The Next-Generation Transient Follow-up Ecosystem

Multimessenger astronomy, particularly the follow-up of gravitational wave sources, has highlighted the need for fast, efficient communication and collaboration between research groups spread all over the globe. Our current infrastructure, largely relying on non-machine-readable text-based messages, is not up to the task. Here we explore the next-generation transient follow-up ecosystem, consisting of new tools for sending, parsing, and organizing messages, for data visualization, and for rapid data acquisition, sharing, and collaboration. Hopskotch is a Kafka-based messaging system that provides low-latency machine-readable messaging capable of carrying any alert, from the announcement of gravitational wave events to reduced data products. The Treasure Map is a tool for reporting, storing, and visualizing regions of the sky searched for gravitational wave counterparts to facilitate deeper coordination and mitigate redundancy of effort. Finally, Telescope Observation Managers (TOMs) allow users to dispatch observation requests to observatories with a few clicks, then automatically reduce, organize and visualize the data.