mirror of https://github.com/tLDP/LDP
325 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
325 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
<!doctype linuxdoc system>
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<article>
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<!-- Title information -->
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<title>Linux Astronomy HOWTO
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<author>Elwood Downey and John Huggins <tt/howto@astronomy.net/
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<date>$Revision$, $Date$
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<abstract>
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This document shares tips and resources to utilize Linux
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solutions in the pursuit of Astronomy.
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</abstract>
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<!-- Table of contents -->
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<toc>
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<!-- Beginning -->
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<sect> Introduction
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<sect1> Knowledge Required
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<p>
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With all the help from major Linux distributions such as SuSE, Redhat, Caldera and many others, Linux based systems are becoming easier to use. However, there is still some need of understanding of basic UNIX skills to make the most of Linux. Thus, this HOWTO will assume that the reader has at least a basic knowledge of using a UNIX system including the ability to compile and install programs.
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A few resources we have found useful over the years include:
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<itemize>
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<item> "A Practical Guide to the UNIX System", Mark G. Sobel
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<item> "Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment", the late W. Richard Stevens
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<item> "Running LINUX", Matt Welsh et al.
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<item> "LINUX Device Drivers", Alessandro Rubini
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</itemize>
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Similarly, this is not a tutorial or reference for astronomy principles or astronomical instrumentation. Astronomy is perhaps the grandest of all sciences, employing widely disparate disciplines in a bold attempt to understand nothing less than the universe itself. Your interests will lead in many directions. A few references we have used include:
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<itemize>
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<item> "Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac", P. Kenneth Seidelmann
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<item> "Astronomy with your Personal Computer", Peter Duffett-Smith
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<item> "Astronomy on the Personal Computer", Oliver Montenbruck et al
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<item> "Textbook on Spherical Astronomy", W. M. Smart
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<item> "The Astronomy and Astrophysics Encyclopedia", Stephen P. Maran, ed.
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</itemize>
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<sect1> Scope
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<p>
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The authors define the scope of this HOWTO as primarily an index to Linux tools applicable in some fashion to the pursuit of Astronomy. It is NOT our intention to list WWW astronomy references in general. Our own interests tend more towards the technology than the pure science and so we welcome contributions from others who have found Linux tools which contribute in other ways to Astronomy. Please contact us at the address above.
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<sect1> Version
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<p>
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$Revision$
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<p>
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$Date$
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<p>
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The latest version of this document is always available on the <url url="http://astronomy.net/" name="Astronomy Net"> at <url url="http://howto.astronomy.net/howto/Astronomy-HOWTO.html" name="Astronomy HOWTO">.
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<p>
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We eagerly accept suggestions from you. Send them to <url url="mailto:howto@astronomy.net" name="Astronomy HOWTO Editors">.
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<sect1> Copyright
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<p>
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Copyright 2000-2001 by Elwood Downey and John Huggins. This document may be distributed only subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the LDP License except that this document must not be distributed in modified form without the author's consent.
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A verbatim copy may be reproduced or distributed in any medium physical or electronic without permission of the author. Translations are similarly permitted without express permission if it includes a notice on who translated it. Commercial redistribution is allowed and encouraged; however please notify authors of any such distributions.
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Excerpts from the document may be used without prior consent provided that the derivative work contains the verbatim copy or a pointer to a verbatim copy.
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Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this document provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.
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In short, we wish to promote dissemination of this information through as many channels as possible. However, we wish to retain copyright on this HOWTO document, and would like to be notified of any plans to redistribute this HOWTO.
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<sect1> About the authors
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<p>
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Elwood Downey has over twenty years experience in software engineering for various astronomy projects. Learn more about Elwood at <url url="http://www.clearskyinstitute.com/resumes/ecdowney/resume.html" name="Clear Sky Institute">.
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<p>
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John Huggins has eleven years experience in hardware engineering including eight years associated with an astronomy project. Learn more at <url url="http://www.va.net/~jhuggins/" name="John's Site">.
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<sect> Software
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<p>
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<sect1> Collections
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<p>
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Here are some links to collections and other indexes of Linux astronomy software.
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<itemize>
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<item> <url url="http://www.randomfactory.com/lfa.html" name="The Linux for Astronomy CDROM"> </item>
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<item> <url url="http://SAL.KachinaTech.COM/Z/4/index.shtml" name="Scientific Applications on Linux (SAL), Physics and Astronomy"> </item>
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<item> <url url="http://home.xnet.com/~blatura/linapp3.html#science" name="Linux Applications and Utilities Page, Science and Math"> </item>
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<item> <url url="http://bima.astro.umd.edu/nemo/linuxastro/astromake/" name="AstroMake"> is a utility intended to make installations of some common astronomical packages (in binary form) easy.</item>
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<item> The linuxastro mailing list also contains a list of applications and packages. For more information, see <url url="http://bima.astro.umd.edu/nemo/linuxastro" name="linuxastro">.
