From hack at stsci.edu Fri Nov 13 10:38:13 2009 From: hack at stsci.edu (Warren J. Hack) Date: Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:38:13 -0500 Subject: [AstroPy] TABLES/STSDAS v3.11 and STScI_Python v2.9 now available Message-ID: <4AFD7D65.60405@stsci.edu> ******************************************************* TABLES/STSDAS v3.11 and STSCI_PYTHON v2.9 NOW AVAILABLE ******************************************************* The Science Software Branch of the Space Telescope Science Institute wishes to announce the availability of version 3.11 of the Space Telescope Science Data Analysis Software (STSDAS). Concurrent with the STSDAS release, we have also released v3.11 of the TABLES external package. Both of these packages are layered upon IRAF as external packages; it is therefore necessary to obtain and install IRAF (from http://iraf.noao.edu) before installing TABLES and STSDAS. STSDAS is linked against libraries in TABLES, so TABLES must be installed before STSDAS. This release of STSDAS contains changes to NICMOS, ACS, WFPC/CALWP2, COS, WFC3, and the Dither packages. This release includes the same versions of the calibration software used in the pipeline to support all active HST instruments after Servicing Mission 4, including the new instrument Wide Field Camera 3(WFC3) and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph(COS). STSDAS also includes some Python-based tasks; running these requires the STScI Python Libraries to be installed (all the non-Python tasks can be used in the traditional way and do not require Python or the STScI Python libraries). These tasks can only be run from PyRAF using standard IRAF CL task syntax, or within Python scripts using Python syntax. The Science Software Branch of STScI also wishes to announce the availability of version 2.9 of STSCI_PYTHON. Stsci_python is a collection of Python modules, packages and C extensions that has been developed to provide a general astronomical data analysis infrastructure. They can be used for Python tasks that are accessible from within STSDAS when running under PyRAF or standalone from within Python. All tasks in this release of STScI_Python rely on the use of numpy for array operations. All references to numarray and Numeric have been removed from the code, with support no longer being provided for use of numarray or Numeric. This distribution continues to develop packages with tasks specific to each HST instrument, with updates being made to code for NICMOS and COS. This release also contains an updated version of Multidrizzle and PyDrizzle as used by the HST ACS and WFPC2 pipelines, along with significantly updated versions of PyFITS and PyRAF. Use of the Python tasks requires upgrading to this version of STSCI_PYTHON. No More support for numarray ============================ Numarray is no longer used by tasks within STScI_Python. You are advised to migrate to numpy to use this release, as no further support will be provided for the use of numarray. Information on making the switch to numpy from numarray can be found in this document: http://www.stsci.edu/resources/software_hardware/numarray/numarray2numpy.pdf Platform Support ================ This release does not contain STSDAS/Tables binaries for PowerPC Macintosh systems. However, there are no known reasons why a user could not build this package from source code on a PowerPC using the installation instructions for STSDAS. STSDAS/Tables Binaries for this release were built on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, Solaris 5.8, and Mac OS X 10.5 (Intel architecture only). STSDAS/Tables Binaries were built with IRAF 2.14, except for Solaris, which were built with IRAF 2.12.2a. IRAF is available from http://iraf.net. In addition, this distribution of STScI_Python was tested to correctly support installation on Linux, Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard), and Solaris (with some limitations for PyRAF), while also being provided (without PyRAF) for installation under Windows. STSCI_Python on WINDOWS ======================= This release includes a port of stsci_python that runs natively under Windows. Although IRAF is now available for running under Cygwin, PyRAF is not yet available for use under Windows. This means that, in this release, all the tasks in the STScI_Python distribution will be run under Python (or preferably, IPython) on Windows using Python syntax rather than a parameter-based interface provided by PyRAF and IRAF. The primary requirement is that the Windows executables were built against and, therefore, can run only under Python 2.5. WHERE TO OBTAIN THIS SOFTWARE ============================= STSDAS/TABLES v3.11 can be downloaded from the STSDAS web site http://www.stsci.edu/resources/software_hardware/stsdas/download Installation instructions are available on the web