The Beta Inverse code solves the inverse cumulative density function (CDF) of a Beta distribution, allowing one to sample from the Beta prior directly. The Beta distribution is well suited as a prior for the distribution of the orbital eccentricities of extrasolar planets; imposing a Beta prior on orbital eccentricity is valuable for any type of observation of an exoplanet where eccentricity can affect the model parameters (e.g. transits, radial velocities, microlensing, direct imaging). The Beta prior is an excellent description of the current, empirically determined distribution of orbital eccentricities and thus employing it naturally incorporates an observer’s prior experience of what types of orbits are probable or improbable. The default parameters in the code are currently set to the Beta distribution which best describes the entire population of exoplanets with well-constrained orbits.

RMHB is a hierarchical Bayesian code for reverberation mapping (RM) that combines results of a sparsely sampled broad line region (BLR) light curve and a large sample of active galactic nuclei (AGN) to infer properties of the sample of the AGN. The key idea of RM is to measure the time lag τ between variations in the continuum emission from the accretion disc and subsequent response of the broad line region (BLR). The measurement of τ is typically used to estimate the physical size of the BLR and is combined with other measurements to estimate the black hole mass MBH. A major difficulty with RM campaigns is the large amount of data needed to measure τ. RMHB allows a clear interpretation of a posterior distribution for hyperparameters describing the sample of AGN.

YNOGKM (Yun-Nan observatories geodesic in a Kerr-Newman spacetime for massive particles) performs fast calculation of time-like geodesics in the Kerr-Newman (K-N) spacetime; it is a direct extension of YNOGK (Yun-Nan observatories geodesic Kerr) calculating null geodesics in a Kerr spacetime. The four Boyer-Lindquis coordinates and proper time are expressed as functions of a parameter p semi-analytically by using the Weierstrass' and Jacobi's elliptic functions and integrals. The elliptic integrals are computed by Carlson's elliptic integral method, which guarantees the fast speed of the code. The source Fortran file ynogkm.f90 contains three modules: constants, rootfind, ellfunction, and blcoordinates.

BAOlab is an image processing package written in C that should run on nearly any UNIX system with just the standard C libraries. It reads and writes images in standard FITS format; 16- and 32-bit integer as well as 32-bit floating-point formats are supported. Multi-extension FITS files are currently not supported. Among its tools are ishape for size measurements of compact sources, mksynth for generating synthetic images consisting of a background signal including Poisson noise and a number of pointlike sources, imconvol for convolving two images (a “source” and a “kernel”) with each other using fast fourier transforms (FFTs) and storing the output as a new image, and kfit2d for fitting a two-dimensional King model to an image.

This IDL code returns the dust temperature of a galaxy from its redshift, SFR and stellar mass; it can also predict the observed monochromatic fluxes of the galaxy. These monochromatic fluxes correspond to those of a DH SED template with the appropriate dust temperature and the appropriate normalization. Dust temperatures and fluxes predictions are only valid and provided in the redshift, stellar mass, SSFR and wavelength ranges 0 < z < 2.5, Mstar> 10^10 Msun, 10^-11 < SSFR[yr-1]< 10^-7 and 30um < lambda_rest < 2mm.

ComputePk computes the power spectrum in cosmological simulations. It is MPI parallel and has been tested up to a 4096^3 mesh. It uses the FFTW library. It can read Gadget-3 and GOTPM outputs, and computes the dark matter component. The user may choose between NGP, CIC, and TSC for the mass assignment scheme.

Viewpoints is an interactive tool for exploratory visual analysis of large high-dimensional (multivariate) data. It uses linked scatterplots to find relations in a few seconds that can take much longer with other plotting tools. Its features include linked scatter plots with brushing, dynamic histograms, normalization, and outlier detection/removal.

MGE_FIT_SECTORS performs Multi-Gaussian Expansion (MGE) fits to galaxy images. The MGE parameterizations are useful in the construction of realistic dynamical models of galaxies, PSF deconvolution of images, the correction and estimation of dust absorption effects, and galaxy photometry. The algorithm is well suited for use with multiple-resolution images (e.g. Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and ground-based images).

The Jeans Anisotropic MGE (JAM) modeling method uses the Multi-Gaussian Expansion parameterization for the galaxy surface brightness. The code allows for orbital anisotropy (three-integrals distribution function) and also provides the full second moment tensor, including proper motions and radial velocities.

