Questions tagged [software]

Questions about computer programs that assist modeling and observing the dynamics of astronomy.

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How can I join as contributor to open source code on GitHub? [closed]

I want to join as a contributor, e.g., making pull or merge requests on GitHub, in an existent open source astronomy project. How do I start? What's the typical scenario? Writing directly to the ...
nuwe's user avatar
  • 769
2 votes
1 answer
107 views

Are there any softwares which help in simulating different experiments regarding flight of aircrafts on different terrestrial planets of solar system?

I have a few experiments on aircrafts whose results I am aware of if performed on the earth's surface. However, I am searching for software(s) that can help simulate the same or other experiments on ...
Dhruv Nayak's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
213 views

Typical astronomical and astrophysical problems in various programming languages

As a rule, work in the field of observational astronomy and astrophysics requires knowledge of such programming languages as: C/C++ and the principles of OOP, MPI, CUDA. Sometimes additional ...
dtn's user avatar
  • 707
1 vote
0 answers
93 views

How to plot star map using galactic coordinates and MS Excel graphs?

For some time, I have tried to draw a star map for my story. Primarily for myself to understand the relative positions of stars, plot interstellar travels, and find home (and colony) stars of alien ...
Krišjānis Liepiņš's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
187 views

Sky coverage plot using Python/Astropy

I want to recreate a plot where the area that is not visible from a certain point on earth (latitude and longitude) trough a full year. An example of this plots for example can be: Where in white is ...
Euler's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
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What parameters about galaxies can be measured using SAO DS9?

I am trying to determine and plot various parameters for galaxies on SAO DS9. RA & dec, angular size to a fair extent, and contour plotting are a few of the aspects which I could determine using ...
Dhruv Nayak's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
78 views

Get (X, Y, Z) coordinates from Horizontal Coordinates

I'm developing a planetarium software using the Hipparcos Catalogue. I have also implemented all the formulas of the book: "Practical astronomy with your Calculator and Spreadsheet". With ...
VansFannel's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
37 views

Where can I find MITEoR 150 Mhz radio data?

I was working on the Aladin Sky Atlas v12 software and while working on the radio data, I came across this Radio sky survey that said MITEoR 150 MHz. Initially, I mistook it to be GMRT because GMRT ...
Dhruv Nayak's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
57 views

Software to create exoplanet transit lightcurves of all stars in a series of images?

There is quite a bit software out there that can be used for the transit method analysis of single stars, is there software that can do it for many simultaneously?
2080's user avatar
  • 1,858
2 votes
1 answer
119 views

How to use SExtractor to calculate Petrosian Radius?

I'm using Sextractor to run some benchmarks on the code I'm working on. I'm mainly focused on Petrosial Radius (PETRO_RADIUS). I have two main questions that I could not find in the documentation: ...
Igor Kolesnikov's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
305 views

JPL Ephemeris or Skyfield - how to get moon phase percentage (not illumination percentage)

I know how to use JPL's Horizons to get moon illumination percentage but I noticed that even at new moon, the illumination never goes to zero: ...
Bob's user avatar
  • 213
1 vote
1 answer
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orbit viewer for any date for moon

I'm aware of the NASA orbit viewer but it limits you to years > 1600 AD. Is there an orbit viewer for any date?
Bob's user avatar
  • 213
2 votes
0 answers
466 views

tool to calculate moonrise/moonset and moon phase for any date for any location

I have googled for such a solution but I have not found anything substantial: I found one website but it was someone's side hobby so my confidence in it is low. Thankfully, I have discovered ...
Bob's user avatar
  • 213
3 votes
2 answers
207 views

software library that calculates earth/moon/sun/planets positions based on the geocentric model

is there any software library that calculates earth/moon/sun/planets positions based on the geocentric model? if that exists, why is the heliocentric model the most popular?
geek's user avatar
  • 215
2 votes
1 answer
198 views

Lunar Librations and Subsolar Point in Matlab

So I have been trying to write a program to generate the latitude and longitude of the lunar subsolar point in Matlab. I have the ephemeris data from aero toolbox, but I can't seem to get values that ...
Timothy Barrett's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
221 views

creating asteroid light curves and analysing them

I came across the video Tutorial: Creating a Lightcurve of a Minor Planet linked below by Tycho Tracker, which itself is a software to build an asteroid light curve from raw images and analyse it to ...
mysterium's user avatar
  • 811
1 vote
0 answers
46 views

uvotdetect sometimes doesn't make valid .fits files for DS9 to read (Swift UVOT, Heasoft)

I have downloaded galactic center sky images from the Swift database (https://www.swift.ac.uk/swift_live/index.php#doSimpleSearch.php?catname=swiftmastr&searchpos=galactic+center&searchrad=10&...
Seda 's user avatar
  • 11
4 votes
0 answers
253 views

Software to create star maps with custom asterism lines?

