[AstroPy] aspylib library

[Jerome Caron]

Dear list
 
I would like to present a python library I am developing since 1.5 years for processing FITS images.
It is called AsPyLib (www.aspylib.com) and works on both Linux and Windows platforms.
It allows to process FITS images for simple tasks (co-registration, co-addition, analysis..). There are also more elaborate functions or scripts for aperture photometry, specialised for short period variable stars and asteroids.
 
For the programmers, it's a thin interface layer on top of Pyfits and Numpy-Scipy-Matplolib. All the computationally costly operations are coded in C and interfaced with ctypes. Parallel computation is used for long calculations. The code is simple (no classes, only modules, scripts and functions) to leave room for later evolutions and also allow others to understand it easily.
 
At the moment the most mature part is the photometry script. It is used actively by a few amateur observers reporting asteroid lightcurves to R.Behrend (http://obswww.unige.ch/~behrend/page_cou.html). The script has been tested on several (~12) setups, from wide field images (teleobjective 200mm FL) to narrow fields (14'' telescope with 3.5m FL) and it performs quite well. The performance has been quite investigated, I can provide more details for those interested.
 
Maybe this library can provide some answers to a few topics that have been discussed recently on the list (such as matching the stars between frames or co-addition with rejection of outliers).
For those would are interested to use it as a starting point and modify it for your own needs, I can provide help by email. Just don't forget there's a GPL license on it, so that if you want to use it for a different project there are some restrictions. 

The library is rapidly evolving. Feel free to give feedback, or maybe make comments or ask for help.Enjoy !

Best wishes
Jerome Caron
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