tvet is a Python package for visualization and analysis of asteroid shape models and their light curves. It computes mesh geometry, photometric cosines, fluxes, and light curves using selectable scattering laws. The tool also supports plotting light curves and interactive visualization of asteroid geometry and photometric data.

Installation

tvet is available on PyPI, download with:

pip install tvet

CLI usage

After installation, you can use the tvet command-line tool:

tvet --help

tvet asteroid.obj

tvet --jpl 103 --start 2026-02-16T00:00 --stop 2026-02-17T00:00 --step 10m

tvet --damit 10809

tvet asteroid.obj --jpl 103 --start 2026-02-16T00:00 --stop 2026-02-17T00:00 --step 10m

tvet --damit 10809 --jpl 103 --start 2026-02-16T00:00 --stop 2026-02-17T00:00 --step 10m

Options

  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -j, --jpl JPL_ID      JPL Horizons body id (integer)
  -d, --damit DAMIT_ID  DAMIT asteroid/model id (integer)
  --s S                 Incident light vector, e.g. '1,0,0'
  --o O                 Observer vector, e.g. '0,0,1'
  --scattering {lambert,lommel,hapke}
                        Scattering law to use: lambert, lommel, or hapke (default: lambert)
  --geometry            Returns centers and normals of the asteroid triangle mesh and saves them to out/centers.txt and out/normals.txt
  --cosines             Returns mu_i and mu_e and saves them to out/mu_i.txt and out/mu_e.txt
  --fluxes              Returns phi_i, phi_e, and total flux and saves them to out/phi_i.txt, out/phi_e.txt, and out/total_flux.txt
  --spin L B PERIOD EPOCH PHI0
                        Spin state: l, b, period, epoch, phi0. Example: --spin 4.0 0.0 1.2 1.57 0.0
  -l, --light-curve     Save the asteroid light curve points to out/light_curve.txt and plot the light curve
  -i, --interactive-plot
                        Plot the interactive asteroid geometry and light curve
  --shininess SHININESS
                        Shininess factor for the asteroid surface
  --wireframe-width WIREFRAME_WIDTH
                        Width of the wireframe lines
  --start START_TIME    Ephemeris start time (e.g. 2026-02-16T00:00)
  --stop STOP_TIME      Ephemeris stop time (e.g. 2026-02-17T00:00)
  --step STEP_SIZE      Ephemeris step size (e.g. 10m, 1h, 1d)
  --observer-center OBSERVER_CENTER
                        Horizons center for observer (default: 500@399)
  --sun-center SUN_CENTER
                        Horizons center for Sun (default: 500@10)
  --timeout TIMEOUT     Horizons request timeout in seconds (default: 30)
  -v, --verbose [VERBOSE]
                        Show preview of first n elements (defaults to 3)
  -q, --quiet           Suppress all stdout output (files are still saved)
  --no-save             Do not create output files/directories
  --no-normalize        Disable normalization of all vectors before computation

For more details, see the Key concepts.

Resources

• Key concepts (explains all key concepts used in tvet)
• Dokumentace v češtině