Changelog

[v0.6.0] - 2025-04-XX

• Downgraded the versions of almost all the required packages to play nice with Google Colab (again)

• Faster import of asteca, using lazy imports in classes (asteca/ASteCA#564); removed the plot class, removed pandas and matplotlib as dependencies

• Allow generating synthetic clusters without calibrating an observed cluster (asteca/ASteCA#565>)

• Remove fix_params parameter from synthetic.calibrate()

• Major changes to the documentation

• Small performance improvements in the generation of synthetic cluster (zaWAverage function)

[v0.5.9] - 2025-01-24

• Fix issue with BASTI isochrones that would store ages out of order

• Upgrade versions, Google Colab will most likely not work due to running older versions of Python and the required packages.

• Remove new version checker asteca/ASteCA#560

• Many type hints added to the codebase

[v0.5.8] - 2024-08-09

• Downgraded the versions of almost all the required packages to play nice with Google Colab

• Fix AttributeError: ptp was removed from the ndarray class in NumPy 2.0. Use np.ptp(arr, …) instead. for newer versions of numpy

• Allow isochrones to load single files, not just paths to folders

• Added an update notifier to __init__.py (added requests as requirement)

[v0.5.7] - 2024-07-31

• Faster (and cleaner) asteca.membership.Membership.fastmp() and asteca.membership.Membership.bayesian()

• Change the normalization constant used in fastmp (from 2*median to IQR)

• Add kde_2d method to asteca.cluster.Cluster.get_center()

• Fix knn_5d method to better handle large frames

• Minor fixes to center and total masses estimation

[v0.5.6] - 2024-06-25

• Simpler error distribution function

• Convert dataclass to class (simpler API documentation)

[v0.5.5] - 2024-06-21

• Add asteca.membership.Membership.bayesian() method decontamination algorithm

• Move plot functions to its own module

• Removed masses_binary_probs method from the asteca.synthetic.Synthetic class and added the methods: asteca.synthetic.Synthetic.get_models(), asteca.synthetic.Synthetic.stellar_masses(), asteca.synthetic.Synthetic.binary_fraction(), asteca.synthetic.Synthetic.cluster_masses(), to estimate individual masses, total binarity fraction, and total masses (see: Mass and binarity)

• Added the asteca.cluster.Cluster.get_nmembers() method to estimate the number of members for a cluster embedded in a field.

[v0.5.4] - 2024-05-26

• Fix small issue with documentation in v0.5.3

[v0.5.3] - 2024-05-26

• Added the asteca.membership.Membership.fastmp() method

• Added the asteca.cluster.Cluster.get_center() method

[v0.5.2] - 2024-05-07

• Re-wrote isochrones reading module. See Isochrones module.

• Added Gaia (E)DR3 extinction law. See Synthetic module.

• Downgrade requirements to python=3.10 to allow running in default Google Colab

• Fixed wrong masses and binary probabilities being assigned to stars with missing photometric data

• Fixed bug in likelihood when two colors were defined

• Move z_to_FeH argument from synthetic to isochrones

• Remove min_max() method from synthetic, values are now shown when instantiating an isochrones class

• Allow plotting two colors in cluster and synthetic plotting modules

[v0.5.1] - 2024-04-19

• Skip hidden files when reading isochrones (asteca/ASteCA#551)

[v0.5.0] - 2024-04-18

Major update. ASteCA is now a proper Python package that can be installed with pip install asteca. Some of the most important changes are:

• Added support for MIST and Basti isochrones, in addition to PARSEC

• No longer depends on ptemcee, now the user can employ any package to perform the parameter inference

• Updated binary systems generation

• Removed structural analysis function (for now at least)

[v0.4.4-0.4.9]

These version numbers were skipped due to the major changes introduced in version 0.5.0.

[v0.4.3] - 2022-06-01

This is a large update mostly on the synthetic cluster generation process. Two extra free fundamental parameters are added: differential reddening and the ratio of total to selective absorption.

