Gnuastro: Generating polar plots in Astronomical images

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new feature in Gnuastro that enables generating polar plots from astronomical images, simplifying the analysis of structures like galaxy arms or star diffraction spikes.

Contribution

A new option in Gnuastro's 'astscript-radial-profile' script for creating polar plots from astronomical images is presented, enhancing data analysis capabilities.

Findings

Enables easy generation of polar plots from astronomical images.

Facilitates analysis of structures dependent on distance and azimuthal angle.

Figures are reproducible with Maneage on a specific Git commit.

Abstract

When a structure displays dependence on distance and azimuthal angle from a center (for example the spiral arms of galaxies or the diffraction spikes of stars), projecting the pixels to polar coordinates greatly simplifies their study. This projection from one pixel grid to another is known as a "polar plot". For this purpose, a new option has been added to the GNU Astronomy Utilities (Gnuastro) in version 0.23 to "astscript-radial-profile" script, which we describe in this research note. The figures of this research note are reproducible with Maneage, on the Git commit 5d34243.