beta_factor¶
- sbpy.activity.beta_factor(mol_data, ephemobj)[source]¶
Returns beta factor based on timescales from
gas
and distance from the Sun using anephem
object. The calculation is: parent photodissociation timescale * (distance from comet to Sun)**2 If you wish to provide your own beta factor, you can calculate the equation expressed in units of AU**2 * s , all that is needed is the timescale of the molecule and the distance of the comet from the Sun. Once you have the beta factor you can append it to your mol_data phys object with the name ‘beta’ or any of its alternative names.- Parameters:
- mol_data
phys
sbpy.data.phys
object that contains AT LEAST the following data:
This field can be given by the user directly or found using
from_jplspec
. If the mol_tag is an integer, the program will assume it is the JPL Spectral Molecular Catalog identifier of the molecule and will treat it as such. If mol_tag is a string, then it will be assumed to be the human-readable name of the molecule. The molecule MUST be defined insbpy.activity.gas.timescale
, otherwise this function cannot be used and the beta factor will have to be provided by the user directly for calculations. The user can obtain the beta factor from the formula provided above. Keywords that can be used for these values are found underfieldnames
documentation. We recommend the use of the JPL Molecular Spectral Catalog and the use offrom_jplspec
to obtain these values in order to maintain consistency. Yet, if you wish to use your own molecular data, it is possible. Make sure to inform yourself on the values needed for each function, their units, and their interchangeable keywords as part of the Phys data class.- ephemobj
ephem
sbpy.data.ephem
object holding ephemeride information including distance from comet to Sun [‘r’] and from comet to observer [‘delta’]
- mol_data
- Returns:
- q
Quantity
Beta factor ‘beta’, which can be appended to the original
sbpy.phys
object for future calculations
- q