• Fit Av instead of E(B-V) (544)

• Clean up before releasing 0.4.3 (541)

• Change the ‘completeness’ function (540)

• Structural analysis consumes too much memory for large fields (539)

• Remove mass parameter (538)

• Use pandas to read cluster data (537)

• Remove complete/incomplete codebase + simplify get_data() (533)

• Change several input parameters (532)

• Fix King profile fit (529)

• Add a flag to turn completeness on/off (528)

• Make the lower mass limits input parameters (526)

• Remove (RA, DE) transformation, RV mentions, trim frame, error rejection (524)

• Optimal radius estimation fails for some clusters (521)

• Gap in the synthetic cluster (519)

• DA ‘read’ mode: read from column (match with pyUPMASK) (518)

• Simplify Bayesian parallax inference (516)

• Per cluster fundamental parameters range (514)

• Revise default parallax offset following eDR3 release (501)

• Generalize mass-ratio distribution for binaries using a power law (496)

• Output of cluster memberships is very slow for large clusters (437)

• Generate finding chart plot (210)

• Probability density for binary assignment (198)

• Differential reddening (174)

• Make extinction parameter Rv a free parameter (170)

[v0.4.2] - 2021-05-10

• Fixed two issues: don’t read hidden files from the input/ folder, remove forgotten parameter that was removed in the previous release.

[v0.4.1] - 2021-05-05

• Fixed estimated optimal radius that was too large (513)

• Deprecate pixel coordinate support (509)

• Coordinates density map shows artifact in corners (511)

• Split A-D test into one test per feature (477)

[v0.4.0] - 2021-05-03

• Compensate cluster’s mass for binaries masses? (488)

• Estimate individual per-star masses (484)

• Improve performance of synth cluster generation (3) (506)

• Simplify isochrones download/handling (497)

• Add CS 37 COLIBRI track + deprecate old versions 10 & 11 of PARSEC (495)

• Optimal radius too large for some clusters (510)

• Project equatorial coordinates before processing (237)

• Add eccentricity parameter to KP fit? (480)

• Finish working on enhanced King profile fitting (456)

• Remove KDE_stds and mp_flag parameters (500)

• Simplify input of structure parameters (512)

• Deprecate all likelihoods except Tremmel (507)

• Interpolate IMF masses into the isochrones, not the other way around (503)

• Add minimum binary mass ratio to fundamental parameters? (504)

• Deprecate Anderson-Darling test (499)

• Deprecate “Read mode” (498)

• Add IMF and PMF curves obtention (96)

• Convert pixel coordinates to RA & DEC (203)

• Add ZAMS to CMD final plot (160)

• Add semi_input.dat checking to checker (214)

• Add weighted spatial density map (167)

• Generate output CMD-CCD plots for the mean+median+mode (479)

• Exact circle area using geometry instead of Monte Carlo (446)

• Use the maximum number of members in the optimal radius? (494)

• Add 1-sigma region to King profile (478)

• Turn off MP coloring in D2 plots for binned likelihoods (473)

[v0.3.1] - 2020-06-19

Only the ptemcee method is kept, all others are now deprecated.

• Corrected an error in the CMD_systs.dat file (468)

• Fixed path for CMD_systs.dat, now works in Windows (and Mac?)

• Control (some) plotting parameters through custom style and allow the selection of one of the supported styles (464)

• Dump the results of the fundamental parameters analysis to file (467)

• Closed several issues related to the deprecated bootstrap(+GA), brute force, and emcee methods (265, 280, 284, 324, 341, 347, 418, 442, 447)

• Split D1 plots (MCMC convergence diagnostics plots & values) (389)

• Explore Zeus as a possible addition to the best fit process (457)

• Add mode, median to King’s profile plot (470)

• Make “trim frame” option per cluster (474)

• Closed due to old or not applicable (209, 293, 399)

[v0.3.0] - 2020-04-22

Massive changes introduced in this new version. Python 2.7.x is no longer supported.

