Updated Alignment and Tracking Code

Features

• Modified the photometric extraction routine by increasing the range of annulus and aperture sizes to loop through for finding the optimal fit.
• Reintroduced a method to the alignment by calculating the phase cross-correlation to speed up the code partially. If the phase cross-correlation method can't register the pixel shifts properly, EXOTIC will fall back on the previous method of finding the transformation matrix.
• Added color for output for errors/warnings and reformatted them for uniformity
• Latitude, longitude, and elevation can be scraped from image headers
• Clean up user input validation

Bugfixes

• None

AAVSO output file error bugfix

Bugfix

• AAVSO output file error bugfix

Pre-reduced Data Option Added to GUI

Features

• Added CMOS option to GUI
• Added “Thinking” while loading GUI
• Automatically fills out MOBS as Secondary Observer Code if reducing MicroObservatory data
• Plate-solved WCS coordinate images can now be used to track pixel locations of the target and comp stars - no alignment needed
• Increased speed for photometry
• Added pre-reduced data option back to the GUI

Bugfixes

• Fixed sigma clip bug
• RA & DEC bugfix to GUI due to NEA putting it in decimal rather than hh/mm/ss

EXOTIC Release

EXOTIC, the official data reduction pipeline of Exoplanet Watch, is a free Python3 package for reducing observations (raw FITS images) of transiting exoplanets into lightcurves. It can calibrate your data (i.e., with flats, darks, and biases) and then choose the ideal combination of comparision star, aperture, and sky annulus to extract a transit lightcurve. It then fits your observed transit with a model lightcurve to calculate the transit depth (which measures the size of the planet relative to its host star) and mid-transit time (which helps us more accurately calculate future transits).

EXOTIC can run on a Windows, Macintosh, or Linux/Unix computer. You can also use EXOTIC via the free Google Colab, which features cloud computing, many helpful plotting functions, and a simplified installation. However, if you are a user with many images or large images, we recommend running EXOTIC locally on your own computer.

Bugfix for darks

Bugfix

• Fix bug for darks

remove extra /

Bugfix

• Remove extra / from FOV path

Final beta before launch!

Features:

• Thinking... was added to the Open Elevation API as it checks elevation at lat/long coords.
• -phot, --photometry flag has been added to command-line arguments for only getting a photometric extraction.
• Flags can be utilized without inits.json as it is now optional.

Bugs:

• Alignment bug in GUI fixed so that when a user checks the box, it would opt for an alignment and vice-versa.
• GUI can now scrape planetary parameters from NEA.

Added full path to inits.json

Bugfix

• Added full folder path to inits.json sample file

Default values for GUI; inits optional with flags; removed astropy deprecation warnings

Features

• Added default values for GUI
• Initialization file is now optional if you call EXOTIC with flags
• Removed astropy deprecation warnings

Fix alignment bug in GUI

Features

• Added "Thinking" display added to Open Elevation query

Bugfixes

• Linux install script updated
• Previously, Alignment was faulted on when using the GUI; now, it actually responds to user input