Astro-Stuff

Below are some quick links to astronomy related resources.

Python in Astronomy

Why use Python?

Python is the fastest growing programming language among astronomers and scientists. It is an elegant language which is easy to learn, and is clean and powerful. Due to its popularity among scientists, as well as professionals in other fields, it has many pre-existing libraries and analysis tools that are actively being developed. It also provides binding with many other traditional languages such as C, C++, fortran, etc.

If you work on data from any modern telescopes, you will end up using python one way or other anyway (for example, the data reduction package CASA, used for ALMA, VLA & several other radio telescopes uses ipython as its interface). So you may as well make it your default language.

Where to get it from?

Anaconda is probably the best and fastest way to obtain and work with python. It is a cross-platform, free and open source distribution of python with a package management system.

Alternatively, you can always download it from the Python website.

Jupyter is an excellent interactive environment for working with python, especially when learning or teaching python or trying out new things.

Some of the python packages that you will use regularly are:
Astropy, Numpy, SciPy, Astroquery

Documentation

Python4Astronomers
APLpy
SciPy Lecture notes
Python Programming Wikibook
Astropy tutorials
Essential Reads for Any Python Programmer

For discussions regarding astronomical python, facebook group “Python users in astronomy” is useful.

Of course, apart from these, there are plenty of python tutorials, online courses and lectures available. A curated list of awesome Python frameworks, libraries, software and resources can be found on github Awesome Python.

Frequently Used Tools

Fits image visualization:
DS9, DPUSER, QFitsView, DEXTER

Database visualizations & Exploration:
ESA-sky, Simbad Astronomical database

Astronomy Meetings, Conferences, and Workshops
International Meetings on the Canadian Astronomy Data Center

Cosmological Calculator
Cosmological Calculator for Flat Universe for calculating cosmological parameters.

Astronomy Job Advertisements
Jobregister | AAS

Reading material

Where to find papers, articles, blogs, and all kinds of astronomy related professional texts:

• NASA ADS

• ArXiv

• Astrobetter

• Astrobites

• Level 5: A Knowledgebase for Extragalactic Astronomy and Cosmology

• Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series

Videos

Do you attend only 1-2 seminars per week and feel like that’s not enough and want to get your fix of seminars more often? Fear not, here’s a list of recorded videos from schools, workshops, seminars, colloquia and public lectures from various international institutions for you to enjoy.

• Space Telescope Science Institute webcasts

• International Max Planck Research School of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy: Blackboard lectures, Monday seminars

• Harvard & Smithsonian CfA Colloquium

• Astronomy Heidelberg Colloquium

• Annual Reviews

• International Centre for Theoretical Sciences

• Perimeter Institute

• The Royal Institution

• Python in Astronomy

• Protostars and Planets

• Santa Fe Institute

• SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

• The Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures

• Fermilab