KINEMETRY, written in IDL, analyzes 2D maps of the moments of the line-of-sight velocity distribution (LOSVD). It generalizes the surface photometry to all moments of the LOSVD. It performs harmonic expansion of 2D maps of observed moments (surface brightness, velocity, velocity dispersion, h3, h4, etc.) along the best fitting ellipses (either fixed or free to change along the radii) to robustly quantify maps of the LOSVD moments, describe trends in structures, and detect morphological and kinematic sub-components.

Disc2vel derives tangential and radial velocity components in the equatorial plane of a barred stellar disc from the observed line-of-sight velocity, assuming geometry of a thin disc. The code is written in IDL, and the method assumes that the bar is close to steady state (i.e. does not evolve fast) and that both morphology and kinematics are symmetrical with respect to the major axis of the bar.

CCDPACK contains programs to debias, remove dark current, flatfield, register, resample and normalize data from single- or multiple-CCD instruments. The basic reduction stages can be set up using an X based GUI that controls an automated reduction system so one can to start working without any detailed knowledge of the package (or indeed of CCD reduction). Registration is performed using graphical, script based or automated techniques that keep the amount of work to a minimum. CCDPACK uses the Starlink environment (ascl:1110.012).

KAPPA comprising about 180 general-purpose commands for image processing, data visualization, and manipulation of the standard Starlink data format--the NDF. It works with Starlink's various specialized packages; in addition to the NDF, KAPPA can also process data in other formats by using the "on-the-fly" conversion scheme. Many commands can process data arrays of arbitrary dimension, and others work on both spectra and images. KAPPA operates from both the UNIX C-shell and the ICL command language. KAPPA uses the Starlink environment (ascl:1110.012).

ASTERIX is a general purpose X-ray data reduction package optimized for ROSAT data reduction. ASTERIX uses the Starlink software environment (ascl:1110.012).

GAIA is an image and data-cube display and analysis tool for astronomy. It provides the usual facilities of image display tools, plus more astronomically useful ones such as aperture and optimal photometry, contouring, source detection, surface photometry, arbitrary region analysis, celestial coordinate readout, calibration and modification, grid overlays, blink comparison, defect patching and the ability to query on-line catalogues and image servers. It can also display slices from data-cubes, extract and visualize spectra as well as perform full 3D rendering. GAIA uses the Starlink software environment (ascl:1110.012) and is derived from the ESO SkyCat tool (ascl:1109.019).

SLALIB is a library of routines that make accurate and reliable positional-astronomy applications easier to write. Most SLALIB routines are concerned with astronomical position and time, but a number have wider trigonometrical, numerical or general applications. A Fortran implementation of SLALIB under GPL licensing is available as part of Starlink (ascl:1110.012).

SOFA (Standards Of Fundamental Astronomy) is a collection of subprograms, in source-code form, that implement official IAU algorithms for fundamental astronomy computations. SOFA offers more than 160 routines for fundamental astronomy, including time scales (including dealing with leap seconds), Earth rotation, sidereal time, precession, nutation, polar motion, astrometry and transforms between various reference systems (e.g. BCRS, ICRS, GCRS, CIRS, TIRS, ITRS). The subprograms are supported by 55 vector/matrix routines, and are available in both Fortran77 and C implementations.

LTS_LINEFIT and LTS_PLANEFIT are IDL programs to robustly fit lines and planes to data with intrinsic scatter. The code combines the Least Trimmed Squares (LTS) robust technique, proposed by Rousseeuw (1984) and optimized in Rousseeuw & Driessen (2006), into a least-squares fitting algorithm which allows for intrinsic scatter. This method makes the fit converge to the correct solution even in the presence of a large number of catastrophic outliers, where the much simpler σ-clipping approach can converge to the wrong solution. The code is also available in Python as ltsfit.

The cross-correlation function (CCF) is commonly employed in the study of AGN, where it is used to probe the structure of the broad line region by line reverberation, to study the continuum emission mechanism by correlating multi-waveband light curves and to seek correlations between the variability and other AGN properties. The z -transformed discrete correlation function (ZDCF) is a method for estimating the CCF of sparse, unevenly sampled light curves. Unlike the commonly used interpolation method, it does not assume that the light curves are smooth and it does provide errors on its estimates.

