lcurvemaker

Python code for working with light curves of variable stars

Dependencies

• Matplotlib
• pandas
• Astropy

Installation

pip install matplotlib pandas astropy requests

or

pip install -r requirements.txt

Usage

python plot_merged_phase_data.py [-v] [-l] [-s] [-c RA DEC] [-p PERIOD] [-e EPOCH] [-r MIN MAX] [-o] [-z] [-m] [-t PLOT] nickname [savedir]

Positional arguments

nickname is an alias of the object, optionally with the directory name. It is used to search for files and assign names to data processing products.

savedir set default directory for saving plots (optional).

The script will search for a settings file named nickname.json in the objects directory. It should not contain spaces.

Options

• -h, --help show help message and exit
• -v, --verbose be more verbose
• -l, --lines draw lines on the light curve and phase plot to mark the epoch, maximum value, and max/min phase
• -s, --show show interactive plots instead of saving figures
• -c RA DEC, --coord RA DEC set the coordinates of the object in degrees
• -p PERIOD, --period PERIOD set the period for phase plot in days
• -e EPOCH, --epoch EPOCH set the epoch for phase plot in HJD
• -r MIN MAX, --ztfran MIN MAX delete all ZTF data out of range
• -o, --localps use local PS1 data instead of requesting it via the API
• -z, --zoom use settings for zoomed plot
• -m, --model draw a simple light curve model
• -t, --plot what data to plot. Possible values are: zt ps as at cs ga og gd

Examples

python plot_merged_phase_data.py gusev4
python plot_merged_phase_data.py minkovskiy24 -l

Result:

• Gusev 4 settings, phase plot, light curve
• Minkovskiy 24 settings, phase plot, light curve

To iterate over number of objects:

for nam in gusev4 minkovskiy17 minkovskiy24; do python plot_merged_phased_data.py $nam; done

for PowerShell:

ForEach ($nam in "gusev4", "minkovskiy17", "minkovskiy24") { python .\plot_merged_phased_data.py $nam }

Object settings files

The settings for the object are located in a JSON file. sample.json contains most of the possible settings.

Basic settings for an object with ZTF, PS1, ASAS-SN, ATLAS, CRTS, Gaia DR3, SDSS, OGLE and GDS photometry data available are:

{
"sample-nickname": {
  "name": "ZTF19acdncga",
  "other": "USNO-B1.0 1462-0437198, 2MASS J22470763+5617523, GSC2.3 N1CQ180004",
  "coord": "22 47 07.629 +56 17 52.26",
  "coordeg": [341.7817888, 56.2978492],
  "max": 14.35,
  "min": 14.93,
  "min2": 14.78,
  "system": "g",
  "period": 24.8435,
  "epoch": 2460161.091,
  "2ndmin": 0.399,
  "d": 0.016,
  "d2": 0.019,
  "ztfran": [15.0, 14.2], "ztflim": 0.05,
  "atlasfnam": "sample-nickname-atlas.txt", "atlaslim": {"o": 0.013, "c": 0.017},
  "asasfnam": "sample-nickname-asas.csv", "asaslim": {"V": 0.05, "g": 0.06},
  "pslim": 0.1, "pslocal": false,
  "gaiadr3fnam": "sample-nickname-gaiadr3.dat",
  "crtsfnam": "sample-nickname-crts.csv", "crtslim": 0.06,
  "oglefnam": "sample-nickname-ogle.dat",
  "sdssfnam": "sample-nickname-sdss.dat",
  "zcatf": "ri",
  "curveshift": true,
  "clrshift": {
    "g": 0.3, "psg": 0.32, "r": 0, "psr": 0.01, "i": -0.1, "psi": -0.1, "I": 0.1,
    "psz": -0.2, "psy": -0.3, "o": -0.05, "c": 0.1, "V": 0.3, "asasg": 0.7,
    "G": 0.05, "CV": -0.1, "gr": 0.02, "gi": -0.1
  },
  "plot": {
    "ztffilt": "gri", "psfilt": "grizy", "atlasfilt": "oc", "asasfilt": "gV", "gdsfilt": "r",
    "atlasms": {"o": 2.8, "c": 2.8}, "atlaselw": 0.26, "atledgclr": "darkred",
    "asasms": {"V": 3.5, "g": 3.5}, "asaselw": 0.26,
    "zms": 4, "gms": 4, "psms": 6, "crtsms": 5,
    "xmal": 500, "xmil": 100, "ymal": 0.1, "ymil": 0.01, "leg": "lower left",
    "xlim": [-0.5, 1.0], "xedges": 90, "xlima": [56963, 60331],
    "ylim": [14.7, 13.94], "ylima": [14.88, 13.8]
  }
}}

References for files in the data directory

• Masci, F. J.; et al., 2019, The Zwicky Transient Facility: Data Processing, Products, and Archive, ZTF DR20 query form
• Kochanek, C. S.; et al., 2017, The All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN) Light Curve Server v1.0
• Tonry, J. L.; et al., 2018, ATLAS: A High-cadence All-sky Survey System
• Drake, A. J.; et al., 2009, Catalina Real-time Transient Survey
• Chambers, K. C.; et al., 2016, The Pan-STARRS1 Surveys
• Gaia collaboration; et al., 2022, Gaia Data Release 3 (Gaia DR3) Part 1 Main source
• Gaia Photometric Science Alerts
• Hackstein, M.; et al., 2015, The Bochum Survey of the Southern Galactic Disk: II. Follow-up measurements and multi-filter photometry for 1323 square degrees monitored in 2010 - 2015

Examples of light curves (presented in the VSX detail sheets)

Eclipsing binaries

• Gusev 4 settings, phase plot
• Minkovskiy 16 settings, phase plot
• GSC 02150-01562 phase plot
• UCAC3 170-058819 phase plot
• UCAC3 240-187355 phase plot
• UCAC3 248-199991 phase plot
• UCAC3 248-205306 phase plot
• USNO-B1.0 1534-0126575 phase plot
• USNO-B1.0 1534-0125222 phase plot, light curve
• ZTF19acdncga phase plot

Cataclysmic variables

• NSV 14686 phase plot, light curve

Pulsating variables

• DAV V8 phase plot, light curve
• DAV V10 phase plot, light curve
• DAV V11 phase plot, light curve

Image optimization applied

• TinyPNG: WebP, PNG, JPEG optimization
• OptiPNG, see guide to PNG optimization
• Jpegoptim, for Windows
• JPEGoptim + OptiPNG + TinyPNG - image optimization (in russian)