Prune Branches

Learn how to prune branches from gridded skeleton results to create a branchless structure (spine).

Pruning a Skeleton

To prune branches from a skeleton file and save the resulting spine:

from crispy.pruning import Skeleton

# Define input and output file paths
skel_file = "ridge_skel.fits"   # Gridded skeleton file
spine_file = "ridge_spine.fits" # Output file for pruned skeleton (spine)

# Load the skeleton and prune branches
skel_obj = Skeleton.Skeleton(skel_file)
skel_obj.prune_from_scratch()

# Save the pruned skeleton to a file
skel_obj.save_pruned_skel(spine_file, overwrite=True)

Note

The 2D and 3D pruning algorithm in this module is based on the 2D algorithm from the FilFinder software. If you use this feature, please cite:

Koch & Rosolowsky. “FilFinder: Filamentary structure in molecular clouds.” (2016).

Output

The pruned file, saved as ridge_spine.fits, contains the branchless skeleton (spine). It is compatible with common FITS viewers like SAOImage DS9 or analysis tools such as astropy. The 3D images can also be quickly visualized using CRISPy’s tools (see Visualize).