• Port to Python 3 (243)

• Upgrade to emcee v3.0.2 (423)

• Add emcee to the best fit process (193)

• Upgraded to astropy v0.0.4

• Remove (z,a) steps (413)

• Bug fix: binary probabilities should not be averaged by zaWAverage (462)

• Add Tremmel’s implementation of the PLR (447)

• Improve performance of synthetic cluster generation (445)

• Fix Tolstoy likelihood accounting for uncertainties twice (406)

• Add option to apply ’pmRA*cos(DE)’ correction (452)

• Added optm method to local removal of stars (432)

• Added manual binning method to likelihood block (325)

• New radius estimating method and many improvements to structural functions (RDP, field dens, radius) (454, 449, 346, 378)

• Added maximum likelihood method for fitting King profiles (268, 298)

• Allow seeding the synthetic cluster generation process (196)

• Add stopping condition to the plotting line (443)

• Add Nsigma region to the best fit synthetic cluster (460)

• Fix small bug in radii arrows (182)

[v0.2.7] - 2019-10-03

• Use inverse transform sampling to sample the IMF (434)

• Interpolation of (z,a) values uses wrong m_ini index (440)

• Interpolation of isochrone fails when (z,a) are both fixed (439)

• Mass ‘alignment’ in zaInterp() gives poor result (441)

• Select the N_mass_interp number automatically (438)

[v0.2.6] - 2019-09-19

• Fix normalization in Bayesian DA (426)

• Fix function to detect X11 that fails in Mac OS (Windows too?) (428)

• Merge semi_input.dat file into params_input.dat and copy input file as output (427)

• Remove modes (429)

• Use one photometric systems file instead of two identical ones (421)

• Fix Ext/Imm operator causing spurious points in the GA (424)

[v0.2.5] - 2019-08-07

• Added the ptemcee method, and deprecated (for now) the BF (367)

• Accept a CMD/CCD from mixed photometric systems (228, 229)

• Add support for the new set of isochrones PARSEC+COLIBRI (322)

• Output all information obtained from the bootstrap (279)

• Mask stars with photometry outside of reasonable range (414)

• Add proper motions, parallax, and radial velocity support to Bayesian DA (220)

• Use stars with no complete data in the Bayesian equation (377).

• Add dimensional weights to Bayesian DA.

• Use all positions for structural functions (107).

• Make the bootstrap the actual method (instead of GA) (64)

• Make the GA work with floats instead of a grid (412)

• Plot the incomplete dataset with MPs information (411)

• Use a total number of masses, not a step value (410)

• Use stars after error rejection for LF & completeness (390)

• Switch to astropy’s read module (327) and allow reading columns by name.

• Update check for installed packages (newer pip threw an error).

• Added a 2D cluster vs field KDE comparison, and the A-D test (255, 356)

• Added MAP, median and mode to output parameters.

• Added R2 normality estimator to distributions (401)

• Deprecated KDE p-value function.

• Deprecated trim_frame, and manual mode in photometric error rejection.

• Deprecated integrated magnitude function.

• Store input parameters as .json for each cluster (126)

• Don’t read hidden files from the ‘isochrones’ folder (403)

• Use KDE instead of Gaussian filters (379)

• Split C2 plot into C2 and C3

[v0.2.4] - 2018-03-16

• Extend support for up to two colors.

• Improved performance (#357):

  • Make mass sampling optional (#373)

  • Move binarity assignment outside of the synthetic cluster generation.

  • Move isochrone sorting outside of the synthetic cluster generation.

  • Move random floats for photometric errors outside of the synthetic cluster generation.

  • Move random floats for completeness outside of the synthetic cluster generation. Code is now ~3.3X faster

[v0.2.3] - 2017-09-23

• Improved performance of synthetic cluster generation (#227). Code is now ~4X faster.

