RA & DEC with the current EPOCH?

[AstroImageJ / AstroCC]

• GUI Coordinate Converter
• http://www.astro.louisville.edu/software/astroimagej/
  (built-in plug-ins)
• http://www.astro.louisville.edu/software/astrocc/

[PyEphem]

• A python package for performing astrometric calculations
• http://rhodesmill.org/pyephem/

WCSTools Quick Installation

I know someone will ask me about this very soon,
so I write down my steps here:

• Visit http://tdc-www.harvard.edu/wcstools/
• Download the source code via http://tdc-www.harvard.edu/software/wcstools/wcstools-3.8.7.tar.gz
• Switch to ROOT, then copy the installing file to /usr/local/bin
• Unzipped it, removed the GZ file, and jumped into the new folder
• Run `make all`
• Edit your startup file (e.g: .profile) and insert the words below:
• export WCSTOOLS="/usr/local/bin/wcstools"
• export PATH="/usr/local/bin/wcstools/bin:$PATH"
• Restart your terminal and you will find those WCSTools commands :P

Enjoy it!

AstroPy

This morning I found this Python package form a post on the iObserve FB wall.

http://www.astrobetter.com/first-public-release-of-astropy/

The current release already contains the following functionality:

• Manipulation of scalar and array quantities with physical units
• Pre-defined physical and astronomical constants
• Celestial coordinate representation and transformations
• Reading/writing/editing of FITS files, VO tables, and many ASCII table formats
• Class for grid-based data with meta-data and units
• Powerful table creation/manipulation
• Common cosmological calculations
• World Coordinate System (WCS) transformations
• Representation/transformation of Times and Dates to very high accuracy

Astropy also includes a lot of infrastructure code that makes it very easy for users to develop their own Astronomy packages, using Astropy as a core dependency.

Then I tried to download and install in on my mac. 

The size of the installing file is just about 5Mb only.

After installing it, I did some tests by following its examples from the document.

It's really helpful, and now I do not have to convert all my shell scripts to Python codes.

It saves my lots of time :P

Happy!

 

You should give it a try!

QLFits - QuickLook generator for FITS files

Its official website:
http://www.softtenebraslux.com/qlfits/

The author of QLFits is the same one writing the 'iObserver', an useful app for astronomers.
The author is an astronomer also :D

QLFits was a commercial app before, but now it is FREE.
I have it installed in my previous SL Mac and it was working quite good.

Now since I am using the ML, I wanna have it in my Mac too.
But the problem is that, the latest version of QLFits was released about three years ago,
I am not sure if it will be compatible with the ML.

I just ran the installer, and there was no error messages poped.
But when I tried to have a quick look on a MIOSOTYS reduced FITS file,
the poped QL window is totally blank...><...

Then after reading its offical webpage, I just realized that:

Make sure to open the QLFits PrefPane once 
in the System Preferences before using QLFits.

and after doing this, it works perfectly :P

 

[NOTE]

I just visited the author's FB (actually, it is iObserve's FB),

and found he just updated the source code of QLFits two days ago.

Now the source code of QLFits is putting on GITHUB.

https://github.com/SoftTenebrasLux/QLFits

 

If you are using ML, and have Xcode & its command line tools installed,

you will have the 'git' command in your system.

Then try to following these steps:

 

1. (in your terminal)

$> git clone git://github.com/SoftTenebrasLux/QLFits.git

You will find the resulting folder after successfully running.

 

2. enter the folder and you will find 'QLFits.xcodeproj',

just click twice on it then wait for the window of Xcode popping up.

Then 'Run' the project, the products should be produced.

 

3. copy "~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/QLFits-'ooxxooxx'/Build/Products/Release/QLFits.qlgenerator" to "/Library/QuickLook",

 

4. open the "System Prefrence", you should see its PrefsPane :D

 

5. Now the version is 2.4.0~

 

6. If needed, reset the 'quicklookd'

$> sudo qlmanage -r

 

HEASOFT & CFITSIO @_@

Orz...
已經有好幾次在更新 HEASOFT 後都忘了修改對應的 CFITSIO 版本...

