Analytics, Vol. 2, Pages 284-295: Upgraded Thoth: Software for Data Visualization and Statistics

Analytics, Vol. 2, Pages 284-295: Upgraded Thoth: Software for Data Visualization and Statistics

Analytics doi: 10.3390/analytics2010015

Authors: Russ R. Laher Frank J. Masci Luisa M. Rebull Steven D. Schurr Wendy Burt Anastasia Laity Melanie Swain David L. Shupe Steve Groom Benjamin Rusholme Mih-Seh Kong John C. Good Varoujan Gorjian Rachel Akeson Benjamin J. Fulton David R. Ciardi Sean Carey

Thoth is a free desktop/laptop software application with a friendly graphical user interface that facilitates routine data-visualization and statistical-calculation tasks for astronomy and astrophysical research (and other fields where numbers are visualized). This software has been upgraded with many significant improvements and new capabilities. The major upgrades consist of: (1) six new graph types, including 3D stacked-bar charts and 3D surface plots, made by the Orson 3D Charts library; (2) new saving and loading of graph settings; (3) a new batch-mode or command-line operation; (4) new graph-data annotation functions; (5) new options for data-file importation; and (6) a new built-in FITS-image viewer. There is now the requirement that Thoth be run under Java 1.8 or higher. Many other miscellaneous minor upgrades and bug fixes have also been made to Thoth. The newly implemented plotting options generally make possible graph construction and reuse with relative ease, without resorting to writing computer code. The illustrative astronomy case study of this paper demonstrates one of the many ways the software can be utilized. These new software features and refinements help make astronomers more efficient in their work of elucidating data.