[Aavso-photometry] Photometry software - need suggestions

[Tom Krajci]

This is not as good as a website, but here's a summary list of the 
various suggestions I received (with a few comments added...but I have 
not reviewed any of the software that's new to me...so my comments may 
be biased, incomplete, or just plain wrong).


Below is a list of some ideas for software that can be used to extract 
science data from CCD images.

This is a partial list. Some of it is free, some is not very expensive, 
some is rather expensive. Some is old, some is still being 
updated/developed.

AIP4WIN: http://www.willbell.com/aip/index.htm Not just good science 
software - a very good textbook covering basics of CCD imaging and science.

MPO Canopus/Photored 
http://www.minorplanetobserver.com/MPOSoftware/MPOSoftware.htm Written 
especially for asteroid photometry...where the moving object forces you 
to use different comparison stars every night, and perhaps every few hours.

IRAF: http://iraf.noao.edu/ Long learning curve, but very powerful.

MAXIM: http://www.cyanogen.com/maxim_main.php Very powerful

CCDSoft: http://www.bisque.com/Products/CCDSoft/ OK, we don't need the 
camera control aspect of it, but it can do photometry and astrometry. 
(May need to use TheSky for astrometry)

Astrometrica: http://www.astrometrica.at/ want to measure positions of 
objects? This is a good place to start. Shareware. 25 Euro.

Photometrica: http://photometrica.org/ scientific analysis application 
that lets you analyze remote astronomical CCD images online. Images do 
not have to be downloaded to your local computer, all work is done in 
the browser.

Sextractor (Source Extractor) Want to analyze *every* star in your 
images? http://sextractor.sourceforge.net/ Useful for searching for new 
variables.

MuniWin: http://c-munipack.sourceforge.net/ - good for time series, and 
searching entire image series for new variables
http://munipack.astronomy.cz/

GCX is linux based, has a GUI interface and command line options.
This means you can write scripts to automate tasks.
http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Science-and-Engineering/Astronomy/gcx-1221.shtml
http://astro.corlan.net/gcx/index.html
http://sourceforge.net/projects/gcx/

Starlink, similar to IRAF. It's a GAIA program for data visualisation, 
photometry and astrometry is widely used. It is described
here: 
http://www.starlink.rl.ac.uk/star/docs/sun214.htx/sun214.html#xref_ GAIA 
can be used for aperture (classic or optimal) photometry and a command 
line program autophotom is good for scripting. Of course, Starlink is 
much more than that but it was GAIA (plus the integrity of the whole 
package) that convinced me to choose it 10 years ago instead of IRAF. 
Starlink is distributed under GPL.

http://starlink.jach.hawaii.edu/starlink STARLINK software for 
processing images from the UKIRT on Mauna Kea

Mira software: http://www.mirametrics.com/mira_products.htm

Sky Image Processor - a web-based astronomical image reduction and 
analysis system! (Virginia Tech) http://www.phys.vt.edu/~jhs/SIP/

IRIS: http://www.astrosurf.com/buil/us/iris/iris.htm

Astroart: http://www.msb-astroart.com/ - good for snapshot observations, 
not suited for time-series work.

Teleauto: http://teleauto.org/indexEn.php

CADET: http://www.terra.es/personal2/oscarcj/introeng.htm CADET is 
basically a program for calibration and deconvolution of astronomical 
images in FITS, BMP and JPEG formats.

LAIA: http://www.astrogea.org/soft/laia/laia.htm - need to know Spanish, 
and it's not been updated in quite some time. But it's free and can do 
some image measurement/analysis.

DAOPHOT - Stellar Photometry Package designed to deal with crowded 
fields. http://www.star.bris.ac.uk/~mbt/daophot/ (Linux/Unix)

Audela - http://www.audela.org/english_audela.php Windows and Linux, in 
various languages, freeware, and at sourceforge 
http://sourceforge.net/projects/audela Audela is a free and open source 
astronomy software intended for digital observations (CCD cameras, 
Webcams, etc.). Its concept is entirely new, because whilst it features 
advanced image processing and acquisition functions like existing 
software, its originality lies in the fact that it is entirely 
reprogrammable using simple scripts. It has been written for both 
Windows and Linux platforms and can control many telescope mounts and 
cameras or DSLRs.

Foto-Dif: 
http://www.astrosurf.com/cometas/extrasolares/fotodif/fotodif.htm 
freeware in Spanish, and includes some practice images in a .zip file.

ESO-MIDAS
http://www.eso.org/sci/data-processing/software/esomidas// Unix/Linux, free.


It's also very handy to have spreadsheet software for additional 
analysis, plotting of light curves, etc. If you don't have one, here's a 
free one: http://www.openoffice.org/ (and a text editor, presentation 
writer, database manager, and....) that can open and save in MSOffice 
formats for ease in sharing files with other folks.


Anyway, this is a start. Some folks may like the free stuff. Others may 
like the way-powerful stuff that takes lots of time to master. There are 
many ways to skin the science cat.

This list is not meant to scare folks off. Find one or two software 
tools that work for you and start doing science.

-- 
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Tom Krajci
Cloudcroft, New Mexico
http://picasaweb.google.com/tom.krajci

Center for Backyard Astrophysics (CBA)
http://cbastro.org/ CBA New Mexico

American Association of Variable Star
Observers (AAVSO): KTC http://www.aavso.org/
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