I would like to be able to create star maps and charts, but define my own sets of “constellation” lines. I imagine I would need to provide an input file containing pairs of stars which would be ...
Bruce Simonson's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
84 views

Do I need ENVI if I want to just learn IDL?

I am trying to gain experience in IDL in order to do basic image data reduction techniques like stacking and aperture photometry, so I decided to purchase an IDL license, however, the license is ...
Robin's user avatar
  • 41
6 votes
4 answers
507 views

For what aspects of cosmology research can a software engineer contribute?

I'm a software engineer and I would love to learn more about cosmology by participating in this field. I'd like to change my career path closer to it and further from web programming. But I don't know ...
tmohammad78's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
120 views

Making an application to draw the night sky of other planets

I'm making an application for drawing a night sky of planets other than Earth. Ultimately my app may be used to draw a night skies of a hypothetical planets in other solar systems. I'm doing it ...
Felix.leg's user avatar
  • 221
3 votes
1 answer
189 views

What are some astrophotography editing options and strategies for taking photos of galaxies with a telescope and a cell phone?

We purchased a phone adapter for my sons telescope and got some amazing pictures, BUT we believe that they can be clearer. What is the best, or a really good, image editing program for amateur ...
SSmith3's user avatar
  • 69
3 votes
2 answers
228 views

Incorrect Mars orbital time while calculating using Kepler formula in Java

Question: I am trying to make a simple java program to do planetary orbital calculation like how many days it takes to complete the orbital along with each Earth day data but I end up getting a 4 ...
Stars Tracker's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
23 views

How to choose numeric precision when creating a file with STILTS?

I am using the STILTS command-line tools, popular in astronomical data processing, to merge many (~330k) .fits astronomic tables into 1 large table. I am doing this with the STILTS command in the ...
NeStack's user avatar
  • 313
1 vote
2 answers
66 views

Looking for an interactive star chart

First, apologies; I understand this is like a software request over at Stack Overflow. I'm looking for a star chart for a friend that likes to stargaze while in his outdoors hot tub. He is at latitude ...
Captain Giraffe's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
497 views

What objects can I search for using astropy.coordinates?

The spectacular Python package astropy allows the user to search for a celestial object using astropy.coordinates, querying ...
Jim421616's user avatar
  • 2,498
6 votes
1 answer
124 views

What image analysis approaches/algorithms are used to detect near-Earth objects?

Disclaimer: I am not an astronomer or astrophysicist. I'm a computer scientist. Astronomers collect vast amounts of image data through astronmical surveys. The data is then analysed for signs of ...
pookie's user avatar
  • 171
2 votes
0 answers
104 views

Frame used for RGB cube in SAOImage

I have RGB FITS images with NAXIS=3 so I read them into SAOImage (ds9 8.2.1). I use this command line: $ ds9 -rgbcube myimage.fits Doing so, the window is split in ...
dom_beau's user avatar
  • 121
3 votes
0 answers
63 views

Is there software that will let me calculate things like lunar phases and the position of bodies in the sky in a custom solar system?

I am constructing a fictional solar system and want to be able to calculate astronomical events and locations, like lunar phases and eclipses, plus the positions of other astronomical bodies in the ...
Lawton's user avatar
  • 131
0 votes
1 answer
88 views

Would it be a good idea to dockerize softwares in order to conduct hands-on tutorial sessions? [closed]

I am going to organize a tutorial in which I intend to train students on semi numerical simulations for reionization. Is it a good idea to supply use Docker to supply the codes? What do you think ...
Yami's user avatar
  • 89
2 votes
2 answers
166 views

Basic, learning examples of applications of CFD and MHD in astrophysics, and current research directions using these techniques?

