KOPR — Software for Comet Observers
Current application line: KOPR R179 with canonical formula parsing, draft-only manual editing, explicit Refresh commits, independent atomic Save and typed Analyse commit on the retained R169–R121 contracts. Documentation revision 10.37.
R187 current integrated state
KOPR now exposes one Comet Analyzer workspace for one or multiple comets. The production route uses immutable typed targets and datasets, target-scoped returns/formulas, global channels and Fit Groups, observation-defined automatic X, cached Auto range and portable transactional .kopr-lc.json Light Curve Scenarios.
The Analyzer/Comparison merger remediation is complete at the headless qualification level. Current evidence reports 384 passed, 3 skipped, 0 failed; the skipped real-PyQt5 gates R154, R161 and R179 still require offscreen and native GUI execution.
Main work areas
The current application contains five main tabs, shown below in the same order as in KOPR.
Process Visual Obs.
Process visual comet estimates using comparison-star data and prepare ICQ-format results.
Image Calibration & Stacking
Automatically materialize DSLR green TG FITS when needed, then prepare calibration masters, calibrate frames, solve astrometry, perform quality control and create star/comet stacks with bounded automatic thread and memory scheduling.
Process CCD Obs.
Measure total coma brightness with manual or automatic PA-adaptive ACF, bounded centroiding, reviewable frozen contexts, and ICQ/CARA Afρ output.
Observation Planner
Generate ephemerides and visibility diagrams using current comet data and configured observing locations.
Comet Analyzer
Analyse one or many comet light curves, use automatic or committed manual ranges, switch display encoding without changing data coordinates, set persistent observation-point size, edit styles, manage formulas and Fit Groups, fit models and export Multi-colour results.
Download
Live source archives
Offline catalogues
APASS DR10 to magnitude 14
Selection for comet photometry with stars brighter than V = 14 mag. Download size: 298.4 MB.
APASS DR10 to magnitude 16
Selection for comet photometry with stars brighter than V = 16 mag. Download size: 1.3 GB.
Tycho-2 Catalogue
B and V magnitudes from the Tycho-2 catalogue. Download size: 48.1 MB.
Yale Bright Star Catalogue 5
V magnitudes and B−V indices for bright stars up to magnitude 7. For KOPR Live and versions 0.82 and newer.
Installation
The current live build requires Python 3.10 or newer and must be started from the directory containing kopr.py.
Documentation
The documentation has a stable static-HTML structure. Installation, configuration, all five production workflow guides, data/FITS reference, troubleshooting and developer chapters include the R179 formula transaction contract and retained R169 point-size presentation contract together with the retained R164 artist, R163 range, R161 display, R156, R154, R149, R144, R130 and R121 authorities.
Comet designation
Shared syntax, canonicalisation, local-element validation and multi-comet list behavior.
Start here
Installation, first startup, field-by-field configuration and general workflow.
Image workflow
Calibration, astrometry, quality control, stacking and exposure-normalized CCD photometry with the PA-adaptive ACF Review workflow.
Complete WStack guide · Complete CCD photometry guide · ACF / Review
Observation and analysis
Visual reductions, planning and unified one-to-N light-curve analysis with identity-stable display encoding, persistent point-size control, automatic/manual range ownership, controlled Fit Groups, target-aware formula documents and Multi-colour CSV export.
Data and FITS reference
Input metadata, Scientific/Compact storage, unified stack time/exposure contracts, WStack extensions, external FITS inspection, paired stacks and observation outputs.
Troubleshooting
Symptom-based diagnostics for installation, calibration, astrometry, stacking, pair validation, catalogues and photometry.
Developer documentation
Architecture, algorithms, testing and the WStack integration contract for maintainers.
Performance and platforms
Fixed processing limits, the R121 modal ephemeris matrix, R130 WPlanner intervals, R144 unified Comet Analyzer, R149/R156 local transactions, and the R179 formula transaction boundary and retained R161/R163/R164/R169 view-only display, range, artist and point-size boundaries.