List of software for astronomy research and education
Listed here are software packages useful for conducting scientific research in astronomy, and for seeing, exploring, and learning about the data used in astronomy.
| Package Name | Pro Am | Interface | Connects to Online Data | Displays or Manip. FITS Images | Tiled Multi-Resolution All-Sky image Handling | Displays or Manip. Spectra | Handles Cubes | Statistics? | OS | Has API | Cost | Suppt'd or Sold by | website | Currently Supported? |
| glue | Pro | GUI and command line | Yes | Manipulates | No | Yes | Yes | Basic, plus python terminal | Mac, Win, Linux | Yes | Free | NASA, NSF | http://glueviz.org | Yes |
| WorldWide Telescope | Pro/Am | GUI | Yes | Displays | TOAST | No | Limited | Limited | Browser | Yes | Free | American Astronomical Society | http://worldwidetelescope.org/webclient | Yes |
| Google Sky | Am | GUI | Yes | Displays | Mercator | No | No | No | Browser | Yes | Free | https://www.google.com/sky/ | No | |
| IRAF | Pro | GUI and command line | Yes | Display & Manipulates | No | Yes | Yes | Limited | Mac, Linux | Yes | Free | NOAO | https://iraf-community.github.io | Yes |
| ds9 | Pro | GUI | Yes | Manipulates | No | Yes | Limited | Limited | Mac, Win, Linux | No | Free | NASA | http://ds9.si.edu/site/Home.html | Yes |
| js9 | Pro | GUI | Yes | Manipulates | No | Yes | No | Limited | Browser | No | NASA | https://js9.si.edu | Yes | |
| Aladin | Pro | GUI and command line | Yes | Displays & Manipulates | HiPS | No | Yes | Limited | Mac, Win, Linux | yes | Free | CDS | https://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/Desktop | Yes |
| Aladin Lite | Pro/Am | GUI | Yes | Displays | HiPS | No | No | No | Browser | Yes | Free | CDS | http://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/AladinLite/ | Yes |
| ESASky | Pro/Am | GUI | Yes | Displays | HiPS | No | No | No | Browser | No | Free | ESA | http://sky.esa.int | Yes |
| Starry Night | Am | GUI | No? | No | Yes | No | No | No | Mac, Win | No | $ | Simulation Curriculum Corp | http://www.starrynight.com/starry-night-7-professional-astronomy-telescope-control-software.html | Yes |
| Legacy Survey Sky Browser | Pro/Am | GUI | Yes | Displays | Yes | No | No | No | Browser | No | Free | NOAO, AURA | http://legacysurvey.org/viewer | Yes |
| QFitsView | Pro | GUI and command line | No | Displays & Manipulates | No | Yes | Yes | Limited | Mac, Win, Linux | No | Free | Thomas Ott, MPE | http://www.mpe.mpg.de/~ott/dpuser/qfitsview.html | Yes |
| Gaia Sky | Am | GUI and scripts | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Mac, Win, Linux | No | Free | ZAH | https://zah.uni-heidelberg.de/de/institute-des-zah/ari/gaia2/info-material-fuer-die-oeffentlichkeit-downloads/gaiasky/ | Yes |
| FITS Liberator | Pro/Am | GUI | No | Displays & Manipulates | No | No | No | No | Mac, Win | No | Free | ESA, ESO, NASA | https://spacetelescope.org/projects/fits_liberator/ | Yes |
| xTime | Pro | Utility | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Browser | No | Free | NASA Goddard | https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/Tools/xTime/xTime.pl | Yes |
| wiseview | Pro/Am | GUI | Yes | Displays & Manipulates | No | No | No | No | Browser | No | Free | Dan Caselden and Paul Westin | http://byw.tools/wiseview | Yes |
| Astropy | Pro | GUI and command line | Yes | Displays & Manipulates | Limited | Yes | Yes | Yes | based on python | Yes | Free | NumFOCUS | https://www.astropy.org/ | Yes |
| Lightkurve | Pro | GUI and command line | Yes | Displays & Manipulates | No | No | No | Yes | based on python | Yes | Free | Lightkurve collaboration | https://docs.lightkurve.org/ | Yes |
| Chirp | Pro | Alert Software | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Browser, Google Play, App Store | No | Free | Aurore Simonnet, EPO Sonoma State University | http://chirp.sr.bham.ac.uk/ | Yes |
| TOPCAT | Pro | GUI and command line | Yes | Displays & Manipulates | Limited | Yes | Yes | Yes | Mac, Win, Linux, Solaris | Yes | Free | Developed mostly in the UK | http://www.star.bris.ac.uk/~mbt/topcat/ | Yes |
| Space Engine | Am | GUI | No | No | No | No | No | No | Mac, Win, Linux | No | $ | Vladimir Romanyuk | http://spaceengine.org/ | Yes |
| Universe Sandbox | Am | GUI | No | No | No | No | No | No | Mac, Win, Linux | No | $ | Dan Dixon | http://universesandbox.com/ | Yes |
| Astrometry.net | Pro/Am | GUI | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Browser or Mac, Win, Linux | No | Free | NSF, NASA & NRC | https://web.archive.org/web/20101015122353/http://www.astrometry.net/ | Yes |
| MIST | Pro | GUI | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Browser | No | Free | NSF, NASA & Packard Foundation | http://waps.cfa.harvard.edu/MIST/index.html | Yes |
| Banyan Σ | Pro | GUI | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Browser, IDL code or python code | No | Free | Jonathan Gagné | http://www.exoplanetes.umontreal.ca/banyan/banyansigma.php | Yes |
| OpenSpace | Am | GUI | No? | No | No | No | No | No? | Mac, Win | No | Free | NASA, Knut & Alice Wallenberg Foundation, AMNH | https://www.openspaceproject.com/ | Yes |
| iDaVIE | Pro | VR and GUI | No | Displays | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Win | No | Free | IDIA and UCT | https://idavie.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ https://vislab.idia.ac.za/tools | Yes |
| Pro/Am | GUI | No | No | No | No | No | No | Win, Mac, Linux, Raspberry PI OS | No | Free | Simon Šander | https://saimons-astronomy.webador.com/software/collimation-circles | Yes |