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List of software for astronomy research and education

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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

Am

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 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 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 Google https://www.google.com/sky/ No
IRAF Pro GUI and command line Yes Display & Manipulates No Yes Yes Limited Mac, Linux Yes Free NOAO https://iraf-community.github.io Yes
ds9 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 (planetarium software) 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 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 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 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 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 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 Pro VR and GUI No Displays No Yes Yes Yes Win No Free IDIA and UCT https://idavie.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

https://vislab.idia.ac.za/tools

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