List of software for astronomy research and education
Listed here are software packages useful for conducting scientific research in astronomy, and for seeing, exploring, and learning about the data used in astronomy.
| Package Name | Pro | Interface | Connects to Online
(e.g. VO) Data |
Displays
or Manip. FITS Images |
Tiled Multi-Resolution All-Sky image Handling | Displays
or Manip. Spectra |
Handles Cubes
(Volumes) |
Statistics? | OS | Has API | Cost | Suppt'd
or Sold by |
website | Currently Supported? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| glue[1] | Pro | GUI and command line | Yes | Manipulates | No | Yes | Yes | Basic, plus python terminal | Mac, Win, Linux | Yes | Free | NASA (JWST), NSF | http://glueviz.org | Yes |
| WorldWide Telescope[2][3] | Pro/Am | GUI | Yes | Displays | TOAST | No | Limited | Limited (histograms) | Browser | Yes | Free | American Astronomical Society (originally by Microsoft) | http://worldwidetelescope.org/webclient | Yes |
| Google Sky | Am | GUI | Yes | Displays | Mercator | No | No | No | Browser | Yes | Free | https://www.google.com/sky/ | No | |
| IRAF[3] | Pro | GUI and command line | Yes | Display & Manipulates | No | Yes | Yes | Limited | Mac, Linux | Yes | Free | NOAO | https://iraf-community.github.io | Yes |
| ds9[3] | Pro | GUI | Yes | Manipulates | No | Yes | Limited | Limited | Mac, Win, Linux | No | Free | NASA | http://ds9.si.edu/site/Home.html | Yes |
| js9 | Pro | GUI | Yes | Manipulates | No | Yes | No | Limited | Browser | No | NASA | https://js9.si.edu | Yes | |
| Aladin | Pro | GUI and command line | Yes | Displays & Manipulates | HiPS | No | Yes | Limited (histograms) | Mac, Win, Linux | yes (java plugins) | Free | CDS | https://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/Desktop | Yes |
| Aladin Lite | Pro/Am | GUI | Yes | Displays | HiPS | No | No | No | Browser | Yes | Free | CDS | http://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/AladinLite/ | Yes |
| ESASky | Pro/Am | GUI | Yes | Displays | HiPS | No | No | No | Browser | No | Free | ESA | http://sky.esa.int | Yes |
| Starry Night | Am | GUI | No? | No | Yes | No | No | No | Mac, Win | No | $ | Simulation Curriculum Corp | http://www.starrynight.com/starry-night-7-professional-astronomy-telescope-control-software.html | Yes |
| Legacy Survey Sky Browser[4] | Pro/Am | GUI | Yes | Displays | Yes | No | No | No | Browser | No | Free | NOAO, AURA | http://legacysurvey.org/viewer | Yes |
| QFitsView | Pro | GUI and command line | No | Displays & Manipulates | No | Yes | Yes | Limited | Mac, Win, Linux | No | Free | Thomas Ott, MPE | http://www.mpe.mpg.de/~ott/dpuser/qfitsview.html | Yes |
| Gaia Sky[5] | Am | GUI and scripts | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Mac, Win, Linux | No | Free | ZAH | https://zah.uni-heidelberg.de/de/institute-des-zah/ari/gaia2/info-material-fuer-die-oeffentlichkeit-downloads/gaiasky/ | Yes |
| FITS Liberator | Pro/Am | GUI | No | Displays & Manipulates | No | No | No | No | Mac, Win | No | Free | ESA, ESO, NASA | https://spacetelescope.org/projects/fits_liberator/ | Yes |
| xTime | Pro | Utility | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Browser | No | Free | NASA Goddard | https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/Tools/xTime/xTime.pl | Yes |
| wiseview | Pro/Am | GUI | Yes | Displays & Manipulates | No | No | No | No | Browser | No | Free | Dan Caselden and Paul Westin | http://byw.tools/wiseview | Yes |
| Astropy | Pro | GUI and command line | Yes | Displays & Manipulates | Limited | Yes | Yes | Yes | based on python | Yes | Free | NumFOCUS | https://www.astropy.org/ | Yes |
| Lightkurve[6] | Pro | GUI and command line | Yes | Displays & Manipulates | No | No | No | Yes | based on python | Yes | Free | Lightkurve collaboration | https://docs.lightkurve.org/ | Yes |
