BEAT - Basic Experiment for Astronomical Timing

This repository hosts a small, hands-on pulsar demonstrator developed for AstroFest 2026. It records a rotating infrared source as a time series and analyses it in both time and frequency domains to reveal hidden spin periods. This playful, hands-on approach introduces concepts of pulsars, periodic signals, and Fourier analysis.

Installation

To install the required dependencies, run:

pip install -r requirements.txt

This will install: numpy (>=1.21.0), matplotlib (>=3.5.0), ipywidgets (>=7.6.0), pyserial (>=3.5), voila (>=0.3.0).

Using the Notebook with Voilà

To run the interactive notebook as a standalone web application, use Voilà. This allows you to share the app without requiring users to interact with the notebook interface.

Prerequisites

• Install Voilà: pip install voila
• Ensure you have Jupyter and the required dependencies installed (see installation instructions above).

Running the App

1. Navigate to the repository directory.

2. Run the following command:

   voila beat/notebook/BEAT.ipynb
   

   If you're using WSL on Windows, you might prefer to use the --no-browser flag to display the app link in the terminal instead of opening it in a browser automatically:

   voila beat/notebook/BEAT.ipynb --no-browser