A FITS viewer and IRAF image server designed for Mac OS X, providing native functionality to enhance accessibility and usability of astronomical images.
The PyImtool software is built mainly in Python, with some Objective-C programming to improve performance. It uses PyObjC, which is a popular Python-Objective-C bridge. Compared to other similar software platforms, there are two major differences between PyImtool and its competitors.
Firstly, PyImtool is not as mature as some of the other software programs, such as DS9. However, on the other hand, PyImtool does not require an X11 server to function. It is a full-fledged Cocoa application, and as far as the developers know, it is the only native application of its kind on Mac OS X.
For those who are not familiar with DS9 and other IRAF image servers, PyImtool is a simple, specific program that allows users to display astronomical data such as images and spectra from data reduction and analysis packages like IRAF and PyRAF. PyImtool also supports the IIS protocol (Ximtool protocol) for inter-application communications, including sockets and UNIX pipes.
It is important to note that PyImtool is licensed and distributed under the terms of the BSD License. This open source license allows users to access and modify the source code at no cost.
Version 1.0 Alpha 4: N/A