• Fix excessive use of memory by Rbf interpolation (#350)

• Use equal bin widths in LF and completeness function (#300)

• Faster star separation by errors (#351)

• Generalize Bayesian DA to N-dimensions, fix statistical issues, improve performance (#352)

[v0.2.2] - 2017-08-29

• Add weights to binned likelihood (#216)

• Fix bug in progress bar.

• Identify binaries in plotted HR diagram.

• Modify the information presented by the 2-parameters density plots. Takes care of #71.

• Smarter empty field region around cluster region (#345).

• Detect stars with duplicate IDs in data file (#212).

[v0.2.1] - 2017-08-11

• Fix issue with ‘tolstoy’ likelihood estimation (#340)

• Fix a couple of issues with the error curve fitting (#338)

• Add ‘fixed’ MPs algorithm (useful when no field region is available) (#326)

• Fix crash when obtaining error curve (#256)

[v0.2.0] - 2017-08-07

• Generalized code to accept an arbitrary CMD in any single photometric system supported by the CMD service (#24).

• Identify binary systems in synthetic clusters (#199).

• Plots are now produced per blocks, instead of all together at the end (#271)

• Switch dependency requirement from astroML to astropy (#303).

• Remove unused error rejection modes (#331)

• Simplify params_input.dat file (#217)

• Check that all metallicity files contain the same number of age values (#218)

• Add density maps analysis for center function (#164)

• Remove weight added to the observed cluster CMD’s histogram (#308)

• Fix bad parameter rounding (#248)

• Add ‘max mag’ cut for synthetic clusters (#302, #264)

• Simplify installation steps (#88, #315)

• Plot results of brute force minimization (#100)

• Make extinction parameter Rv a manual input parameter (#314)

• Use numpy’s binning methods (#317)

• Modify RDP limit (#294)

• Store extra data from theoretical isochrones (#201)

[v0.1.9.5] - 2016-08-07

• Remove forgotten print line.

• Print relevant information when data con not be read (#262).

• Fix bad range issue (#226).

[v0.1.9.4] - 2016-07-25

• Add support for five tracks from the CMD service (#276).

• Read metallicity files with underscores instead of decimal dots (#277).

• Several important structural changes (#273): add first_run check, re-arrange and re-name modules, and move almost every part of the code into the packages/ folder.

[v0.1.9.3] - 2016-05-25

• Add support for CMD in the HST/ACS WFC photometric system (requested by Daniel Arbelaez).

[v0.1.9.2] - 2016-04-17

• Add support for three CMDs in the Strömgren photometric system (requested by J. Hughes Clark).

• Change likelihood density plots to scatter plots which show more information.

• Add extra condition for DA break: minimum 10% of the runs must have passed.

• Fix bug with ‘mag’ mode in ‘Reduced membership’, wouldn’t run if the Bayesian DA was skipped.

• Fix minor bug (#241) when printing KP results to screen.

[v0.1.9.1] - 2015-08-25

• Fixed rounding of errors that returned 0. values if error was larger than value (#213).

• Check if pip module is installed + search for installed packages globally, not locally.

• Catch badly formatted input data file.

• Restructure King radii obtention.

• Correctly plot stars in cluster region, not used in best fit function.

[v0.1.9] - 2015-06-18

(Warning: this release breaks compatibility with the previous version of the params_input.dat & semi_input.dat files)

• Models (ie: isochrone + extinction +distance modulus + mass distribution + binarity) are now evaluated each time the GA selects them as a solution, thus a new mass distribution is generated (#186). This has a performance cost, but provides higher accuracy in the best model assignment process since a single model can now be evaluated with a slightly different mass distribution several times (only with GA, Brute Force method will only process a model once).

• Added an exit switch to the decontamination algorithm. It will stop iterations if the MPs converged to 0.1% tolerance values for all the stars in the cluster region (compared to the previous iteration). This speeds up the function considerably (#185).

• The upper mass value in the IMF can now be modified via the input parameters file.

• Code can now read params_input_XX.dat files when using lazy parallelization.

