diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 133f007f2843272d5a3408b238bbc9131596d89a..152682c39b412926003554e77705648222a71595 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ VNP*.nc
 
 *.vscode
 
-
 ancillary.c
 viz.py
 .coverage
@@ -18,4 +17,9 @@ dev
 __pycache__
 notebooks/
 
-env/
\ No newline at end of file
+env/
+.idea/
+.pytest_cache/
+.ipynb_checkpoints/
+
+
diff --git a/mvcm/main_prep_only.py b/mvcm/main_prep_only.py
index d6c5be0918e8fc95df1b1013cb6bd68e77adec7b..f5c2d0f5f98cf25b39fa78633b7d245a388ed862 100644
--- a/mvcm/main_prep_only.py
+++ b/mvcm/main_prep_only.py
@@ -6,11 +6,13 @@ import os
 from datetime import datetime as dt
 
 try:
-    from memory_profiler import profile        # real decorator
-except ImportError:                            # no-op fallback
-    def profile(func):                         # type: ignore[misc]
+    from memory_profiler import profile  # real decorator
+except ImportError:  # no-op fallback
+
+    def profile(func):  # type: ignore[misc]
         return func
 
+
 import numpy as np
 import psutil
 import xarray as xr
@@ -196,12 +198,6 @@ def main(
         satellite, sensor, file_names, thresholds, hires=use_hires, use_sipsanc=use_sipsanc
     )
 
-    if np.all(pixel_type.day == 0):
-        logger.info("no day pixels found, likely a night granule, exiting")
-        attrs = {"version": _VERSION, "satellite": "VIIRS", "sensor": "VIIRS"}
-        save_output(None, attrs, out_file, compression=5, debug=debug, shape=lat_shape)
-        return
-
     logger.info(f"Memory usage #3: {proc.memory_info().rss / 1e6} MB")
 
     with xr.open_dataset(file_names["MOD02"]) as vnp02:
diff --git a/mvcm/main_tests_only.py b/mvcm/main_tests_only.py
index 06afab1482956b447bb7a0811433589d5c98483e..129bcc1ecd87eba91cd5be841b586d62a4a7750f 100644
--- a/mvcm/main_tests_only.py
+++ b/mvcm/main_tests_only.py
@@ -89,11 +89,6 @@ def main(
             logger.info("no day pixels found, likely a night granule, exiting")
             return
 
-    pxl = xr.open_dataset(pixel_data)
-    if np.all(pxl.day == 0):
-        logger.info("no day pixels found, likely a night granule, exiting")
-        return
-
     with open(threshold_file) as f:
         text = f.read()
     thresholds = YAML(typ="safe").load(text)