STEPUP Image Analysis (SIA) is a pipeline written for easy photometric analysis that extacts light curves from astronomical image data using differential aperture photometry. SIA runs in three main (independent) steps: instrument signature removal (ISR), astrometric calibration (ASTROM), and differential aperture photometry (PHOT). Please feel free to contact the author, Helena Richie, with any questions!
This respository contains the SIA pipeline and a user manual written explicity for use by University of Pittsburgh students that are either members of the STEPUP team or students in ASTRON 1263. The guide can also be applied for general use, omitting location-specific steps. A manual for general use will be available soon.
To run SIA, user must have Python 3 with standard libraries and the following Python packages:
- Matplotlib
- NumPy
- AstroPy
- PhotUtils
- SciPy
These packages are all available for installation using pip. Additionally, the user must install and compile the WCSTools software package and add the executables to their device's PATH.
These dependencies can also be downloaded and install by running the "install-SIA-dependencies.sh" file. (RESTART YOUR TERMINAL AFTER RUNNING THE INSTALLATION SCRIPT)
Example:
bash install-SIA-dependencies.sh
SIA uses Astrometry.net and WCSTools software package to plate solve inputted datasets.
SIA outputs plots that depict the behavior of comarison stars, the target's light curve behavior, and a summary of image centroiding. In addition to this, SIA outputs data files with absolute and net count values of the target star for each image. Examples of plots can be seen below and in the SIA user manual.
Target light curve:
Centroid corrections:
Unscaled comparison star light curve:
