We describe the use of Multi Order Coverage (MOC) maps as a practical way to manage complex regions of the sky for the planning of multi-messenger observations.
Packages required to reproduce the tutorial are
The tutorial is tested in Python 3.8.5 with the module versions: mocpy 0.10.0, cdshealpix 0.6.1, astropy 5.0 and astroplan 0.8 and ipyaladin 0.1.9 and healpy 1.15.0. For Installing packages using pip and virtual environments, follow the instruction in the Python Packaging User Guide here
The results can be visualized in the Aladin Desktop Software. To install it, follow the instructions below.
Download the Aladin.jar from the Aladin download page. Execute it from a terminal by typing:
$ java -Xmx2g -jar Aladin.jar
The flag -Xmx specifies the maximum memory allocation pool for a JVM. Here 2GB of memory is allocated. For GW sky localizations with nside=2048, increase the memory allocated up to 3GB, -Xmx3g.