Astropy

Astropy
Developer(s) The Astropy Collaboration
Stable release
1.1.2 / March 10, 2016 (2016-03-10)
Repository github.com/astropy/astropy
Written in Python, C
Operating system Cross-platform
Type Technical computing
License BSD-new license
Website www.astropy.org

The Astropy Project is a collection of software packages written in the Python programming language and designed for use in astronomy.[1] The software is a single, free, core package for astronomical utilities due to the increasingly widespread usage of Python by astronomers, and to foster interoperability between various extant Python astronomy packages.[2] Astropy is included in several large Python distributions; it is part of package managers for Linux and OS X,[3][4][5] the Anaconda Python Distribution, Enthought Canopy and Ureka.[6]

Core functionality

Core data structures and operations

File I/O

Computational utilities

Affiliated packages

A major part of the Astropy project is the concept of "affiliated packages”. An affiliated package is an astronomy-related Python package that is not part of the astropy core but has been suggested for inclusion as part of the project’s community. Such packages are intended to improve reuse, interoperability, and interface standards for Python astronomy and astrophysics packages. Current affiliated packages include:[11]

A few additional affiliated packages are currently in development, including:

Development

Around the turn of the millennium the Space Telescope Science Institute started development of Python-based utilities to extend or substitute existing astronomical data analysis tools on a modern, object-oriented platform. Among the first projects were a replacement of the Command Language for IRAF with the Pyraf frontend,[12] and the PyFITS interface to the Flexible Image Transport System.[13] Since the existing Numeric module for handling vectors and arrays in Python turned out to be inadequate for large astronomical datasets, a new library better tuned for large array sizes was subsequently developed at STScI. Both libraries were merged into a new array package by Travis Oliphant in 2005-2006, creating NumPy, the now de facto standard for numerical data handling in Python.[14] In the following years the existing software packages maintained by STScI as part of their stsci_python suite were ported to Numpy as well. This together with the more extensive SciPy computing environment provided a platform to develop customized scripts and applications for a variety of astronomical tasks.

By 2011, the use of Python in astronomy had reached significant levels. At the 2012 .Astronomy meeting, 42% of attendees (a plurality) preferred Python according to an informal survey.[2] Many astronomy-related Python packages have been developed over the years, however without cooperation or coordination, which led to duplication and difficult interoperability between packages. There was also no easy way install all the required packages needed in an astronomer’s toolkit. A number of smaller packages are sometimes no longer maintained or unavailable, detrimental to long-term research programs and reproducibility. The Astropy project started in 2011, motivated by these existing difficulties and a desire to unite developers throughout the field of astronomy to coordinate the development of a unified set of Python modules for astronomers and reduce the confusion of available packages.[1]

The Space Telescope Science Institute, operators of the Hubble Space Telescope, are merging the work on Astropy into stsci_python releases. PyFITS and PyWCS will be maintained solely within Astropy, with separate releases of these packages stopping, after the next release. PyFITS has been included as part of the Astropy project, as a result, the next release of STScI_Python will depend on Astropy for the PyFITS library instead of using this standalone release. Thus, future Hubble Space Telescope science and images will depend upon Astropy.[15]

Use

Video sources

There are several videos recorded in seminars and conferences. These are intended to help beginners learn how Astropy works. The July 9–11, 2012 .Astronomy 4 meeting held a session on Astropy.[22]

Institutional users and developers

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Astropy Collaboration (2013). "Astropy: A community Python package for astronomy". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 558: A33. arXiv:1307.6212Freely accessible. Bibcode:2013A&A...558A..33A. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201322068.
  2. 1 2 Simpson, Robert A.; et al. (2013). "Unproceedings of the Fourth .Astronomy Conference, Heidelberg, Germany, July 9-11 2012". arXiv:1301.5193Freely accessible [astro-ph.IM].
  3. "Package: python-astropy (0.2.4-3)". Debian.
  4. "py-astropy 0.2.5". MacPorts.
  5. "astropy-py33". Fink.
  6. "Ureka Sources". Gemini Observatory/Space Telescope Science Institute.
  7. "ATPy". Retrieved 2013-11-05.
  8. Greisen, E. W.; Calabretta, M. R. (2002). "Representations of world coordinates in FITS". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 395 (3): 1061. arXiv:astro-ph/0207407Freely accessible. Bibcode:2002A&A...395.1061G. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20021326.
  9. Mark Calabretta. "WCSLIB". CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility. Retrieved November 15, 2013.
  10. "PyFITS". Space Telescope Science Institute.
  11. The Astropy collaboration (2012). "About affiliated packages". astropy. Retrieved November 6, 2013.
  12. Greenfield, P.; White, R. L. (2000). "A New CL for IRAF Based On Python". ASP Conference Series. 216: 59. Bibcode:2000ASPC..216...59G. ISBN 1-58381-047-1.
  13. Barrett, P. E.; Bridgman, W. T. (2000). "PyFITS, a Python FITS Module". ASP Conference Series. 216: 67. Bibcode:2000ASPC..216...67B. ISBN 1-58381-047-1.
  14. "History of SciPy". scipy.org. Archived from the original on 2013-11-12.
  15. "STScI_Python 2.14 Release Notes". Space Telescope Science Institute.
  16. Tody, D.; Fitzpatrick, M. J.; Graham, M.; Young, W. (2013). "Scripting the Virtual Observatory in Python" (PDF). American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts. 221: #240.34. Bibcode:2013AAS...22124034T.
  17. "Subaru Telescope HSC Wide Field Corrector completed".
  18. "AStute".
  19. Roehlly, Y.; Burgarella, D.; Buat, V.; Boquien, M.; Ciesla, L.; Heinis, S. (2013). "pcigale: porting Code Investigating Galaxy Emission to Python". arXiv:1309.6366Freely accessible [astro-ph.IM].
  20. Singer, L. P.; et al. (2013). "Discovery and redshift of an optical afterglow in 71 square degrees: iPTF13bxl and GRB 130702A". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 776 (2): L34. arXiv:1307.5851Freely accessible. Bibcode:2013ApJ...776L..34S. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/776/2/L34.
  21. Allen, A.; et al. (2013). "Using the Astrophysics Source Code Library". American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts. 221: #240.01. Bibcode:2013AAS...22124001A.
  22. ".Astronomy 4". Retrieved 2012-07-11.

External links

Publications

Books and scientific publications citing Astropy

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