Stack Mainak's FITS tables quickly & flexibly

stack_tables.py

#!/usr/bin/env python

import glob

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from astropy.io import fits

from astropy.table import Table, vstack

'''
Make a list of FITS files. 
Insist they are sorted alphanumerically, so that our final table 
is in ascending order of HE number. 
'''

infiles = sorted(glob.glob('./*name.fits'))

# Instantiate an empty dictionary from which we will make our final table
tabledict = {}

# Populate the dictionary with Astropy Tables from each FITS files
for file in infiles:
    hdulist = fits.open(file)
    bintab = hdulist[1].data
    table = Table(bintab)
    name = table['Source'][0]
    tabledict[name] = table
    
# Create a master Astropy Table by vertically stacking a LIST of our dictionary 'values',
# which are all Astropy Table objects. Easy!
master_table = vstack(list(tabledict.values()))

# Write that new table to any file format you'd like, e.g.
master_table.write('master_table.fits', format='fits', overwrite=True)
master_table.write('master_table.txt', format='ascii', overwrite=True)
master_table.write('master_table.csv', format='csv', overwrite=True)