| Chirp | Pro | Alert Software | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Browser, Google Play, App Store | No | Free | Aurore Simonnet, EPO Sonoma State University | http://chirp.sr.bham.ac.uk/ | Yes |
| TOPCAT[3] | Pro | GUI and command line | Yes | Displays & Manipulates | Limited | Yes | Yes(?) | Yes | Mac, Win, Linux, Solaris | Yes | Free | Developed mostly in the UK | http://www.star.bris.ac.uk/~mbt/topcat/ | Yes |
| Space Engine | Am | GUI | No | No | No | No | No | No | Mac, Win, Linux | No | $ | Vladimir Romanyuk | http://spaceengine.org/ | Yes |
| Universe Sandbox | Am | GUI | No | No | No | No | No | No | Mac, Win, Linux | No | $ | Dan Dixon | http://universesandbox.com/ | Yes |
| Astrometry.net | Pro/Am | GUI | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Browser or Mac, Win, Linux | No | Free | NSF, NASA & NRC | https://web.archive.org/web/20101015122353/http://www.astrometry.net/ | Yes |
| MIST | Pro | GUI | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Browser | No | Free | NSF, NASA & Packard Foundation | http://waps.cfa.harvard.edu/MIST/index.html | Yes |
| Banyan Σ[7] | Pro | GUI | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Browser, IDL code or python code | No | Free | Jonathan Gagné | http://www.exoplanetes.umontreal.ca/banyan/banyansigma.php | Yes |
| OpenSpace | Am | GUI | No? | No | No | No | No | No? | Mac, Win | No | Free | NASA, Knut & Alice Wallenberg Foundation, AMNH | https://www.openspaceproject.com/ | Yes |
| iDaVIE[8][9] | Pro | VR and GUI | No | Displays | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Win | No | Free | IDIA and UCT | https://idavie.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ | Yes |
| Collimation Circles | Pro/Am | GUI | No | No | No | No | No | No | Win, Mac, Linux,
Raspberry PI OS |
No | Free | Simon Šander | https://saimons-astronomy.webador.com/software/collimation-circles | Yes |
References
[edit]- ^ "glue | Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian". www.cfa.harvard.edu.
- ^ "Microsoft Research's WorldWide Telescope brings Astronomy to Life". TheWindowsClub News. 19 April 2014.
- ^ a b c d Czekala, Ian (22 April 2011). "Guide to Astrophysical Software". astrobites.
- ^ Wei, Shoulin; Song, Xiang; Zhang, Zhijian; Liang, Bo; Dai, Wei; Lu, Wei; Tao, Junxi (September 2024). "Identifying Mergers in the Legacy Surveys with Few-shot Learning". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 274 (2): 23. doi:10.3847/1538-4365/ad66ca.
- ^ Amos, Jonathan (13 June 2022). "Gaia continues quest for the ultimate sky map". Retrieved 11 January 2025.
- ^ Cardoso, José Vinícius de Miranda; Hedges, Christina; Gully-Santiago, Michael; Saunders, Nicholas; Cody, Ann Marie; Barclay, Thomas; Hall, Oliver; Sagear, Sheila; Turtelboom, Emma; Zhang, Johnny; Tzanidakis, Andy; Mighell, Ken; Coughlin, Jeff; Bell, Keaton; Berta-Thompson, Zach; Williams, Peter; Dotson, Jessie; Barentsen, Geert (1 December 2018). "Lightkurve: Kepler and TESS time series analysis in Python". Astrophysics Source Code Library: ascl:1812.013. Bibcode:2018ascl.soft12013L.
- ^ Gagné, Jonathan; Mamajek, Eric E.; Malo, Lison; Riedel, Adric; Rodriguez, David; Lafrenière, David; Faherty, Jacqueline K.; Roy-Loubier, Olivier; Pueyo, Laurent; Robin, Annie C.; Doyon, René (20 March 2018). "BANYAN. XI. The BANYAN Σ Multivariate Bayesian Algorithm to Identify Members of Young Associations with 150 pc". The Astrophysical Journal. 856 (1): 23. arXiv:1801.09051. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aaae09.
- ^ "PRESS RELEASE: Public release of the iDaVIE Virtual Reality software by the IDIA Vislab – Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy – from big data to big ideas". 1 October 2024. Retrieved 11 January 2025.
- ^ Comrie, Angus; Sivitilli, Alexander; Vitello, Fabio; Jarrett, Thomas; Marchetti, Lucia (17 March 2021). "iDaVIE-v: Immersive Data Visualisation Interactive Explorer for Volumetric Rendering". Zenodo. Bibcode:2021zndo...4614116C. doi:10.5281/zenodo.4614116.