# Finding Strain h and Merger Time

**URL:** <https://ask.igwn.org/t/finding-strain-h-and-merger-time/1121>\
**Category:** Data Analysis\
**Tags:** odw-2024\
**Created:** [October 22, 2024, 2:12pm UTC](https://ask.igwn.org/t/finding-strain-h-and-merger-time/1121 "2024-10-22T14:12:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Noor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c67d28/32.png) [@Noor](https://ask.igwn.org/u/Noor)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2024, 2:12pm UTC](https://ask.igwn.org/t/finding-strain-h-and-merger-time/1121/1 "2024-10-22T14:12:12Z")

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How can I find the strain h or the maximum strain h\_max for each event? I need to find them to use them for GWs luminosity calculations.

Another question is how to find the merger time? If I understood correctly, merger time is duration between the end of the inspiral phase and the start of the ringdown phase.

If anyone could guide me to a tutorial or explain how to find them, I would really appreciate it.

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**Author:** ![martinberoiz](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/ask.igwn.org/martinberoiz/32/11_2.png) [@martinberoiz](https://ask.igwn.org/u/martinberoiz)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2024, 4:13pm UTC](https://ask.igwn.org/t/finding-strain-h-and-merger-time/1121/2 "2024-10-22T16:13:58Z")

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Hi Noor,

This may not answer your question directly, but have you tried looking in the [tutorials](https://gwosc.org/tutorials/) on gwosc?

There is also past [Open Data Workshops](https://gw-odw.thinkific.com) available on Thinkific that you can try.

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**Author:** ![Noor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c67d28/32.png) [@Noor](https://ask.igwn.org/u/Noor)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2024, 7:48pm UTC](https://ask.igwn.org/t/finding-strain-h-and-merger-time/1121/3 "2024-10-22T19:48:23Z")

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Hi,

Thank you for your reply.

I checked the Open Data Workshop for this year, but I could not figure it out. I will try looking into the past Open Data Workshops.

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**Author:** ![Julian](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/ask.igwn.org/julian/32/408_2.png) [@Julian](https://ask.igwn.org/u/Julian)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2025, 8:46pm UTC](https://ask.igwn.org/t/finding-strain-h-and-merger-time/1121/4 "2025-01-25T20:46:49Z")

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> **[Tutorial: Discover and Download Bulk-release Strain Files](https://gwosc.org/tutorial_get_data/)**
>
> Gravitational Wave Open Science Center

here is tutorial

1. Most tools and pages on [GWOSC.org](http://GWOSC.org) use GPS time, so the first thing we should do is to convert our UTC time into GPS time. We can do so using the [GPS converter](https://gwosc.org/gps/) tool and we’ll find out that the GPS time is 1126656017. Our interval of interest will be [1126656012, 1126656022].
2. To get the data files, let’s navigate to the [bulk-release data page](https://gwosc.org/data/). From the options there, let’s choose the [O1 Data 16 KHz](https://gwosc.org/archive/O1_16KHZ/) release, which contains the time and date we’re interested in.
3. Fill out the interval of interest [1126656012, 1126656022] in the “Start Time” and “End Time” fields, select the detector and select “Time series data in HDF5 and Frame files” output option.
4. You should have been redirected to a page with only one file entry. The only thing left to do is to choose the file format (HDF5 or GW Frame) from the table to download it (~500 MB).