• Number of field regions can now be set individually via the semi_input.dat file.

• Added ‘bb’ binning method based on Bonnato & Bica (2007). Sets bin widths of 0.25 and 0.5 for colors and magnitudes respectively.

• Fixed bug in manual mode when displaying errors.

• Fixed bug when narrow frames were plotted (#168).

• Moved text box outside of synthetic cluster’s plot to improve its visibility (#205).

• Closed #13. Saha’s W likelihood needs the number of model points to be fixed, which prevents it from being used when the mass varies. There’s nothing to be gained by adding this function.

• Caveat dragged from version 0.1.2 is resolved.

[v0.1.8] - 2015-04-09

(Warning: this release breaks compatibility with the previous version of the params_input.dat file)

• Added local and mp_05 methods to the selection of which stars to use in the best fit cluster parameter assignation process (#180, #183).

• Added an automatic update checker function that notifies the user if an updated version of ASteCA is available for download (#179).

• Added grid lines over the photometric diagrams of the observed and synthetic cluster, showing the binning made by the method selected in each case (#131).

• Best fit synthetic cluster found is now saved to file (#154).

• Correctly obtain approximate number of members (n_memb) and contamination index (CI) when the cluster radius extends beyond the RDP, thus making the field star density value (field_dens) unreliable (#111).

• Added f10 flag to alert when the memb_par value is greater than +-0.33, which means that there are twice as many estimated true members in either method (#175).

• Improved top_tiers plotting and saved file (#184).

Caveats

• Same as version 0.1.2.

[v0.1.7] - 2015-03-26

(Warning: this release breaks compatibility with the previous version of the params_input.dat file)

• Re-write lowexp error rejection method, now uses prediction bands instead of confidence intervals.

• Force matplotlib’s backend to make the code work in servers.

• Fixed eyefit method for error rejection. It changed after fixing #169.

• Added SDSS CMDs g vs (u-g) & g vs (g-r), at the request of Tjibaria Pijloo (Department of Astrophysics, Radboud University Nijmegen).

• Fixed bug in binarity generation for the CMDs of the form X vs (X-Y) (#181).

• Smarter selection of stars to be used by the best fit function, improvements in several plots (#171, #172).

• Best fit function can now accept a minimum magnitude value instead of just a minimum probability value (#115).

• Added a memb_par parameter to compare the number of approximate cluster members obtained via the structural analysis and via the decontamination algorithm (#162).

• Code is now able to correctly read the names of files with more than one dot in it’s name.

• Fixed bad alphabetical ordering of input cluster files.

• Better limits for photometric diagram (#173).

• Fixed DeprecationWarning issue.

• Invert x axis when RA cords are used (improved here).

• Several fixes and improvements made to plotted diagrams (5c7dc7f; 1642349; b57028c; 240178a; 9ec0ab8; fef14c4; db0df2a; 575ebe7; #177; #178).

Caveats

• Same as version 0.1.2.

[v0.1.61] - 2015-03-04

• Added “lazy parallelization” ability. Now the user can run as many instances of the code as needed simply by creating extra asteca_xx.py and input_xx folders where xx are integers of the form: 01, 02,…, 99.

• Reposition several text boxes in output images, newer versions of matplotlib moved them from the previous position.

• Fix bad import of rpy2 package, positioned incorrectly in two functions.

• Fix DeprecationWarning showing when exp_function was used (#169).

Caveats

• Same as version 0.1.2.

[v0.1.5] - 2015-03-03

(Warning: this release breaks compatibility with the previous version of the params_input.dat file)

• Improved radius assignment algorithm (#146).

• Detect cropped cluster region and use correct area when generating field regions (#139, #157).

• Fixed bug that crashed the code when top tiers synthetic clusters with no stars were plotted (#147). Added minimum total mass of 10Mo.

• Fixed bug where KDE p-values for field vs field comparison were artificially increased by comparing a field region with itself (#138).

• Obtain KDE p-value even if one field region is defined (#114).