以下是給自己的 note (以 Heasoft 6.7 為例):

• cd /usr/lib
  
• sudo ln -s /HEASOFT/heasoft-6.7/heacore/i386-apple-darwin9.7.0/lib/libcfitsio_3.181.dylib ./libcfitsio_3.181.dylib
  
• sudo ln -s /HEASOFT/heasoft-6.7/ftools/i386-apple-darwin9.7.0/include/cfitsio.h ./cfitsio.h
  
• sudo ln -s /HEASOFT/heasoft-6.7/heacore/i386-apple-darwin9.7.0/include/fitsio.h ./fitsio.h
• gcc xxx.c -o xxx -lm -lcfitsio_3.181
  

Deux nuits en une image

Coooool!!
我看得懂這標題耶！哈～
前天被「終極殺陣三」殺掉的，
我那小小的想學好法文的心情似乎又回來囉！

這張圖片是來自 OHP 的網站。
剛剛瀏覽了一下才「發現」原來那鍋「ｐ」就是普羅旺斯啦！
我真是太遜囉～不過請不要問我「ｈ」是啥～哈！

今天下午是阿尼跟仕豪的碩士口試～
他們都順利通過了～真是恭喜呀！
接下來還有吳小翰、阿寬跟Soccer的口試！
大家一定都可以順利畢業啦！

以上真的真的是灌水～
部分內容還灌到楓橋去～哈哈！就醬子啦！

HEASARC's Argus service...

Actually, this is my 1st time to use this service. Why?
Coz I couldn't find 94318's proposal/abstract via HEASARC Browse...

Argus is an interactive World-Wide Web service provided by the HEASARC. Argus can be used to track the status of proposals from acceptance through observation and eventual archival of the data. Argus can also be used to discover whether your favorite object has been or will be observed by several current or recent high energy observatories.

Then, by the power of the Argus, finally I found the abstract!

Hum~
Why is the 93067 not in the CORE program of RXTE cycle 13???

Review the SciSoft~~~

"Scisoft7 - An Astronomical Software Collection"

I have introduced it couple months ago,
so why do I want to review it again?

Hum~That I may have to run IRAF is the main reason.
It includes IRAF and other needing packages,
and the installation is quite easy.
So it is the best solution for students taking "Observational Astronomy" course.

If you don't know what it is till now, let me briefly introduce it again~

Scisoft is a project within ESO to provide a collection of astronomical software utilities in a uniform way at all four ESO sites and to make them available to the outside world. The current version, Scisoft 7, June 2007, is only available for Fedora Core 6 Linux. The previous version, Scisoft v6.1 September 2006, was for Fedora Core 3, Scisoft v5 was available for RedHat9 and earlier versions are also available for Solaris 8, Linux Redhat 6.2 and HP-UX 11. In addition a version of Scisoft for Mac OSX has been prepared by Nor Pirzkal and Francesco Pierfederici but it is not an ESO product. -- quotes from its website.

I'll paste the downloading URLs below:

< For Mac OSX >
There are two versions of Scisoft OSX. The first one is for G4 and G5 ppc based Macs. The second one is Intel specific and will work (fast) on any new Mac Book, Mac Book Pro, or Mac Pro. The two versions contain almost the same packages but the Intel one is the one that will continue to be maintained regularly in the future.

You can download the PPC version from here
You can download the Intel version from here

-- All information above is from

HERE

. Plz have a look b4 downloading it~

**** @May-19-2009 ****
Scisoft 2009.5.2 released!
***************************

吳x翰小朋友...你贏了...

昨晚看了本組的觀測 data...真想哭...
我開始懷疑 Cyg X-1 的亮度...我們居然沒拍到？！
聽說有二階段退選...還可以領回1/3的學分費 XD

好吧～可能吳x翰小朋友是因為高山症所以頻頻出鎚...
我會好好再教育他的...首先，每天得跑三千...

不過，他還是偶有佳作啦...該拍的目標沒拍到...
Comet 17P/Holmes 倒是拍的還 ok～ 有拍到目標喔！！
以下是他跟胡理策小朋友的作品～

至於偶當時到底在幹麼呢？
根據目擊者的描述，我那時似乎處在腦溢血的邊緣...
那罐純氧也早被某吳姓小朋友吸光光...（有8200ml耶？）

參訪 LOT Observatory 花絮圖!