The Science Analysis System (SAS) is an extensive suite of software tasks developed to process the data collected by the XMM-Newton Observatory. The SAS extracts standard (spectra, light curves) and/or customized science products, and allows reproductions of the reduction pipelines run to get the PPS products from the ODFs files. SAS includes a powerful and extensive suite of FITS file manipulation packages based on the Data Access Layer library.

Subpixel Event Repositioning (SER) techniques significantly improve the already unprecedented spatial resolution of Chandra X-ray imaging with the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS). Chandra CCD SER techniques are based on the premise that the impact position of events can be refined, based on the distribution of charge among affected CCD pixels. Unlike ACIS SER models that are restricted to corner split (3- and 4-pixel) events and assume that such events take place at the split pixel corners, this IDL code uses two-pixel splits as well, and incorporates more realistic estimates of photon impact positions.

TORUS is a flexible radiation transfer and radiation-hydrodynamics code. The code has a basic infrastructure that includes the AMR mesh scheme that is used by several physics modules including atomic line transfer in a moving medium, molecular line transfer, photoionization, radiation hydrodynamics and radiative equilibrium. TORUS is useful for a variety of problems, including magnetospheric accretion onto T Tauri stars, spiral nebulae around Wolf-Rayet stars, discs around Herbig AeBe stars, structured winds of O supergiants and Raman-scattered line formation in symbiotic binaries, and dust emission and molecular line formation in star forming clusters. The code is written in Fortran 2003 and is compiled using a standard Gnu makefile. The code is parallelized using both MPI and OMP, and can use these parallel sections either separately or in a hybrid mode.

AMBIG is a fast, automated algorithm for resolving the 180° ambiguity in vector magnetic field data, including those data from Hinode/Spectropolarimeter. The Fortran-based code is loosely based on the Minimum Energy Algorithm, and is distributed to provide ambiguity-resolved data for the general user community.

Comet is a Python implementation of the VOEvent Transport Protocol (VTP). VOEvent is the IVOA system for describing transient celestial events. Details of transients detected by many projects, including Fermi, Swift, and the Catalina Sky Survey, are currently made available as VOEvents, which is also the standard alert format by future facilities such as LSST and SKA. The core of Comet is a multifunction VOEvent broker, capable of receiving events either by subscribing to one or more remote brokers or by direct connection from authors; it can then both process those events locally and forward them to its own subscribers. In addition, Comet provides a tool for publishing VOEvents to the global VOEvent backbone.

carma_pack is an MCMC sampler for performing Bayesian inference on continuous time autoregressive moving average models. These models may be used to model time series with irregular sampling. The MCMC sampler utilizes an adaptive Metropolis algorithm combined with parallel tempering.

The Victoria–Regina stellar models are comprised of seventy-two grids of stellar evolutionary tracks accompanied by complementary zero-age horizontal branches and are presented in “equivalent evolutionary phase” (.eep) files. This Fortran 77 software interpolates isochrones, isochrone population functions, luminosity functions, and color functions of stellar evolutionary tracks.

CAP_LOESS_1D and CAP_LOESS_2D provide improved implementations of the one-dimensional (Clevelend 1979) and two-dimensional (Cleveland & Devlin 1988) Locally Weighted Regression (LOESS) methods to recover the mean trends of the population from noisy data in one or two dimensions. They include a robust approach to deal with outliers (bad data). The software is available in both IDL and Python versions.

RegPT computes the power spectrum in flat wCDM class models based on the RegPT treatment when provided with either of transfer function or matter power spectrum. It then gives the multiple-redshift outputs for power spectrum, and optionally provides correlation function data. The Fortran code has two major options for power spectrum calculations; -fast, which quickly computes the power spectrum at two-loop level (typically a few seconds) using the pre-computed data set of PT kernels for fiducial cosmological models, and -direct, in which the code first applies the fast method, and then follows the regularized expression for power spectrum to directly evaluate the multi-dimensional integrals. The output results are the power spectrum of direct calculation and difference of the results between fast and direct method. The code also gives the data set of PT diagrams necessary for power spectrum calculations from which the power spectrum can be constructed.