I am an undergraduate in Physics, and I have an opportunity to work with a some of my seniors to learn Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). I would like to choose my ...
Mirae's user avatar
  • 65
1 vote
0 answers
40 views

Filtering local region in SIMBAD

I am completely new to astrophysics and currently writing a paper on Cepheid variables for high school physics. I would like to filter out all Cepheid variables in the local system which I would ...
Matthias G.'s user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
475 views

Installing IRAF

Recently I asked this question on IRAF like software that can be run in a window but it seems it is not possible. So I installed window subsystem for linux. I followed these steps to install IRAF. ...
Young Kindaichi's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
587 views

IRAF Like software that work on Window

My professor asks to me install IRAF for the photometry project but We have a hard time installing it and also I'm more comfortable with the Windows environment (because there is other software that ...
Young Kindaichi's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
96 views

Star Map Vs Star Catalogue vs Planetarium Software

What is the difference between a star map, star catalogue and the sky provided by planetarium software? I have read the wiki but was having a hard time understanding how the data, accuracy and detail ...
RBz's user avatar
  • 131
1 vote
2 answers
150 views

Opening VLA Export Format data on Windows

I recently downloaded some data from the NRAO archive. It came as a file in the "VLA export format" with the extension .xp1. From what I gather I can open this using some software called ...
alessandro's user avatar
9 votes
4 answers
791 views

Is there a term for "path of the Sun at a given point of the Earth"

I want to buy a house and I'm asking myself what quantity of daylight the various sides of the house receive. I know the house is roughly oriented in the east-west direction. But I'd like to know the ...
Floridus Floridi's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
98 views

How to place an observer in a cosmological simulation

Suppose I have a cosmological simulation with points in xyz space at a certain redshift in a cube like this: And I have these for many cubes of different redshifts say from z=0 to z=2. Now I want to ...
kauii8's user avatar
  • 326
3 votes
1 answer
373 views

Mathamatica vs Sympy and Astropy to solve basic astronomy problems: solving linear equations and unit conversion

I realize this may be slightly off topic, but I also believe this is probably the best way to get an answer to my question: What is the best combination of software packages / programming languages to ...
Nickpick's user avatar
  • 299
3 votes
1 answer
222 views

How to I calcuate observed position of the Sun and Moon using the SOFA C library?

There are a number of answers on here that skirt the topic, but no concrete answers. I currently have an implementation based on "Astronomical Algorithms by Jean Meeus" for stars, moon, and ...
EndlessDex's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
52 views

Variation in g acceleration due to gravity

I want to find a routine which will enable me to calculate the variations in g as a result of the motion of sun and moon. I need to have the date as a variable. I realise that Dennis Milbert's earth ...
davidmorley's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
199 views

Search satellite locations on the sky by date and coordinates

I would like to know what satellites, asteroids, comets, etc passed through a certain coordinate or region on the sky at a certain date. I have found sites like NASA's HORIZONS, but this searches for ...
janizer's user avatar
  • 61
3 votes
1 answer
2k views

Easy interactive visualization of orbital elements

To get a grip on orbital elements, I'd like to play with a ready interactive visualization like in Universe Sandbox. E.g. drag the inclination slider and see immediately what happens to the satellite ...
Xpector's user avatar
  • 133
1 vote
1 answer
93 views

Accurate catalogue of the Stars according to Hemisphere

I am in the need for an accurate catalogue of the stars in the Hemisphere I am currently in (or the one that I chose) and their positions at any time of the year. The more accurate the catalogue is, ...
Infinity Milestone's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
275 views

MOOG 2019 and gfortran

I've been trying to install MOOG Nov2019 (utexas, Wiki) on my desktop running OpenSUSE 13.1. I have the SM and X11 library paths copied into the makefile, and I am 3-sigma confident that they are the ...
anine's user avatar
  • 13
2 votes
0 answers
93 views

Software apps for calculating distances between planets

Are there somewhere any software apps for calculating distances between any planets in our solar system?
Anton Cristian's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
53 views

Is there any synthetic spectrum software for neutron star?

Is there any software that can calculate the emergent spectrum of a neutron star photosphere, for Teff is about 1e7K, density is above 1e21-1e22 cm^-3 ? Output line wavelength is about 0-100A is ...
Chen's user avatar
  • 339
1 vote
1 answer
136 views

trouble installing drizzlepac

I'm trying to install drizzlepac to follow this tutorial on aligning hst images: https://spacetelescope.github.io/notebooks/notebooks/DrizzlePac/align_to_catalogs/align_to_catalogs.html However, I get ...
tzirtzi's user avatar
  • 13
2 votes
2 answers
103 views

Tools for simulation of theoretical astronomical problems?

I tried looking around for open source tools that would allow me to run simulations and build on top of the code with my own need(mainly mathematical simulations, but 3D visuals would be a bonus.), ...
syncastra's user avatar
16 votes
3 answers
3k views

Is there an online planetarium where the observer is on another celestial body?

I know about in-the-sky.org and its online planetarium feature, but that's from the Earth's perspective. Is there a planetarium (preferably online but if not, that's fine) where the observer is on ...
Star Man's user avatar
  • 263