SkyCat is a powerful software for astronomers that enables easy image visualization and catalog access. Perfect for professionals who need to swiftly navigate catalogs and images for research and observations.
SkyCat is a robust tool that allows for image visualization and personalized access to astronomy archive catalogs. The software boasts an array of key features that set it apart from other platforms. For instance, SkyCat has been designed with support for the World Coordinate System (WCS) to display FITS images, granting users the ability to interactively measure offsets and access other standard visualization functions similar to SAOimage.
SkyCat's image display capabilities are also enhanced with the ability to overlay and edit color graphic objects, such as tagging sources with text, arrows, circles, or other graphic illustrations. For ease of use, a compass is included to indicate where north and east are on the image, based on world coordinates information.
SkyCat further expands the user experience with the additional ability to save previously viewed images from a history menu and catalog. The cut levels, color scale algorithm, and colormap settings are remembered for each image, allowing for a personalized user experience. Moreover, SkyCat grants users access to a variety of popular astronomical catalogs, such as the HST Guide Star Catalog and others, which can be used to create and search local user catalogs and save catalog data locally.
To help users interact even further with their data, SkyCat overlays catalog sources onto images while taking object size and orientation into account. The software can also interact with Netscape to display more object information and has access to the observations catalog from the NTT, HST, and CFHT Science Archives.
SkyCat is extremely versatile, with the ability to retrieve preview images and plot tabular preview data for a selected object as an X/Y graph. The software can also calculate, display, and plot the center position, FWHM, angle, and other information for a selected star/object. SkyCat even allows for the loading and safekeeping of compressed images in various formats.
Through SkyCat's socket interface or Tk "send" features, users can access the platform's services remotely. The software's plugins also allow users to access more features or to modify existing ones. Finally, the ability to load lists of catalogs from other sites and the preference of a default catalog list make this software user-friendly.
SkyCat's only requirement is the Tcl/Tk 8.4 programming language. The most recent update of SkyCat has been optimized to replace calls to free() with Tcl_Free() for Tcl lists accessed from C code, among other minor bug fixes.
Overall, SkyCat is an impressive software option for anyone interested in accessing astronomical data with ease while benefiting from a host of visualization and personalized settings.
SkyCat's image display capabilities are also enhanced with the ability to overlay and edit color graphic objects, such as tagging sources with text, arrows, circles, or other graphic illustrations. For ease of use, a compass is included to indicate where north and east are on the image, based on world coordinates information.
SkyCat further expands the user experience with the additional ability to save previously viewed images from a history menu and catalog. The cut levels, color scale algorithm, and colormap settings are remembered for each image, allowing for a personalized user experience. Moreover, SkyCat grants users access to a variety of popular astronomical catalogs, such as the HST Guide Star Catalog and others, which can be used to create and search local user catalogs and save catalog data locally.
To help users interact even further with their data, SkyCat overlays catalog sources onto images while taking object size and orientation into account. The software can also interact with Netscape to display more object information and has access to the observations catalog from the NTT, HST, and CFHT Science Archives.
SkyCat is extremely versatile, with the ability to retrieve preview images and plot tabular preview data for a selected object as an X/Y graph. The software can also calculate, display, and plot the center position, FWHM, angle, and other information for a selected star/object. SkyCat even allows for the loading and safekeeping of compressed images in various formats.
Through SkyCat's socket interface or Tk "send" features, users can access the platform's services remotely. The software's plugins also allow users to access more features or to modify existing ones. Finally, the ability to load lists of catalogs from other sites and the preference of a default catalog list make this software user-friendly.
SkyCat's only requirement is the Tcl/Tk 8.4 programming language. The most recent update of SkyCat has been optimized to replace calls to free() with Tcl_Free() for Tcl lists accessed from C code, among other minor bug fixes.
Overall, SkyCat is an impressive software option for anyone interested in accessing astronomical data with ease while benefiting from a host of visualization and personalized settings.
What's New
Version 3.0.1: N/A