LCExtract 0.1.8

Small app to retrieve astronomical object photometry over time (lightcurve)

LCExtract

Quickstart

To run application from python console

from LCExtract.LCExtract import LCExtract

LCExtract()

Description

Currently a standalone application written in Python to take astronomical object positions and search for photometry data over time which produces a lightcurve for the object.

Queries data from Panoramic Survey Telescope And Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) DR2 as hosted at the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST), Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) and the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), the latter of which are hosted at NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive (IRSA). Other time domain based facilities will be added in to the query over time to provide a more comprehensive history of the object's luminosity variation.

Options selectable by the user are

• File or Manual entry
  • File input requires name, RA, DEC, description CSV separation - see example file test_objects.csv
  • Manual entry allows named or positional coordinate entry
• Archive / Catalog
  • Pan-STARRS
  • PTF
  • ZTF
  • All - consolidate data from facilities
• Photometric filter selection
  • Filters g, r, i, z, y, R are default filters, but note
    • a subset is user-selectable
    • not all filters available within archive(s), e.g., ZTF uses only g, r, i filters
    • not all filters available for an object

Application will calculate a number of summary statistics from the data returned for an object and provide a plot of any archive data returned.

Data files

Data files are expected to be located in the working directory, preferably under a subdirectory data/