其實這是我趁空用手機拍的，學弟妹們的照片比較多！
等我拿到他們的再把好玩的放上來吧！
第一次觀測還真是有趣！

「備註」：
2007.10.31.11.54 am
剛剛收到 a 老師的 email～他拍的照片在～
http://picasaweb.google.com/akhkong/LulinObservatory
有興趣的可以連過去看！

wahaha~MacUpdate.Com

I so much like this site ^_^
WHY?
MacUpdate.Com not only reports W.o.W's updates,
but also reports SAOImage DS9's newly released version.

Uploaded with Skitch!

(Actually, its official website is HERE.)
If you don't know what DS9 is,
let me just quote MacUpdate.Com's introduction:

SAOImage DS9 is an astronomical imaging and data visualization application. DS9 supports FITS images and binary tables, multiple frame buffers, region manipulation, and many scale algorithms and colormaps. It provides for easy communication with external analysis tasks and is highly configurable and extensible.

O.K.~Just download and run it! CIAO!

I hope MacUpdate.Com will also tell me HEASOFT, CIAO etc's updates in the future =D

AAS 211th Meeting 's Registration fee..

I dun wanna talk about this actually.
I just know someone's money will be robbed.../sigh


我的錢會從那生出來呢？？好奇ing～～

Object Visibility – Staralt

這是寫作業時 Prof. Albert Kong 提到的網站，
其實平常出去觀星時應該也是很有用～
所以紀錄在此，以免忘記！

請先到底下這網頁來～
http://catserver.ing.iac.es/staralt/index.php

然後參照下圖～


其實它還有好幾種顯示模式跟另一種輸出格式，在此不多提，
不過它的說明跟提示其實沒很清楚，我試了很多遍才弄對，
送出後，請會得到類似下圖的結果！


下次有機會帶美眉去野外看星星時又有好工具嚕！

The HEASARC Database Batch Interface!!

作為新年第一發的文章，似乎有點硬，哈哈！
不過管他的，這是我自己的不拉嗝=D

The batch interface allows a user to interrogate the HEASARC databases as if they were local to the users machine. The user downloads a pair of small Perl scripts which act as a local client to query the database. The client is configured to be easily called from programs or from within command scripts -- though it may be used interactively. (摘錄自官網)

嗯～最近就是需要這種東西，果然前人種樹後人乘涼，嘿嘿～
有現成軟體當然抓下來用囉！

請先確定你的perl版本然後下載：
1. webquery.pl (Perl 5.x) or webquery.pl (Perl 4.x)
2. browse_extract.pl
3. browse_extract_wget.pl (optional)

第三項的檔案是選擇性的，你何時會需要她呢？
當你使用第二項的程式，然後因為firewall等原因，
造成第一項的程式無法順利下載檔案時，你就需要她！
她改利用wget來抓檔案！

又她們下載回來後，請先查出你的perl安裝的路徑，
利用vi修改她們的第一行預設：
#!/usr1/local/bin/perl5
變成你自己機器上的路徑，像我的：
#!/usr/bin/perl
這樣就可以開始玩囉～

她的使用方式如下，在terminal中先到你的工作目錄，
Usage:
browse_extract.pl table="table" position="name|coordinates|Null" time="time|time_range" coordinates='Equatorial|Galactic"
equinox="year" radius="arcmin" fields="Standard|All|list"
name_resolver="CheckCaches/GRB/SIMBAD/NED|CheckCaches/NED/SIMBAD|NED|SIMBAD"
infile="input_list" outfile=output_file" format="Batch|FITS|VOTable|Excel|HTML|Text"
sortvar="column_name" resultmax="count" param="name,value /or/ name=value"

例如，我想來搜尋RXTE在 MJD:50227 時有那些觀測，並希望她能存成FITS格式給我，
我下的語法是 =>
browse_extract.pl table="xtemaster" position="null" time="50227" outfile="mjd50227.fits" format="fits"
然後我就可以利用fv等程式來閱讀囉～

如何～方便吧！
寫個shell script讓她更好用～嘿嘿！

註：參數說明請直接利用任何文字編輯程式觀看「browse_extract.pl」。