Details

With this repo you can make a poster, a video, or interactive plot of a full .fits image.

Note that this script is written for astronomy applications. However, by rewriting some parts in the script, you can also use it for other types of applications. In the example we used the lockman_hole.fits made with LOFAR.
Other .fits files from LOFAR can be found here: https://lofar-surveys.org/

Clone repo

You need to clone this repo with (in the location you want to have the scripts):
git clone https://github.com/jurjen93/advanced_astro_visualization.git

Install requirements

Go to advanced_astro_visualization with:
cd advanced_astro_visualization
Now you can install the requirements and make aliases to simplify commands with:
./setup.sh
If you get permission denied or access error, please give access with:
chmod u+x ./setup.sh

Catalogue csv file

You need to have a catalogue with sources for the poster (for the video it is optional). We have an example given in the folder 'catalogue'.
Use the following fields:

• source_id -> id of the source
• RA -> right ascension of the object
• DEC -> declination of the object
• size_x -> size on the x-axis of the object (in pixel or degree size)
• size_y -> size on the y-axis of the object (in pixel or degree size)
• imsize -> image size in degrees

How to make the poster

First, download Scribus: https://sourceforge.net/projects/scribus/files/scribus-devel/1.5.5/scribus-1.5.5-windows-x64.exe/download

Run now:
makeposter
where you can use the following flags

• -d -> Choose to download a specific fits file from the internet. Use 1 if you want to, leave empty otherwise.
• -csv -> Give a specific csv file with sources to include as cutouts in the poster.
• -fi -> Fits file to use. (If you don't download your fits file)

Example:
makeposter -csv catalogue/catalogue_lockman.csv -fi fits/lockman_hole.fits

How to make the video

Run:
makevideo
where you can use the following flags

• -d -> Choose to download a specific fits file from the internet. Use 1 if you want to, leave empty otherwise.
• -csv -> Give a specific csv file with sources to include as cutouts in the poster. If you leave it empty, it goes through the whole field.
• -fr -> Frame rate of the video. Advice is to use 20 to make the video smooth but doesn't take too long to record.
• -zs -> Size in degrees of the zoomed image. If the original image size is smaller than this input, there will be a zoom out.
• -dr -> The amount of degrees traversed each second ('degree rate') in the video.
• -fi -> Fits file to use. (If you don't download your fits file)
• -sc -> Scanning path type of a pan through the whole field. Can be 'horizontal' or 'spiral'. New paths can be made with the paths.py script.

The user should be aware that with increasing -zs the -dr value should decrease in order to get a movie that scans slowly over the image. The -fr input then controls how smooth the video looks.

Example pan through source by source from your csv file:
makevideo -csv catalogue/catalogue_lockman.csv -d 1 -f 60
Example of pan through a whole field:
makevideo -fi fits/your_fits.fits
In the video one can see the coordinates. If you want to make a separate image from this, you can run the following:
makeimage -fi fits/your_fits.fits -ra 123.123 -dec 51.123 -si 0.4
where you can use the following flags

• -si -> Size in degrees.
• -dec -> Declination in degrees.
• -ra -> Right ascension in degrees.
• -fi -> Fits file to use.

See also the following blog for more information: https://towardsdatascience.com/how-to-make-a-video-from-your-astronomy-images-957f1d40dea1\

How to make the interactive plot

Run:
makeinteractive
where you can use the following flags

• -d -> Choose to download a specific fits file from the internet. Use 1 if you want to, leave empty otherwise.
• -fi -> Fits file to use. (If you don't download your fits file)

Example:
makeinteractive -fi fits/your_fits.fits

Output

Poster: poster.pdf
Video: movie.mp4
Interactive plot: interactive.html

Contact/Collaboration

Feel free to send me a message if you want to help me out with improvements or if you have any suggestions.
Contact: jurjendejong(AT)strw.leidenuniv.nl