TimeTubes: Automatic Extraction of Observable Blazar Features from Long-Term, Multi-Dimensional Datasets

Abstract

Blazars are attractive objects for astronomers to observe in order to demystify the relativistic jet. Astronomers need to classify characteristic temporal variation patterns and correlations of multidimensional time-dependent observed blazar datasets. Our visualization scheme, called TimeTubes, allows them to easily explore and analyze such datasets geometrically as a 3D volumetric tube. Even with TimeTubes, however, data analysis over such long-term datasets costs them so much labor and may cause a biased analysis. This paper, therefore, attempts to incorporate into the current prototype of TimeTubes, a new functionality: feature extraction, which supports astronomers’ efficient data analysis by automatically extracting characteristic spatiotemporal subspaces.