data. Scientific visualization can be an effective tool for analysis and exploration of datasets made accessible through web platforms for theoretical data, which often contain spatial dimensions and properties inherently suitable for visualization via e.g. mock imaging in 2d or volume rendering in 3d. We analyze the current state of 3d visualization for big theoretical astronomical datasets through scientific web portals and virtual observatory services. We discuss some of the challenges for interactive 3d visualization and how it can augment the workflow of users in a virtual observatory context. Finally we showcase a lightweight client-server visualization tool for particle-based datasets allowing quantitative visualization via data filtering, highlighting two example use cases within the Theoretical Astrophysical Observatory.

The IllustrisTNG simulations: public data release

“…User selection of a particular halo, via on-click ray cast and sphere intersection testing, launches an API query and returns the relevant halo information and further introspection links. At present, both Explorers remain largely proof of concept interfaces for how tighter integration of numeric, tabular, and visual data analysis components may be combined in the future for the effective exploration and analysis of large cosmological datasets (see also Dykes et al, 2018, and the Dark Sky simulation).…”

WALLABY – an SKA Pathfinder H i survey

“…The final quality checks are done by WALLABY experts who will inspect the data products. Dykes et al (2018) demonstrate a practical client-server approach, whereby the remote service performs a distributed rendering task, and the frames are streamed and displayed in a web browser. The specific case demonstrated in the paper was using the SPLOTCH software for remote rendering of particle simulations, but this approach can be extended to other visualisation and analysis processes.…”

Visualization in Astrophysics: Developing New Methods, Discovering Our Universe, and Educating the Earth

“…In the interactive 3D visualization for theoretical VOs, Dykes et al . [DHG∗18] examined the current capabilities of VOs containing theoretical data, and additionally presented a tool based on SPLOTCH, which is designed to aid in addressing some of the shortcomings they identified with current methods. SPLOTCH is a visualization tool designed for high‐performance computing environments that is capable of quickly rendering large particle datasets, which makes it ideal for interactive visualization of 3D particle data.…”