Easy asteroid phase curve fitting for the Python ecosystem: Pyedra

Milagros Colazo; Juan Cabral; Martin Chalela; Bruno Sanchez

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arXiv · 2103.06856

Easy asteroid phase curve fitting for the Python ecosystem: Pyedra

Milagros Colazo·Juan Cabral·Martin Chalela·Bruno Sanchez

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Abstract

A trending astronomical phenomenon to study is the variation in brightness of asteroids, caused by its rotation on its own axis, non-spherical shapes, changes of albedo along its surface and its position relative to the sun. The latter behaviour can be visualized on a "Phase Curve" (phase angle vs. reduced magnitude). To enable the comparison between several models proposed for this curve we present a Python package called Pyedra. Pyedra implements three phase-curve-models, and also providing capabilities for visualization as well as integration with external datasets. The package is fully documented and tested following a strict quality-assurance workflow, with a user-friendly programmatic interface. In future versions, we will include more models, and additional estimation of quantities derived from parameters like diameter, and types of albedo; as well as enabling correlation of information of physical and orbital parameters.

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Milagros Colazo, Juan Cabral, Martin Chalela, Bruno Sanchez. 2021-03-11. Easy asteroid phase curve fitting for the Python ecosystem: Pyedra. https://arxiv.org/abs/2103.06856

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