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><H1
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><A
NAME="SOFTWARE"
></A
>2. Software</H1
><P
>Software Section</P
><DIV
CLASS="SECT2"
><H2
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
NAME="AEN112"
></A
>2.1. Collections</H2
><P
>Here are some links to collections and other indexes of Linux astronomy software.</P
><P
><P
></P
><UL
><LI
><P
> <A
HREF="http://bima.astro.umd.edu/nemo/linuxastro/astromake/"
TARGET="_top"
>AstroMake</A
> is a utility intended to make installations of some common astronomical packages (in binary form) easy.
</P
></LI
><LI
><P
> <A
HREF="http://web.upm.edu.ph/~xenos/linux/linapps/linapp3.html#science"
TARGET="_top"
>Linux Applications and Utilities Page, Science and Math</A
>
</P
></LI
><LI
><P
> <A
HREF="http://www.openastro.com/"
TARGET="_top"
>Linux for Astronomy CDROM... now the Open Source Astronomy CDROM project</A
>
</P
></LI
><LI
><P
> <A
HREF="http://www.comsoc.org/vancouver/scieng.html"
TARGET="_top"
>Scientific Applications on Linux (SAL), Physics and Astronomy</A
>
</P
></LI
><LI
><P
> <A
HREF="http://www.eso.org/science/scisoft/"
TARGET="_top"
>Scisoft</A
> is a project within ESO to provide a collection of astronomical software utilities, mostly public domain tools developed outside ESO, in a uniform way at all four ESO sites. Major data-analysis packages (eg, IRAF/STSDAS, ESO-MIDAS and IDL) are included as well as many smaller utilities.
</P
></LI
><LI
><P
> The linuxastro mailing list also contains a list of applications and packages. For more information, see <A
HREF="http://bima.astro.umd.edu/nemo/linuxastro/"
TARGET="_top"
>linuxastro</A
>.
</P
></LI
><LI
><P
> <A
HREF="http://sourceforge.net/softwaremap/trove_list.php?form_cat=134"
TARGET="_top"
>Sourceforge.net astronomy software</A
>
</P
></LI
></UL
></P
><P
>If the above does not appeal to your needs, these links may help:</P
><P
><P
></P
><UL
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://www.google.com/search?q=Astronomy+Software+Linux"
TARGET="_top"
>Linux Astronomy Software from the Google Search Engine</A
> </P
></LI
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://dir.yahoo.com/Science/Astronomy/Software/"
TARGET="_top"
>Astronomy Software from the Yahoo Listings</A
> </P
></LI
></UL
></P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="SECT2"
><H2
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
NAME="AEN147"
></A
>2.2. Planetarium Programs</H2
><P
>Here is discussion of programs which run on Linux for use in finding objects,
natural and man-made, in the sky.</P
><P
><P
></P
><UL
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://www.clearskyinstitute.com/xephem/"
TARGET="_top"
>XEphem</A
> has been the pet project of one of us (Downey) for the past twenty-odd years. It has grown to become one of the more capable interactive tools for the computation of astronomical ephemerides.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://www.astrotrf.net:8080/xsky_blurb.html"
TARGET="_top"
>XSky</A
> is by Terry R. Friedrichsen, terry@venus.sunquest.com. XSky is essentially an interactive sky atlas.
</P
></LI
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://edu.kde.org/kstars/"
TARGET="_top"
>KStars</A
> is a Desktop Planetarium for KDE.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://tdc-www.harvard.edu/software/skymap.html"
TARGET="_top"
>Skymap</A
> is an astronomical mapping program written in Fortran and C for Unix workstations by Doug Mink of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Telescope Data Center.
</P
></LI
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://www.astroarts.com/products/xplns/"
TARGET="_top"
>Xplns</A
> reproduces real starry sky on your display of X Window System.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://www.icewalkers.com/Linux/Software/55990/Nightfall.html"
TARGET="_top"
>Nightfall</A
> is an astronomy application for fun, education, and science. It can produce animated views of eclipsing binary stars, calculate synthetic light curves and radial velocity curves, and eventually determine the best-fit model for a given set of observational data of an eclipsing binary star system.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://nova.sourceforge.net/"
TARGET="_top"
>NOVA</A
> free Integrated
Observational Environment for astronomers.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://stellarium.sourceforge.net/"
TARGET="_top"
>Stellarium</A
> is free GPL software which renders realistic skies in real time with openGL.</P
></LI
></UL
></P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="SECT2"
><H2
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
NAME="AEN176"
></A
>2.3. Portable and Handheld Applications</H2
><P
>The advance of palm computers has taken hold. Linux has made its way to this realm.</P
><P
><P
></P
><UL
><LI
><P
>Clear Sky Institute brings us the <A
HREF="http://www.clearskyinstitute.com/psc/"
TARGET="_top"
>Personal Sky Chart</A
> for the Sharp Zaurus PDA.</P
></LI
></UL
></P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="SECT2"
><H2
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
NAME="AEN184"
></A
>2.4. Simulators</H2
><P
>Programs that classify themselves as simulators.</P
><P
><P
></P
><UL
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://www.shatters.net/celestia/"
TARGET="_top"
>Celestia</A
> Real-time visual simulation of space for Windows and Unix(Linux)</P
></LI
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://openuniverse.sourceforge.net/"
TARGET="_top"
>OpenUniverse</A
> Simulates the Solar System bodies in 3D in Windows and Linux</P
></LI
><LI
><P
>Started in summer 2001 just as a simple collection of celestial mechanics C++ classes, the <A
HREF="http://orsa.sourceforge.net/"
TARGET="_top"
>ORSA</A
> project now collects many general classes, a graphical interface running under Linux/Unix, Mac OS X and Windows, and a number of tutorial programs. The ORSA project is under heavy development, and at the moment is beta quality software.</P
></LI
></UL
></P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="SECT2"
><H2
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
NAME="AEN198"
></A
