DFT Period Finder

submitted by Daniel H. Kaiser

This program is based on an Astronomical Computing article written by Emilia P. Belserene, Maria Mitchell Observatory, published in Sky & Telescope, September 1988, page 288. This is a program designed to search for the unknown period of a variable star using a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) analysis. To understand its proper use it is necessary to refer to this article.

The program, DFT.EXE, has been enhanced and complied in C by R. L. Scholtz.

DFT. EXE will read and write data files. This was done so that data can be generated by and results read by a spreadsheet, thus saving laborious data entry. The input file DFT-243.DAT is included as an example. The 243 file extension notes that there are 243 pairs of data in the file, information the program will prompt you for.

Although the program was designed for photoelectric data, it will work with reasonably accurate visual data. In fact, DFT-243.DAT is visual data collected over the last 5 years on this newly discovered variable. Look for a period between 400 to 500 days.

Download DFT.ZIP (26k ZIP file)