site. Precompiled binaries also exist for some of the ports supported by NOAO, including Sun Solaris, RedHat Linux and Mac OS X. STSCI_PYTHON v 2.9 be downloaded from the PyRAF web site http://www.stsci.edu/resources/software_hardware/pyraf/stsci_python/current/download Installation instructions are available from the PyRAF web site, with support for installations on Sun Solaris, RedHat Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. Please contact us through e-mail (help at stsci.edu), by telephone at (410) 338-1082. From astropython at gmail.com Mon Nov 23 08:42:01 2009 From: astropython at gmail.com (Astronomical Python) Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:42:01 -0500 Subject: [AstroPy] IDLSave 0.9.2 Message-ID: I am happy to announce the availability of IDLSave 0.9.2. IDLSave is a pure python module to import variables from IDL ?save? files into python, and does not require IDL to work. It has a very simple command-line interface, and converts all IDL variables to Python types. Arrays are converted to Numpy arrays, and structures are converted to Numpy record arrays. Since I announced the original 0.9.0 release a month ago on this list, the main changes are that IDL structures are now converted to Numpy recarrays, and several bugs relating to unsigned 8-bit integers have been fixed. More information and download/installation instructions are available at http://idlsave.sourceforge.net/ Please let me know if you encounter any problems, or have any suggestions, Best regards, Thomas Robitaille From sierra_mtnview at sbcglobal.net Tue Nov 24 16:21:52 2009 From: sierra_mtnview at sbcglobal.net (Wayne Watson) Date: Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:21:52 -0800 Subject: [AstroPy] Meteor Methods--Atmospheric Trajectories, PC Book on Astronmy Message-ID: <4B0C4E70.5060608@sbcglobal.net> Is anyone familiar with some of the mathematical methods for calculating atmospheric trajectories for two stations. Have they been implemented in Python? There's a computer book with the title something like PC Computations for Astronomy. (Ah, Astronomy for the Personal Computer) I believe the latest version provides methods for C++, and earlier editions for older languages. In one of the later chapters the authors delve into what I think is called plate reduction. (Ah, the chapter is titled Astrometry.) The idea is that an image of the night sky is provided and a catalog is examined to identify stars on the image. Has anyone implemented the various algorithms used for this in Python? -- Wayne Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA) (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time) Obz Site: 39? 15' 7" N, 121? 2' 32" W, 2700 feet 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 Make the number famous. See 350.org The major event has passed, but keep the number alive. Web Page: From pebarrett at gmail.com Tue Nov 24 19:02:29 2009 From: pebarrett at gmail.com (Paul Barrett) Date: Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:02:29 -0500 Subject: [AstroPy] Meteor Methods--Atmospheric Trajectories, PC Book on Astronmy In-Reply-To: <4B0C4E70.5060608@sbcglobal.net> References: <4B0C4E70.5060608@sbcglobal.net> Message-ID: <40e64fa20911241602p707fecbbw9cfa743401ba1ce3@mail.gmail.com> Wayne, I am not familiar with the book, but your comment about astrometry caught my eye. We are currently implementing the plate reduction methods as part of our work, actually on a much larger scale, of order one million images. These calculations should be easy to do in Python for just a few images. The important point is to properly set up the arrays. You can then use the routines in scipy to do the least squares adjustment. I might be able to help if you can describe you problem in more detail. -- Paul On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 4:21 PM, Wayne Watson wrote: > Is anyone familiar with some of the mathematical methods for calculating > atmospheric trajectories for two stations. Have they been implemented in > Python? > > There's a computer book with the title something like PC Computations > for Astronomy. (Ah, Astronomy for the Personal Computer) I believe the > latest version provides methods for C++, and earlier editions for older > languages. In one of the later chapters the authors delve into what I > think is called plate reduction. (Ah, the chapter is titled Astrometry.) > The idea is that an image of the night sky is provided and a catalog is > examined to identify stars on the image. Has anyone implemented the > various algorithms used for this in Python? > > -- > ? ? ? ? ? Wayne Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA) > > ? ? ? ? ? ? (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time) > ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Obz Site: ?39? 15' 7" N, 121? 