• Fixed small bug that prevented integrated magnitude curves from being plotted (#145).

• Fixed several smaller bugs and issues (#110, #150, #140, #142, #141, #149, #95, #148, #136, #163, #143).

Caveats

• Same as version 0.1.2.

[v0.1.4] - 2014-12-18

• Improved plotting of crowded fields (#62).

• Function to generate image is now more stable (#112). Re-arranged plots in output image.

• Add Top tiers models output (#130).

• Fixed small bug in KDE p-values function (#134).

• Minor re-arrangement with semi-input data.

Caveats

• Same as version 0.1.2.

[v0.1.3] - 2014-12-10

• Accept arrays of non-equispaced parameter values instead of only equispaced ranges (#121).

• Added support for log-normal Chabrier (2001) IMF.

• More precise encoding/decoding in genetic algorithm.

• Functions separated into sections (#125).

• Input parameters set as global variables (#132).

Caveats

• Same as version 0.1.2.

[v0.1.2] - 2014-12-01

• Likelihood method now supports Dolphin (2002) Poisson likelihood ratio function.

• Closed #120, #101, #129, #124, #102.

• Minor position fix for synthetic cluster text box in output plot.

• Brute force algorithm now returns correct errors.

• Some fixes for when unique values in the input parameter ranges are used ([1], [2]).

• Replaced deprecated compiler package used to flatten list.

Caveats

• Still not sure why tolstoy likelihood is biased towards high masses :confused:

[v0.1.1] - 2014-11-07

More stable release.

• Closed #113, #116.

• Minor change to error function.

• Closed Known issues from previous version.

Caveats

• Same as previous version.

[v0.1.0] - 2014-10-08

First semi-stable buggy release

• Closed #72, #99, #37.

• Changed the way the IMF was sampled, now it should be faster and more precise.

• Some speed improvements (moved things around mainly).

• Binary fraction is now a free parameter.

Known issues

• Serious bug: if the DA is set to run but the Best fit method isn’t, the final plot can’t be produced since the syn_cl_err function isn’t used (fixed in next release).

• Forgotten print prints out mass values every time the E/I operator is applied (fixed in next release).

• If the number of points (n_left) in the radius finding function is smaller than 4, a very small radius is likely to be selected. Fixed in next release.

Caveats

• The total initial mass can be set as a free parameter but the likelihood function will select always synthetic clusters of high mass. Thus it is advised to leave this parameter fixed to 1000 solar masses.

• The binary fraction found is not stored in the output data file.

• Some density map plots for mass and binary fraction are missing.

[v4.0.0-beta] - 2014-09-23

• Closed #85, #70, #43, #86.

• Metallicity and age now take steps in the GA.

• Add checker function to make sure certain parameters are set correctly before running.

• Number of points in get_radius increased 20% –> 25% of the RDP.

[v3.0.0-beta] - 2014-09-16

• Closed: #89, #77, #80.

• The params_input.dat and semi_input.dat files are now located at the top level next to asteca.py.

• Cluster’s photometric files are not longer required to be stored inside a sub-folder to be picked-up by the code.

[v2.0.1-beta] - 2014-09-15

• Correct version number.

[v2.0.0-beta] - 2014-09-11

• Closed issues: #15, #73, #53, #24, #75, #79, #81, #59, #83, #78, #69, #74.

• Changed name of package (OCAAT –> ASteCA).

• Added separate function to handle the spatial 2D histogram.

• Changes to get_center function (now hopefully simpler)

• Added UBVI support for V vs (U-V).

• Added 2MASS CMD support for J vs (J-H), H vs (J-H) and K vs (H-K).

• Improve field star regions integrated magnitudes curve averaging.

• Simplify process of adding a new CMD.

• Added details on how the integrated magnitude calculation is done in the manual.

• Lots of minor edits/corrections.

[v1.0.0-beta] - 2014-08-24

First beta release

Version used (with some small changes) in the original article.