A Django-based webapp to make an interactive map of pulsars in the radio sky

Follow the instructions at the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue page.

[!info] You will need catalogue >= v1.70. This has been tested up to v2.5.1.

You may like to use a Python virtual environment.

In the webmap directory, run

pip install -r requirements.txt

Create an empty MySQL/Mariadb database called pulsar_sky:

Mariadb> CREATE DATABASE pulsar_sky;

Create the schema using Django's migrate utility.

python manage.py migrate

In the webmap directory, run

python manage.py createsuperuser

...and follow the prompts.

The commands in this section are all intended to be run inside of a Django (Python) shell environment, which can be entered by running

python manage.py shell

on the command line. Once in the shell, import the core views and models:

from core import views, models

Import the pulsar names, periods and a few other properties into the database:

views.import_atnf()

Imports the flux density data from the ATNF catalogue for the pulsars that have already been imported:

views.update_atnf_fluxes()

views.init_spectrum_models()

Import the spectral fits available in pulsar_spectra:

views.import_spectra()

Fit power laws to ATNF pulsar data (for pulsars that don't already have spectral fits):

views.set_all_atnf_power_laws()

In the webmap directory, run

python manage.py runserver [port]

where [port] can be any available port. If none is provided, the default is 8000.