WFC3UV_GC is an improved geometric-distortion solution for the Hubble Space Telescope UVIS channel of Wide Field Camera 3 for ten broad-band filters. The solution is made up of three parts:

1.) a 3rd-order polynomial to deal with the general optical distortion;
2.) a table of residuals that accounts for both chip-related anomalies and fine-structure introduced by the filter; and,
3.) a linear transformation to put the two chips into a convenient master frame.

SpecPro is an interactive program for viewing and analyzing spectra, particularly in the context of modern imaging surveys. In addition to displaying the 1D and 2D spectrum, SpecPro can simultaneously display available stamp images as well as the spectral energy distribution of a source. This extra information can help significantly in assessing a spectrum.

TTVFast efficiently calculates transit times for n-planet systems and the corresponding radial velocities. The code uses a symplectic integrator with a Keplerian interpolator for the calculation of transit times (Nesvorny et al. 2013); it is available in both C and Fortran.

The AST library provides a comprehensive range of facilities for attaching world coordinate systems to astronomical data, for retrieving and interpreting that information in a variety of formats, including FITS-WCS, and for generating graphical output based on it. Core projection algorithms are provided by WCSLIB (ascl:1108.003) and astrometry is provided by the PAL (ascl:1606.002) and SOFA (ascl:1403.026) libraries. AST bindings are available in Python (pyast), Java (JNIAST) and Perl (Starlink::AST). AST is used as the plotting and astrometry library in DS9 and GAIA, and is distributed separately and as part of the Starlink software collection.

Spextool (Spectral EXtraction tool) is an IDL-based data reduction package for SpeX, a medium resolution near-infrared spectrograph on the NASA IRTF. It performs all of the steps necessary to produce spectra ready for analysis and publication including non-linearity corrections, flat fielding, wavelength calibration, telluric correction, flux calibration, and order merging.

LBLRTM (Line-By-Line Radiative Transfer Model) is an accurate line-by-line model that is efficient and highly flexible. LBLRTM attributes provide spectral radiance calculations with accuracies consistent with the measurements against which they are validated and with computational times that greatly facilitate the application of the line-by-line approach to current radiative transfer applications. LBLRTM has been extensively validated against atmospheric radiance spectra from the ultra-violet to the sub-millimeter.

LBLRTM's heritage is in FASCODE [Clough et al., 1981, 1992].

TelFit calculates the best-fit telluric absorption spectrum in high-resolution optical and near-IR spectra. The best-fit model can then be divided out to remove the telluric contamination. Written in Python, TelFit is essentially a wrapper to LBLRTM (ascl:1405.001), the Line-By-Line Radiative Transfer Model, and simplifies the process of generating a telluric model.

The Hammer can classify spectra in a variety of formats with targets spanning the MK spectral sequence. It processes a list of input spectra by automatically estimating each object's spectral type and measuring activity and metallicity tracers in late type stars. Once automatic processing is complete, an interactive interface allows the user to manually tweak the final assigned spectral type through visual comparison with a set of templates.

The IDL package Defringeflat identifies and removes fringe patterns from images such as spectrograph flat fields. It uses a wavelet transform to calculate the frequency spectrum in a region around each point of a one-dimensional array. The wavelet transform amplitude is reconstructed from (smoothed) parameters obtaining the fringe's wavelet transform, after which an inverse wavelet transform is performed to obtain the computed fringe pattern which is then removed from the flat.

HIIPHOT enables accurate photometric characterization of H II regions while permitting genuine adaptivity to irregular source morphology. It makes a first guess at the shapes of all sources through object recognition techniques; it then allows for departure from such idealized "seeds" through an iterative growing procedure and derives photometric corrections for spatially coincident diffuse emission from a low-order surface fit to the background after exclusion of all detected sources.

PROPER simulates the propagation of light through an optical system using Fourier transform algorithms (Fresnel, angular spectrum methods). Available in IDL, Python, and Matlab, it includes routines to create complex apertures, aberrated wavefronts, and deformable mirrors. It is especially useful for the simulation of high contrast imaging telescopes (extrasolar planet imagers like TPF).

FORWARD forward models various coronal observables and can access and compare existing data. Given a coronal model, it can produce many different synthetic observables (including Stokes polarimetry), as well as plots of model plasma properties (density, magnetic field, etc.). It uses the CHIANTI database (ascl:9911.004) and CLE polarimetry synthesis code, works with numerical model datacubes, interfaces with the PFSS module of SolarSoft (ascl:1208.013), includes several analytic models, and connects to the Virtual Solar Observatory for downloading data in a format directly comparable to model predictions.

