Introduction

SPECIES is a code written mostly in Python, that computes stellar parameters from high resolution echelle spectra. The code measures the equivalent width of the given spectra (more details on the accepted spectra in the input files section), and solves the local thermodynamic equilibrium equation for a set of temperature, metallicity, surface gravity and microturbulent velocity. It then uses those values to compute the macroturbulent and rotational velocities, and the physical parameters (like mass and age, among others), as well as their respective uncertainties.

This present document is intended to help users understand how to perform the calculation of the parameters with SPECIES, and understanding the results and corresponding files. For an explanation of the methods used to compute the parameters, please read Soto et al. 2018.

(SPECIES went through some major changes. If you installed SPECIES before September 2020, please update all the packages and make sure you include the MOOGPATH in your bash file (see the Installation page). It is not necessary to reinstall ARES or MOOG).

This is a replacement for the User Manual, which is outdated.