2' 32" W, 2700 feet > > ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 > ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Make the number famous. See 350.org > ? ? ? ? ? ?The major event has passed, but keep the number alive. > > ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Web Page: > > _______________________________________________ > AstroPy mailing list > AstroPy at scipy.org > http://mail.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/astropy > From sierra_mtnview at sbcglobal.net Wed Nov 25 10:52:48 2009 From: sierra_mtnview at sbcglobal.net (Wayne Watson) Date: Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:52:48 -0800 Subject: [AstroPy] Meteor Methods--Atmospheric Trajectories, PC Book on Astronmy In-Reply-To: <40e64fa20911241602p707fecbbw9cfa743401ba1ce3@mail.gmail.com> References: <4B0C4E70.5060608@sbcglobal.net> <40e64fa20911241602p707fecbbw9cfa743401ba1ce3@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <4B0D52D0.6040200@sbcglobal.net> Perhaps the best way is to refer you to the 2009 edition of the book. You'll be using the Amazon Search Book facility. They've made it a bit harder to use, perhaps, but the paragraph below will let you piece together the critical pages in the astrometry section. I have some these pages copied from a much earlier book, and this section has definitely been expanded. The ppmcat portion I finally direct you looks like a big improvement on the tiny catalog they used in an earlier edition. See the Look Inside icon on the upper left and enter the word astrometry when the small dialog window opens up. You will then see the first page that shows that word. Use the right button to go to the next result. That is the page that's the start of chapter 12. Now use the right arrow to move through the pages. I can only get through the first three pages, but you'll begin to see what they are doing. To go further, do this. Go back to the search dialog and enter "plate reduction" (no quotes). Skip to the second result and you should be on page 254. Now use the arrow to go to successive pages. You'll get some more info about what they are doing. If you care to go on, go back to find again and enter squares adjustment. Move via next button to 256, then move ahead one page at a time. By then you should have a good idea of what this is about. To get a summary of that section use ppmcat for find. Some of the summary pages are blocked, but at least you'll get some idea what all this produces. Paul Barrett wrote: > Wayne, > > I am not familiar with the book, but your comment about astrometry > caught my eye. We are currently implementing the plate reduction > methods as part of our work, actually on a much larger scale, of order > one million images. These calculations should be easy to do in Python > for just a few images. The important point is to properly set up the > arrays. You can then use the routines in scipy to do the least squares > adjustment. > > I might be able to help if you can describe you problem in more detail. > > -- Paul > > On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 4:21 PM, Wayne Watson > wrote: > >> Is anyone familiar with some of the mathematical methods for calculating >> atmospheric trajectories for two stations. Have they been implemented in >> Python? >> >> There's a computer book with the title something like PC Computations >> for Astronomy. (Ah, Astronomy for the Personal Computer) I believe the >> latest version provides methods for C++, and earlier editions for older >> languages. In one of the later chapters the authors delve into what I >> think is called plate reduction. (Ah, the chapter is titled Astrometry.) >> The idea is that an image of the night sky is provided and a catalog is >> examined to identify stars on the image. Has anyone implemented the >> various algorithms used for this in Python? >> >> -- >> Wayne Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA) >> >> (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time) >> Obz Site: 39? 15' 7" N, 121? 2' 32" W, 2700 feet >> >> 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 >> Make the number famous. See 350.org >> The major event has passed, but keep the number alive. >> >> Web Page: >> >> _______________________________________________ >> AstroPy mailing list >> AstroPy at scipy.org >> http://mail.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/astropy >> >> > > -- Wayne Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA) (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time) Obz Site: 39? 15' 7" N, 121? 