I wrote this script to search for fits images by RA/Dec because I found that searching for object names is inconsistent, in my case. Also I don't save all of my images to object name folders, which I suppose I could do too. It does require the Observatory app from the App Store, which isn't free, but this app has a lot of features that I find useful. For example adding fits header data to spotlight metadata, which makes searching very fast using the mdfind command.
The script copies matching images so I can process them all at once.
ra_dec_search_copy.sh [options]
Options:
--ra VALUE Right Ascension target value (required)
--dec VALUE Declination target value (required)
--output DIR Output directory (default: ./grouped_images)
--search VALUE Search distance (default: 0.5)
--help Show this help message
#!/bin/bash
# Default values
SEARCH_DISTANCE=0.5
OUTPUT_DIR="./grouped_images"
RA=""
DEC=""
# Function to display usage
usage() {
echo "Usage: $0 [options]"
echo "Options:"
echo " --ra VALUE Right Ascension target value (required)"
echo " --dec VALUE Declination target value (required)"
echo " --output DIR Output directory (default: ./grouped_images)"
echo " --search VALUE Search distance (default: 0.5)"
echo " --help Show this help message"
echo
echo "Example:"
echo " $0 --ra 128.2 --dec 45.5 --output /path/to/output --search 0.3"
exit 1
}
# Parse command line arguments
while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
case $1 in
--ra)
RA="$2"
shift 2
;;
--dec)
DEC="$2"
shift 2
;;
--output)
OUTPUT_DIR="$2"
shift 2
;;
--search)
SEARCH_DISTANCE="$2"
shift 2
;;
--help)
usage
;;
*)
echo "Unknown option: $1"
usage
;;
esac
done
# Check required parameters
if [ -z "$RA" ] || [ -z "$DEC" ]; then
echo "Error: RA and DEC values are required"
usage
fi
# Create output directory if it doesn't exist
mkdir -p "$OUTPUT_DIR"
# Display initial settings
echo "Settings:"
echo " Right Ascension: $RA"
echo " Declination: $DEC"
echo " Search Distance: $SEARCH_DISTANCE"
echo " Output Directory: $OUTPUT_DIR"
echo
# Function to check if a number is within specified distance of target
check_within_range() {
local value=$1
local target=$2
local distance=$3
awk -v val="$value" -v target="$target" -v dist="$distance" 'BEGIN {
diff = val - target
if (diff < 0) diff = -diff
if (diff <= dist) exit 0
exit 1
}'
}
# Count total number of .fit files
echo "Counting files..."
total_files=$(find . -name "*.fit" | wc -l)
echo "Found $total_files .fit files to process"
# Create a temporary file to store copy count
temp_count_file=$(mktemp)
echo "0" > "$temp_count_file"
# Process files and maintain accurate count
find . -name "*.fit" | while read -r file; do
# Update and display progress
printf "Processing: %s\r" "$(basename "$file")"
# Get both RA and DEC with a single mdls call
metadata=$(mdls -n "com_codeobsession_RightAscension" -n "com_codeobsession_Declination" "$file")
file_ra=$(echo "$metadata" | grep "RightAscension" | awk '{print $3}')
file_dec=$(echo "$metadata" | grep "Declination" | awk '{print $3}')
# Check if both values are within range
if check_within_range "$file_ra" "$RA" "$SEARCH_DISTANCE" && \
check_within_range "$file_dec" "$DEC" "$SEARCH_DISTANCE"; then
echo -e "\nMatched: $file"
echo "RA: $file_ra (target: $RA)"
echo "DEC: $file_dec (target: $DEC)"
cp "$file" "$OUTPUT_DIR/"
echo "Copied to $OUTPUT_DIR"
echo "----------------------------------------"
# Increment copy counter in temporary file
curr_count=$(<"$temp_count_file")
echo "$((curr_count + 1))" > "$temp_count_file"
fi
done
# Get final copy count
copied=$(<"$temp_count_file")
rm "$temp_count_file"
echo -e "\nProcessing complete!"
echo "Processed $total_files files"
echo "Copied $copied matching files to $OUTPUT_DIR"
echo "Search distance used: $SEARCH_DISTANCE"
