k2mosaic 3.0.0

Mosaic Target Pixel Files (TPFs) obtained by NASA’s Kepler/K2 missions into CCD-sized images and movies.

K2mosaic is a command-line tool which allows the postage stamp-sized pixel masks obtained by NASA’s Kepler and K2 missions to be stitched together into CCD-sized mosaics and movies. The principal use is to take a set of Target Pixel Files (TPF) and turn them into more traditional FITS image files – one per CCD channel and per cadence. K2mosaic can also be used to create fancy animations from these mosaics.

The need for this tool arises from the fact that the analysis of certain Kepler/K2 targets, such as clusters and asteroids, is more easily performed on mosaicked data. Moreover such mosaics are useful to reveal the context of single-star observations, e.g. they enable users to check for the presence of instrumental noise or nearby bright objects.