2' 32" W, 2700 feet 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 Make the number famous. See 350.org The major event has passed, but keep the number alive. Web Page: From sierra_mtnview at sbcglobal.net Mon Nov 30 13:26:09 2009 From: sierra_mtnview at sbcglobal.net (Wayne Watson) Date: Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:26:09 -0800 Subject: [AstroPy] Meteor Methods--Atmospheric Trajectories, PC Book on Astronmy In-Reply-To: <4B0D52D0.6040200@sbcglobal.net> References: <4B0C4E70.5060608@sbcglobal.net> <40e64fa20911241602p707fecbbw9cfa743401ba1ce3@mail.gmail.com> <4B0D52D0.6040200@sbcglobal.net> Message-ID: <4B140E41.6000302@sbcglobal.net> I sent a follow up msg that would make this easier; however, the moderator is holding on to it. It had attachments. Wayne Watson wrote: > Perhaps the best way is to refer you to the 2009 edition of the book. > You'll be using the Amazon Search Book facility. They've made it a bit > harder to use, perhaps, but the paragraph below will let you piece > together the critical pages in the astrometry section. I have some these > pages copied from a much earlier book, and this section has definitely > been expanded. The ppmcat portion I finally direct you looks like a big > improvement on the tiny catalog they used in an earlier edition. > > > See the Look Inside icon on the upper left and enter the word astrometry > when the small dialog window opens up. You will then see the first page > that shows that word. Use the right button to go to the next result. > That is the page that's the start of chapter 12. Now use the right arrow > to move through the pages. I can only get through the first three pages, > but you'll begin to see what they are doing. To go further, do this. Go > back to the search dialog and enter "plate reduction" (no quotes). Skip > to the second result and you should be on page 254. Now use the arrow to > go to successive pages. You'll get some more info about what they are > doing. If you care to go on, go back to find again and enter squares > adjustment. Move via next button to 256, then move ahead one page at a > time. By then you should have a good idea of what this is about. > > To get a summary of that section use ppmcat for find. Some of the > summary pages are blocked, but at least you'll get some idea what all > this produces. > > Paul Barrett wrote: > >> Wayne, >> >> I am not familiar with the book, but your comment about astrometry >> caught my eye. We are currently implementing the plate reduction >> methods as part of our work, actually on a much larger scale, of order >> one million images. These calculations should be easy to do in Python >> for just a few images. The important point is to properly set up the >> arrays. You can then use the routines in scipy to do the least squares >> adjustment. >> >> I might be able to help if you can describe you problem in more detail. >> >> -- Paul >> >> On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 4:21 PM, Wayne Watson >> wrote: >> >> >>> Is anyone familiar with some of the mathematical methods for calculating >>> atmospheric trajectories for two stations. Have they been implemented in >>> Python? >>> >>> There's a computer book with the title something like PC Computations >>> for Astronomy. (Ah, Astronomy for the Personal Computer) I believe the >>> latest version provides methods for C++, and earlier editions for older >>> languages. In one of the later chapters the authors delve into what I >>> think is called plate reduction. (Ah, the chapter is titled Astrometry.) >>> The idea is that an image of the night sky is provided and a catalog is >>> examined to identify stars on the image. Has anyone implemented the >>> various algorithms used for this in Python? >>> >>> -- >>> Wayne Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA) >>> >>> (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time) >>> Obz Site: 39? 15' 7" N, 121? 2' 32" W, 2700 feet >>> >>> 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 >>> Make the number famous. See 350.org >>> The major event has passed, but keep the number alive. >>> >>> Web Page: >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> AstroPy mailing list >>> AstroPy at scipy.org >>> http://mail.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/astropy >>> >>> >>> >> >> > > -- Wayne Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA) (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time) Obz Site: 39? 15' 7" N, 121? 