The Linux for Astronomy project (LfA) is dedicated to compiling the most comprehensive collection of Astronomical software, and making it available for the Linux operating system. LfA provides point-and-click installation, a complete on-line library of searchable documentation, a comprehensive database of Astronomical Web sites and pages, and much more.
Now in its 8th year, LfA is in use worldwide, by both professional and amateur astronomers. The packages on LfA represent the state-of-the-art in Astronomical data processing, and are identical to the versions used on high end scientific workstations.
The combination of ever decreasing hardware prices, and the superb Linux operating system, now makes it possible to use these same packages on a "standard" personal computer. The current LfA distribution contains Linux versions of the following Astronomical data reduction and analysis packages :
Click here for a categorized list of contents
| ace | The ACE external package is used to catalog objects in images and manipulate the catalogs. |
| aips | Radio Astronomy data processing package |
| apmcat | APMCAT gets data from the APM catalogues server. |
| ascfit | Automatic Stellar Coordinate fitting |
| aspec | An Astronomical Spectrum Analysis Package |
| AstroMD | A Multi Dimensional visualization and analysis toolkit for astrophysics |
| audine | CCD camera drivers (Audine and others) |
| autophot | Autophot uses IRAF's digiphot daophot routines, it automates the procedure a bit. |
| BCR | Cooperative Data Sharing library |
| bima-miriad | Miriad is a a synthesis radio-astronomy data reduction, imaging and analysis package |
| cdf | Common Data Format |
| cfitsio | C library for read/write FITS format files |
| CHIANTI | A Database for Astrophysical Emission Line Spectroscopy |
| cloudy | Stellar Atmospheres |
| cmbfast | A microwave anisotropy code |
| color | IRAF Tools for Color Image Display |
| consky | computes telescope times for sky observation projects. |
| cora | line fitting tool designed for emission line spectra with low count numbers |
| cosmics | Cosmological Initial Conditions and Microwave Anisotropy Codes |
| crutil | COSMIC RAY REMOVAL UTILITY PACKAGE |
| csenv | A code for the chemistry of CircumStellar ENVelopes |
| ctio | IRAF Tools for CTIO telescope data |
| ddscat | DDSCAT is a FORTRAN program to calculate scattering and absorption of electromagnetic radiation by arbitrary targets |
| Dexter | Dexter is a little java applet that is used by the ADS to let users extract data from figures on scanned images |
| dimsum | DEEP INFRARED MOSAICING SOFTWARE |
| drao | Export package for processing DRAO telescope data |
| ds9 | FITS data viewer |
| dusty | solves the problem of radiation transport in a dusty environment |
| dx | IBM OpenDX Data Explorer |
| eclipse | Astronomical image processing package |
| eis | IRAF Tools for ESO imaging survey data |
| esowfi | ESO WFI MOSAIC REDUCTION PACKAGE |
| eSTAR | The eScience Telescopes for Astronomical Research (eSTAR) Project is a programme to build a prototype robotic telescope network |
| euv | IRAF Tools for EUV data reduction |
| eye | Eye stands for ``Enhance your Extraction'': a software for training SExtractor's retina |
| fftw | Fastest Fourier Transform in the West. |
| finder | IRAF catalog search tools |
| fitsutil | IRAF FITS utilities |
| ftools | FITS data processing package |
| funtools | Funtools, is a minimal buy-in FITS library and utility package from the SAO/HEAD RDgroup. |
| gadget | A code for collisionless and gasdynamical cosmological simulations |
| gax | A user-friendly tool to search, sort, and report galaxy information |
| gccd | A ccd camera control program |
| ggobi | GGobi is a data visualization system for viewing high-dimensional data |
| gipsy | Groningen Image Processing System |
| gsc-north | HST Guide Star Catalog - northern sky |
| gsc-south | HST Guide Star Catalog - southern sky |
| gsl | GNU Scientific subroutine library |
| guiapps | IRAF GUIs |
| HDF | The HDF software includes I/O libraries and tools for analyzing, visualizing, and converting scientific data |
| hipparcos | process Hipparcos transit data from CD-ROM |
| hyperz | a photometric redshift code |
| IBMJava2 | Java VM from IBM |
| ifocas | IRAF Tools Faint Object Classification |
| iraf212-redhat | Image reduction and Analysis Facility (RedHat version) |
| iraf212-suse | Image reduction and Analysis Facility (SuSE version) |
| iraf212 | Image reduction and Analysis Facility |
| ISIS | An optimal image subtraction package |
| karma | Karma is a toolkit for interprocess communications, authentication, encryption, graphics display, user interface and manipulating the Karma network data structure |
| kojac | Kojac is Optics Java Applet Classes |
| lfabase | Linux for Astronomy baseline |
| lfadoc | Linux for Astronomy online documentation |
| mem0 | IRAF Maximum Entropy image restoration tools |
| midas | European Southern Observatory Munich Image Data Analysis System |
| mlapm | a C code for cosmological simulations |
| mscred | IRAF Tools for Mosaic image processing |
| mx5ccd | MX5 ccd camera driver - kernel module |
| mxtools | IRAF MX version of Quick and Dirty PHOTometry |
| ncarg | NCAR graphics utilities and libraries |
| nemo | NEMO is a Stellar Dynamics Toolbox |
| nightfall | Light Curve Synthesis Program |
| novas | Naval Observatory Vector Astrometry Subroutines |
| openuniverse | Solar system simulation |
| partiview | partiview is an advanced 4D-visualization tool |
| perl-lfa | A collection of perl packages for Astronomy |
| python-lfa | Astronomically Enhanced python |
| s4l | Mel Bartels SCOPE telescope stepper controller program |
| saoimage | Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory image utility |
| scilab | Scientists mathematical toolbox |
| sextractor | Source Extractor, locates astronomical objects in images |
| skymaker | Aprogram that simulates astronomical images. |
| spectime | IRAF SPECTRAL EXPOSURE TIME CALCULATOR |
| spectrum | A stellar spectral synthesis program |
| starbase | Starbase Data Tables - An Ascii Relational Database for UNIX |
| starfinder | Stellar field analysis |
| starlab | A package for simulating the evolution of dense stellar systems |
| starplot | 3D star chart |
| stecf | IRAF Tools for reduction and analysis of Hubble Space Telescope data |
| stiff | convert scientific FITS images to TIFF |
| stsdas | IRAF Tools for Hubble Space Telescope data reduction |
| stuff | SkyStuff is a program that generates artificial but realistic catalog of astronomical sources |
| swarp | SWarp is a program that resamples and co-adds together FITS images using any arbitrary astrometric projection defined in the WCS standard. |
| tables | IRAF Tools for processing FITS table data |
| tinytim | HST PSF generator |
| velocity | program to fit an orbital solution to measured radial velocity curves of spectroscopic binary stars |
| vol | IRAF Tools for manipulating and viewing 3d or in some cases 4d volume images |
| wcstools | display and manipulate the world coordinate system of a FITS or IRAF images |
| weightwatcher | WeightWatcher is a program that combines weight-maps, flag-maps and polygon data |
| x11iraf | IRAF GUIs |
| xccdred | XCCDRED -- Experimental version of CCDRED Package |
| XDF | Metadata tools |
| xephem | Xephem-lite , a sampler of the interactive astronomy program |
| xite | X based Image processing Tools and Environment |
| xray | Multi-mission x-ray analysis software system |
| xsil | XSIL means eXtensible Scientific Interchange Language. |
| xstar | N-body simulator |
| xvarstar | XVarStar is a program written for variable star observers |