A python package for finding comoving neighbors to a target star and returning useful information regarding youth (via FindFriends), as well as for quantitatively assessing the probability that a close-in neighbor is consistent with being a binary companion or a chance-aligned field star (via BinProb).
This package offers a quick reconnaissance of whether a potential young star has other young, comoving friends nearby and for assessing whether those friends are binary companions.
Written by Adam L. Kraus (UT Austin) and packaged by Aaron Rizzuto (UT Austin)
- The code will query Gaia DR3 for stars within a volume radius equivalent to the defined search sphere, and with tangential velocities (from proper motion) within the input velocity difference range
- Query 2MASS, GALEX, ROSAT, and WISE on the resulting neighbours
- Make a series of useful plots displaying the search results
- Output a table for all the neighbors containing the combined results
Currently only works with python 3
All available via pip:
galpy
astroquery
astropy
scipy
cartopy (and all of its dependencies)
matplotlib
To install the python 3 version:
git clone https://github.com/adamkraus/Comove.git
cd Comove
python setup.py build
python setup.py install
You can then run the code in the manner described in example.py
This package also contains the beta version of another function, BinProb, that considers the relative astrometry and photometry of a candidate binary companion and probabilistically assesses whether it is a bound binary companion or a chance-aligned field star. This code is under development, and it will be described in a future publication by A. Kraus, but users are welcome to experiment with it in the meatime. Caveat emptor, and remember, the warnings come after the spells.
If you use FindFriends, please cite Tofflemire et al. (2021), "TESS Hunt for Young and Maturing Exoplanets (THYME). V. A Sub-Neptune Transiting a Young Star in a Newly Discovered 250 Myr Association". This is where the motivation, functionality, and prototypical use-case are described.
If you use BinProb, cite Deacon & Kraus (2020), "Wide binaries are rare in open clusters". This is where much of the core mathematical formalism was first described.