What problem does it solve?
Astropy provides a comprehensive Python toolkit for astronomy data analysis, enabling precise handling of units, coordinates, FITS I/O, cosmology calculations, time systems, tables, and world coordinate systems. It streamlines scientific workflows from data ingestion to interpretation by offering consistent interfaces across modules.
Core Features & Use Cases
- Units and Quantities: define, convert, and operate on physical quantities with automatic units handling.
- Coordinate Systems & Transformations: represent celestial coordinates and convert between ICRS, Galactic, FK5, AltAz, and more.
- FITS I/O & Table Handling: read/write FITS files, manipulate image data and tables, and query catalogs.
- Time & Cosmology: manage time scales, perform precise time arithmetic, and compute distances and ages with built-in cosmologies.
- WCS & Data Modeling: work with world coordinate systems, headers, and basic modeling/visualization utilities.
Quick Start
Load a sample FITS dataset, convert units, transform coordinates, and compute a luminosity distance using Planck18.