2' 32" W, 2700 feet The popular press and many authorities believe the number of pedifiles that prowl the web is 50,00. There are no figures that support this. The number of children below 18 years of age kidnapped by strangers is 1 in 600,00, or 115 per year. -- The Science of Fear by D. Gardner Web Page: From sierra_mtnview at sbcglobal.net Thu Nov 26 10:06:20 2009 From: sierra_mtnview at sbcglobal.net (Wayne Watson) Date: Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:06:20 -0000 Subject: [AstroPy] Meteor Methods--Atmospheric Trajectories, PC Book on Astronmy In-Reply-To: <4B0D52D0.6040200@sbcglobal.net> References: <4B0C4E70.5060608@sbcglobal.net> <40e64fa20911241602p707fecbbw9cfa743401ba1ce3@mail.gmail.com> <4B0D52D0.6040200@sbcglobal.net> Message-ID: <4B0E996B.8060703@sbcglobal.net> Let's try this. I've attached portions of the pages that might give you an idea about a plate reduction method of interest to me. Wayne Watson wrote: > Perhaps the best way is to refer you to the 2009 edition of the book. > You'll be using the Amazon Search Book facility. They've made it a bit > harder to use, perhaps, but the paragraph below will let you piece > together the critical pages in the astrometry section. I have some these > pages copied from a much earlier book, and this section has definitely > been expanded. The ppmcat portion I finally direct you looks like a big > improvement on the tiny catalog they used in an earlier edition. > > > See the Look Inside icon on the upper left and enter the word astrometry > when the small dialog window opens up. You will then see the first page > that shows that word. Use the right button to go to the next result. > That is the page that's the start of chapter 12. Now use the right arrow > to move through the pages. I can only get through the first three pages, > but you'll begin to see what they are doing. To go further, do this. Go > back to the search dialog and enter "plate reduction" (no quotes). Skip > to the second result and you should be on page 254. Now use the arrow to > go to successive pages. You'll get some more info about what they are > doing. If you care to go on, go back to find again and enter squares > adjustment. Move via next button to 256, then move ahead one page at a > time. By then you should have a good idea of what this is about. > > To get a summary of that section use ppmcat for find. Some of the > summary pages are blocked, but at least you'll get some idea what all > this produces. > > Paul Barrett wrote: > >> Wayne, >> >> I am not familiar with the book, but your comment about astrometry >> caught my eye. We are currently implementing the plate reduction >> methods as part of our work, actually on a much larger scale, of order >> one million images. These calculations should be easy to do in Python >> for just a few images. The important point is to properly set up the >> arrays. You can then use the routines in scipy to do the least squares >> adjustment. >> >> I might be able to help if you can describe you problem in more detail. >> >> -- Paul >> >> On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 4:21 PM, Wayne Watson >> wrote: >> >> >>> Is anyone familiar with some of the mathematical methods for calculating >>> atmospheric trajectories for two stations. Have they been implemented in >>> Python? >>> >>> There's a computer book with the title something like PC Computations >>> for Astronomy. (Ah, Astronomy for the Personal Computer) I believe the >>> latest version provides methods for C++, and earlier editions for older >>> languages. In one of the later chapters the authors delve into what I >>> think is called plate reduction. (Ah, the chapter is titled Astrometry.) >>> The idea is that an image of the night sky is provided and a catalog is >>> examined to identify stars on the image. Has anyone implemented the >>> various algorithms used for this in Python? >>> >>> -- >>> Wayne Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA) >>> >>> (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time) >>> Obz Site: 39? 15' 7" N, 121? 2' 32" W, 2700 feet >>> >>> 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 >>> Make the number famous. See 350.org >>> The major event has passed, but keep the number alive. >>> >>> Web Page: >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> AstroPy mailing list >>> AstroPy at scipy.org >>> http://mail.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/astropy >>> >>> >>> >> >> > > -- Wayne Watson (Watson Adventures, Prop., Nevada City, CA) (121.015 Deg. W, 39.262 Deg. N) GMT-8 hr std. time) Obz Site: 39? 15' 7" N, 121? 2' 32" W, 2700 feet 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 350 Make the number famous. See 350.org The major event has passed, but keep the number alive. Web Page: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: AstroBookPagesB.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 34384 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: AstroBookPagesC.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 78562 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: AstroBookPagesD.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 69421 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: AstroBookPagesE.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 56968 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: AstroBookPagesA.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 35267 bytes Desc: not available URL: