TOM: Target and Observation Manager Systems for Multi-Messenger and Time Domain Astrophysics

Time Domain/Multi-Messenger Astrophysics is opening up new discovery space for a wealth of celestial objects that change brightness, move or emit signatures across the electromagnetic spectrum, grativational waves and neutrinos. Thanks to modern wide-angle/all-sky surveys and improvements in data management at large scales, astronomers are notified of new discoveries within minutes. However, the data from the initial detection are often insufficient to fully understand the underlying physics, and additional follow-up observations are required from a range of other telescopes. Such follow-up programs are essential to realise the full scientific potential of major surveys such as the NSF-DOE's Vera C. Rubin Observatory. These programs can be a major undertaking in an era of thousands of new discoveries per night.Target and Observation Manager systems (TOMs) are software platforms designed to manage all data and software processes needed to run a scientific project, capable of rapidly responding to new discoveries. They interface with external data services such as alert brokers and data archives, provide data visualization tools and interface with the user's preferred analysis software, and can request observations directly from suitable follow-up telescopes.The TOM Toolkit is an open-source package designed to make it straight forward for astronomers to build and customize a TOM system for the user's own science goals. In this poster we summarize new functionality implemented to enable the characterization of Rubin Observatory discoveries, and the partnerships we have formed with community user groups to enable a range of research and new capabilities.