>2.5. Image Processing</H2
><P
><P
></P
><UL
><LI
><P
>Astronomical Information Processing System (AIPS) is the heavy iron used by professional astronomers. <A
HREF="http://aips2.nrao.edu/docs/aips++.html"
TARGET="_top"
>AIPS++</A
> is the place to find out more, but note that <A
HREF="http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/aips/"
TARGET="_top"
>AIPS Classic</A
> also exists and is actively maintained.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
>Good ol' <A
HREF="http://www.gimp.org/"
TARGET="_top"
>GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP)</A
> is a fine program to use for processing of digital images of all kinds and can prove useful for astro images as well.</P
></LI
></UL
></P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="SECT2"
><H2
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
NAME="AEN209"
></A
>2.6. Mathematics</H2
><P
></P
><UL
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://www.stsci.edu/resources/software_hardware/numarray/"
TARGET="_top"
>Numarray</A
> provides array manipulation and computational capabilities similar to those found in IDL, Matlab, or Octave. Using numarray, it is possible to write many efficient numerical data processing applications directly in Python without using any C, C++ or Fortran code (as well as doing such analysis interactively within Python or PyRAF).</P
></LI
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://numpy.scipy.org/"
TARGET="_top"
>NumPy</A
> is the successor to Numarray. STScI is in the process of migrating all of its software to use numpy, and the next release of stsci_python and STSDAS/TABLES will use numpy in place of numarray.</P
></LI
></UL
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="SECT2"
><H2
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
NAME="AEN218"
></A
>2.7. Sun and Moon</H2
><P
>A surprising number of applications deal with just the Sun and Moon.</P
><P
><P
></P
><UL
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://nis-www.lanl.gov/~mgh/WindowMaker/DockApps.shtml"
TARGET="_top"
>wmMoonClock</A
> shows lunar ephemeris to fairly high accuracy and is listed at this web site along with several other interesting programs. THIS LINK APPEARS DEAD AND MIGHT BE DELETED SOON.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://www.paganlink.org/downloads/astronomy/xvmoontool.html"
TARGET="_top"
>XVMoontool</A
> is an XView application which displays information about the Moon in real time.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://www.flaterco.com/xtide/"
TARGET="_top"
>XTide</A
> is a package that provides tide and current predictions in a wide variety of formats. Graphs, text listings, and calendars can be generated, or a tide clock can be provided on your desktop.</P
></LI
></UL
></P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="SECT2"
><H2
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
NAME="AEN232"
></A
>2.8. Libraries</H2
><P
>This section discusses bits and pieces of software that can be used to form the basis for specialized projects.</P
><P
><P
></P
><UL
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://rlspc5.bnsc.rl.ac.uk/star/docs/sun67.htx/sun67.html#xref_"
TARGET="_top"
>SLALIB</A
>, part of the <A
HREF="http://star-www.rl.ac.uk/"
TARGET="_top"
>Starlink Project</A
>, is a complete library of subroutines for astrometric computations. NEWS 2007 - The Starlink Project is no longer in development, however community support is available in some fashion <A
HREF="http://star-www.rl.ac.uk/"
TARGET="_top"
>here</A
>.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://ascl.net/"
TARGET="_top"
>Astrophysics Source Code Library</A
> is a collection of links to numerical astrophysical process models.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://www.moshier.net/"
TARGET="_top"
>Astronomy and numerical software source codes</A
> is a collection of C codes related to astronomy.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://www.stjarnhimlen.se/comp/ppcomp.html"
TARGET="_top"
>How to compute planetary positions</A
>.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://dim.com/~ashe/ccd-astro.html"
TARGET="_top"
>CCD Astronomy on Linux.</A
> A library of routines that help control SBIG cameras.</P
></LI
></UL
></P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="SECT2"
><H2
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
NAME="AEN254"
></A
>2.9. Games</H2
><P
>Yes, games.</P
><P
><P
></P
><UL
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://www.google.com/search?q=Orbit+linux+space+fighter"
TARGET="_top"
>Orbit</A
> - Be a space fighter pilot in Windows or Linux. NEWS 2007 - the original site domain appears to have been lost, but archive copies are on the Internet. The link has been changed to a Google search URL.</P
></LI
></UL
></P
></DIV
><DIV
CLASS="SECT2"
><H2
CLASS="SECT2"
><A
NAME="AEN262"
></A
>2.10. Other</H2
><P
>Every list needs a miscellaneous section, and this is it for Software.</P
><P
><P
></P
><UL
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://iraf.noao.edu/"
TARGET="_top"
>IRAF</A
> is a gigantic but exceptionally capable astronomical analysis system, shepherded over the past 20-odd years by Doug Tody formally at 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.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://www.stsci.edu/resources/software_hardware/pyraf/"
TARGET="_top"
>PyRAF</A
> is a new command language for running IRAF tasks that is based on the Python scripting language. It gives users the ability to run IRAF tasks in an environment that has all the power and flexibility of Python.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://www.icewalkers.com/Linux/Software/55990/Nightfall.html"
TARGET="_top"
>Nightfall Eclipsing Binary Star Program</A
> </P
></LI
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://xplanet.sourceforge.net/"
TARGET="_top"
>Xplanet</A
> Very realistic
rendering program for Earth and other planets and moons. Uses X Windows and
OpenGL.</P
></LI
><LI
><P
><A
HREF="http://starplot.org/"
TARGET="_top"
>StarPlot</A
>
A 3-Dimensional Star Chart Viewer for Linux. Uses C++ and Gtk+.</P
></LI
></UL
></P
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