Welcome to SolarKAT documentation!

Overview

The SolarKAT is a Python-based pipeline designed for MeerKAT observations affected by the Sun. It addresses the challenge of solar radio interference in the observed data. The pipeline employs solar tracking, subtraction, and peeling techniques to enhance data quality by significantly reducing solar radio interference. This is achieved while preserving the flux measurements in the main field. The versatility of the pipeline makes it applicable not only to general radio astronomy observations but also to solar radio astronomy. Additionally, the generated solar images can be utilized for weather forecasting purposes.

The SolarKAT flowchart is ilustrated below:

Audience

This documentation is intended for radio astronomers and data scientists interested in utilising the pipeline to recover the affected visibilities and improve the data image quality for future analysis. This is also a valuable tool for space weather scientists intended to utilise the pipeline to produce solar images for weather forecasting.

Note

This project is under active development.

Contents

• Usage
  • Installation
    • Git clone
  • Operating system
  • Execution
• SolarKAT Components
  • Python file
  • Cab
  • Recipe
• SolarKAT Steps
  • 1. Input data
  • 2. imaging
  • 3. self-calibration (required)
  • 4. backup_model_data (optional)
  • 5. scan_numbers_extraction (required)
  • 6. load_scan_numbers (required)
  • 7. split_ms_by_scan (required)
  • 8. get_perscan_old_coords (required)
  • 9. get_sun_coordinates (required)
  • 10. change_phase_centre_to_sun (required)
  • 11. image_sun (required)
  • 12. create_ds9_regions (required)
  • 13. make_mask (required)
  • 14. deconvolve_sun (required)
  • 15. predict_sun_model (required)
  • 16. quality_control_imaging1 (required)
  • 17. restore_phase_centre (required)
  • 18. quality_control_imaging2 (required)
  • 19. add_model_data_columnn (required)
  • 20. data_storage (required)
  • 21. subtract_sun (required)
  • 22. image-corrected-data (required)
  • 23. save-flags-3 (optional)
  • 24. cal_and_peel_sol (required)
  • 25. save-flags-4 (optional)
  • 26. image (required)
• Software used in SolarKAT
• API