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<item> <url url="http://sourceforge.net/softwaremap/trove_list.php?form_cat=134" name="Astronomy at sourceforge.net"> </item>
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</itemize>
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<p>
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If the above does not appeal to your needs, these links may help:
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<itemize>
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<item> <url url="http://www.google.com/search?q=Astronomy+Software+Linux" name="Linux Astronomy Software from the Google Search Engine"> </item>
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<item> <url url="http://dir.yahoo.com/Science/Astronomy/Software/" name="Astronomy Software from the Yahoo Listings"> </item>
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</itemize>
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<sect1> Planetarium Programs
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<p>
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Here is discussion of programs which run on Linux for use in finding objects,
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natural and man-made, in the sky.
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<p>
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<itemize>
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<item> <url url="http://clearskyinstitute.com/xephem/" name="XEphem"> has been the pet project of one of us (Downey) for the past 15-odd years. It has grown to become one of the more capable interactive tools for the computation of astronomical ephemerides.
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</item>
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<item> <url url="http://www.astrotrf.net:8080/xsky_blurb.html" name="XSky"> is by Terry R. Friedrichsen, terry@venus.sunquest.com. XSky is essentially an interactive sky atlas.
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</item>
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<item>
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<url url="http://tdc-www.harvard.edu/software/skymap.html" name="Skymap"> is an astronomical mapping program written in Fortran and C for unix workstations by Doug Mink of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Telescope Data Center.
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</item>
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<item>
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<url url="http://www.astroarts.com/products/xplns/" name="Xplns"> reproduces real starry sky on your display of X Window System.
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</item>
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<item>
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<url url="http://www.lsw.uni-heidelberg.de/~rwichman/Nightfall.html" name="Nightfall"> is an astronomy application for fun, education, and science. It can produce animated views of eclipsing binary stars, calculate synthetic lightcurves and radial velocity curves, and eventually determine the best-fit model for a given set of observational data of an eclipsing binary star system.
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</item>
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<item>
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<url url="http://nova.sourceforge.net" name="NOVA"> free Integrated
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Observational Environment for astronomers.
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</item>
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</itemize>
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</sect1>
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<sect1> Simulators
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<p>
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Programs that classify themselves as simulators.
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<itemize>
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<item> <url url="http://www.shatters.net/celestia/" name="Celestia"> Real-time visual simulation of space for Windows and Unix(Linux) </item>
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<item> <url url="http://openuniverse.sourceforge.net/" name="OpenUniverse"> Simulates the Solar System bodies in 3D in Windows and Linux </item>
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</itemize>
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</sect1>
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<sect1> Libraries
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<p>
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This section discusses bits and pieces of software that can be used to form the basis for specialized projects.
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<itemize>
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<item><url url="http://rlspc5.bnsc.rl.ac.uk/star/docs/sun67.htx/sun67.html#xref_" name="SLALIB">, part of the <url url="http://star-www.rl.ac.uk" name="Starlink Project">, is a complete library of subroutines for astrometric computations.
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</item>
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<item><url url="http://ascl.net" name="Astrophysics Source Code Library"> is a collection of links to numerical astrophysical process models.
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</item>
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<item><url url="http://people.ne.mediaone.net/moshier/index.html" name="Astronomy and numerical software source codes"> is a collection of C codes related to astronomy.
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</item>
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<item><url url="http://hotel04.ausys.se/pausch/comp/ppcomp.html" name="How to compute planetary positions">.
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</item>
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<item><url url="http://dimensional.com/~ashe/ccd-astro.html" name="CCD Astronomy on Linux."> A library of routines that help control SBIG cameras.
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</item>
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</itemize>
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</sect1>
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<sect1> Games
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<p>
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Yes, games.
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<itemize>
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<item> <url url="http://www.head-crash.com/orbit/" name="Orbit"> - Be a space fighter pilot in Windows or Linux.</item>
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</itemize>
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</sect1>
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<sect1> Other
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<p>
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Every list needs a miscellaneous section, and this is it for Software.
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<itemize>
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<item> <url url="http://iraf.noao.edu" name="IRAF"> is a gigantic but exceptionally capable astronomical analysis system, shepherded over the past 20-odd years by Doug Tody of NOAO. It has accumulated innumerable authoritative contributions from leading astronomers in all areas of astronomical data analysis. If you have a serious interest in astronomical data reduction and significant time to invest, this system will reward you mightily.
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<item> <url url="http://www.lsw.uni-heidelberg.de/~rwichman/Nightfall.html" name="Nightfall Eclipsing Binary Star Program"> </item>
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<item>
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<url url="http://xplanet.sourceforge.net" name="Xplanet"> Very realistic
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rendering program for Earth and other planets and moons. Uses X Windows and
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OpenGL.
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</item>
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<item>
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<url url="http://www.princeton.edu/~kmccarty/starplot.html" name="StarPlot">
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A 3-Dimensional Star Chart Viewer for Linux. Uses C++ and Gtk+.
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</item>
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</itemize>
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</sect1>
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</sect>
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<sect> Online Tools
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<p>
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I know we said we would not start listing Web sites, but here are a few links
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to sites which offer fully operational tools running online that we feel are
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especially useful or interesting, from a browser on any platform.
