FilFinder

FilFinder is a Python package for extraction and analysis of filamentary structure in molecular clouds. In particular, the algorithm is capable of uniformly extracting structure over a large dynamical range in intensity (see images below).

If you make use of FilFinder in a publication, please cite our accompanying paper:

@ARTICLE{2015MNRAS.452.3435K,
   author = {{Koch}, E.~W. and {Rosolowsky}, E.~W.},
    title = "{Filament identification through mathematical morphology}",
  journal = {\mnras},
archivePrefix = "arXiv",
   eprint = {1507.02289},
 keywords = {techniques: image processing, stars: formation, ISM: structure, submillimetre: ISM},
     year = 2015,
    month = oct,
   volume = 452,
    pages = {3435-3450},
      doi = {10.1093/mnras/stv1521},
   adsurl = {http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015MNRAS.452.3435K},
  adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}
}

Citation courtesy of ADS

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FilFinder segments filamentary structure by using adaptive thresholding. This performs thresholding over local neighborhoods, allowing for the extraction of structure over a large dynamic range. Using the filament mask, the length, width, orientation and curvature are calculated. Further features include extracting radial profiles along the longest skeleton path, creating a filament-only model images, and extracting values along the skeleton.

Contributing & Reporting Issues

We welcome all user feedback on FilFinder’s performance. If you find an issue with the code, or would like to request additional features, please raise an issue in the repository, post a question to the google group or send me an email at the address on this page.

Contributions to the package are welcomed! We follow the astropy coding guidelines and contributions should follow these conventions.

Contents:

Indices and tables