Written in IDL, TRIPP performs CCD time series reduction and analysis. It provides an on-line check of the incoming frames, performs relative aperture photometry and provides a set of time series tools, such as calculation of periodograms including false alarm probability determination, epoc folding, sinus fitting, and light curve simulations.

ATV displays and analyses astronomical images using the IDL image-processing language. It allows interactive control of the image scaling, color table, color stretch, and zoom, with support for world coordinate systems. It also does point-and-click aperture photometry, simple spectral extractions, and can produce publication-quality postscript output images.

FLUXES calculates approximate topocentric positions of the planets and also integrated flux densities of five of them at several wavelengths. These provide calibration information at the effective frequencies and beam-sizes employed by the UKT14, SCUBA and SCUBA-2 receivers on the JCMT telescope based on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. FLUXES is part of the bundle that comprises the Starlink multi-purpose astronomy software package (ascl:1110.012).

DATACUBE is a command-line package for manipulating and visualizing data cubes. It was designed for integral field spectroscopy but has been extended to be a generic data cube tool, used in particular for sub-millimeter data cubes from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. It is part of the Starlink software collection (ascl:1110.012).

PISA (Position, Intensity and Shape Analysis) routines deal with the location and parameterization of objects on an image frame. The core of this package is the routine PISAFIND which performs image analysis on a 2-dimensional data frame. The program searches the data array for objects that have a minimum number of connected pixels above a given threshold and extracts the image parameters (position, intensity, shape) for each object. The image parameters can be determined using thresholding techniques or an analytical stellar profile can be used to fit the objects. In crowded regions deblending of overlapping sources can be performed. PISA is distributed as part of the Starlink software collection (ascl:1110.012).

PHOTOM performs photometry of digitized images. It has two basic modes of operation: using an interactive display to specify the positions for the measurements, or obtaining those positions from a file. In both modes of operation PHOTOM performs photometry using either the traditional aperture method or via optimal extraction. When using the traditional aperture extraction method the target aperture can be circular or elliptical and its size and shape can be varied interactively on the display, or by entering values from the keyboard. Both methods allow the background sky level to be either sampled interactively by the manual positioning of an aperture, or automatically from an annulus surrounding the target object. PHOTOM is the photometry backend for the GAIA tool (ascl:1403.024) and is part of the Starlink software collection (ascl:1110.012).

POLPACK maps the linear or circular polarization of extended astronomical objects, either in a single waveband, or in multiple wavebands (spectropolarimetry). Data from both single and dual beam polarimeters can be processed. It is part of the Starlink software collection (ascl:1110.012).

The CURSA package manipulates astronomical catalogs and similar tabular datasets. It provides facilities for browsing or examining catalogs; selecting subsets from a catalog; sorting and copying catalogs; pairing two catalogs; converting catalog coordinates between some celestial coordinate systems; and plotting finding charts and photometric calibration. It can also extract subsets from a catalog in a format suitable for plotting using other Starlink packages such as PONGO. CURSA can access catalogs held in the popular FITS table format, the Tab-Separated Table (TST) format or the Small Text List (STL) format. Catalogs in the STL and TST formats are simple ASCII text files. CURSA also includes some facilities for accessing remote on-line catalogs via the Internet. It is part of the Starlink software collection (ascl:1110.012).

DIPSO plots spectroscopic data rapidly and combines analysis and high-quality graphical output in a simple command-line driven interactive environment. It can be used, for example, to fit emission lines, measure equivalent widths and fluxes, do Fourier analysis, and fit models to spectra. A macro facility allows convenient execution of regularly used sequences of commands, and a simple Fortran interface permits "personal" software to be integrated with the program. DIPSO is part of the Starlink software collection (ascl:1110.012).

ESP (Extended Surface Photometry) determines the photometric properties of galaxies and other extended objects. It has applications that detect flatfielding faults, remove cosmic rays, median filter images, determine image statistics and local background values, perform galaxy profiling, fit 2-D Gaussian profiles to galaxies, generate pie slice cross-sections of galaxies, and display profiling results. It is distributed as part of the Starlink software collection (ascl:1110.012).