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<sect1> Traditional Form Based Programs
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<p>
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<itemize>
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<item> <url url="http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneYear.html" name="Sun and Moon Rise and Set calculator"> </item>
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<item> <url url="http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/WebMICA_2.html" name="Web version of MICA"> </item>
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<item> <url url="http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/eph" name="JPL Ephemeris Generator"> </item>
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<item> <url url="http://space.jpl.nasa.gov" name="Solar System Simulator"></item>
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</itemize>
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</sect1>
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<sect1> Java Applets
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<p>
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<itemize>
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<item> <url url="http://www.sweethome.de/giesen/GeoAstro/GeoAstro.html" name="GeoAstro Applet Collection by Juergen Giesen"></item>
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<item> <url url="http://aladin.u-strasbg.fr" name="Aladin Interactive Sky Atlas"> </item>
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<item> <url url="http://www.astro.queensu.ca/~dursi/dm-tutorial/cluster-sim.html" name="Cluster simulator"> </item>
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<item> <url url="http://www.phys.vt.edu/~jhs/SIP" name="Sky Image Processor"> </item>
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<item> <url url="http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/RealTime/JTrack/3d/JTrack3D.html" name="J-Track 3D - Satellite Tracking"></item>
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</itemize>
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</sect1>
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</sect>
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<sect> Astronomical Images over the web
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<p>
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Much effort exists to allow access to Astronomical image file type such as FITS from any web browser. Here are some pointers.
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<sect1> List
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<p>
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The folks at harvard have a list of Image Servers and Image Browsers.
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<itemize>
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<item>
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<url url="http://tdc-www.harvard.edu/astro.image.html" name="Astronomical Images Over the Web">
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</item>
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</itemize>
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<sect> Organizations
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<p>
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<itemize>
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<item>
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The yearly <url url="http://hea-www.harvard.edu/adass" name="Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems, ADAAS,"> Conference Series provides a forum for scientists and computer specialists concerned with algorithms, software and operating systems in the acquisition, reduction and analysis of astronomical data. The program includes invited talks, contributed papers and poster sessions as well as user group meetings and special interest meetings ("BOFs''). All these activities aim to encourage communication between software specialists and users, and also to stimulate further development of astronomical software and systems.
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</item>
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<item>
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The linuxastro mailing list, linuxastro@majordomo.cv.nrao.edu, is for people who are interested in porting astronomical software to linux. For more information, see <url url="http://bima.astro.umd.edu/nemo/linuxastro" name="linuxastro">.
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</item>
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</itemize>
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<sect> Hardware Control
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<p>
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More folks are using Linux to control equipment. Users range from amateur astronomers in the field to professional observatories.
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<sect1> Telescope Control
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<p>
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<itemize>
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<item>
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<url url="http://www.torusoptics.com/OCAAS.htm" name="OCAAS"> is a complete Observatory Control and Astronomical Analysis System for Linux.
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</item>
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<item>
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<url url="http://clearskyinstitute.com/xephem" name="XEphem"> has the capability to communicate with a telescope control daemon process.
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</item>
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</itemize>
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<sect1> CCD Camera Control
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<p>
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<itemize>
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<item>
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<url url="http://www.apogee-ccd.com/software.html" name="Apogee Instruments Inc"> supports their line of professional CCD cameras under Linux.
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</item>
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<url url="http://www.sbig.com/sbwhtmls/linux_announcement.htm" name="SBIG"> offers some assistance with operating their ST7 and ST8 CCD cameras under Linux.
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</item>
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<item>
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<url url="http://dimensional.com/~ashe/ccd-astro.html" name="CCD Astronomy on Linux"> These pages describe a number of facets of using astronomical CCD cameras for image acquisition and processing under Linux.
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</item>
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</itemize>
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<sect> Installation Help
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<p>
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You need to know what you're doing with Linux and installing programs, but help is available for some programs. Here are some ways to make life easier.
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<itemize>
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<item>
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<url url="http://bima.astro.umd.edu/nemo/linuxastro/astromake/" name="AstroMake">
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is is a utility intended to make installations of some common astronomical packages (in binary form) easy.
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</item>
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<item>
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XEphem requires several elements to exist on your machine. Life is much simpler with the CDROM version of the program as it contains an installation script which loads the appropriate precompiled binary for most systems and places all auxiliary files to the correct spots. See <url url="http://www.clearskyinstitute.com/ecommerce/xephem/order.html" name="XEphem CDROM">
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</item>
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</itemize>
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<sect> Projects using Linux
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<p>
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Here is a list of astronomy projects using Linux in whole or in part of their instrumentation:
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<itemize>
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<url url="http://www.chara.gsu.edu/CHARA/index.html" name="The CHARA Array"> is an optical interferometer project using Linux in their control system.
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</item>
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<item>
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<url url="http://www.eso.org/projects/caos" name="CAOS"> Club of Amateurs in
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Optical Spectroscopy.
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</item>
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</itemize>
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<!-- Ending -->
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</article>
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