ExoScanner

The program ExoScanner (now available even with a GUI) is able to analyze an image-series for exoplanet transits.

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What is this?

ExoScanner is a software which can analyze image-series recorded by amateurs with the goal of detecting exoplanet-transits in them. The project started as a high-school paper. But because I think that it might be useful for others, I am publishing it. I hope to be able to maintain the program.

How to install?

The program can be downloaded as a .exe, runnable on any windows machine (recommended):

The newest version can always be downloaded from here: releases

Or, if you want to install ExoScanner as a python-package, ExoScanner can be installed with pip:

pip install ExoScanner

How to use?

You can run ExoScanner by running the downloaded .exe. Currently, ExoScanner only supports .fits files. Enter the directory location of the files to be processed and then click submit.

When the light-frames are sorted by name, they should also be sorted by observation-time.

Exoscanner saves the output files in the output directory that was specified when running it. Make sure that there is nothing important there. Depending on the mode, It generates 20 images (like the ones below), of the stars it thinks it's most likely that a transit occured or it think's is the most likely of being a variable star.

An example data-set to test the software can be found here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/13AZ1xhNR8qf8G5aFWLcC5ObRZvBCNXpz?usp=sharing

Alternatively, the program can also be run through the command line (if you installed ExoScanner as a package) with the following command:

python -m ExoScanner <path> <output>

with <path> being the path to a folder with the to be analyzed light-frames. and <output> being the path to the folder where the output images should be saved.

Or you can run the following command to run ExoScanner with a GUI:

python -m ExoScanner

How to compile with pyinstaller? (this is for me, so that I don't forget)

The program can be "compiled" into a .exe file using pyinstaller: Be sure to replace "<path>" with the location to the cli.py file

pyinstaller --noconfirm --onefile --console --name "ExoScanner" --hidden-import "photutils.geometry.core" --collect-data "photutils" --hidden-import "ttkthemes" --collect-data "astroquery" --hidden-import "astroquery" --icon "<path>/images/Exoscanner_logo.ico" --add-data "<path>/ExoScanner/Exoscanner_logo.png;Exoscanner" "<path>/cli.py"

To activate the venv, use:

.venv\Scrips\activate

Upload to PyPi (this is for me, so that I don't forget)

python setup.py sdist
twine upload dist/*

FAQ

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me! I can be reached at me@jlabs.anonaddy.com

If you already want a copy of my paper, please also contact me. The final version will be uploaded here on January 9th though.