The Science Software Branch at STScI

The Science Software Branch at STScI is part of the Engineering and Software Services (ESS) division. The primary function of the Branch is to develop, code, test and maintain science software, principally in the area of Data Analysis. We are responsible for a number of STScI data analysis products:

STSDAS
General purpose data analysis tools that run under the IRAF environment, including HST instrument calibration pipelines.
Related Sites:
STScI home
ESS Home Page
IRAF @ NOAO
HST Instruments
Old STSDAS page
Old PyRAF page
Old PyFITS page
Old numarray page
Internal SSB page

TABLES The TABLES package allows manipulation of STSDAS-format tables, and is REQUIRED in order to run STSDAS.

PyRAF
PyRAF is an alternative environment to the IRAF cl for running IRAF/STSDAS tasks: it provides access to almost all of IRAF/STSDAS functionality, but with the added power and flexibility of the Python scripting language.

PyFITS
PyFITS is a module that, when combined with the numarray package, allows Python users to access the data and headers of FITS files.

numarray
numarray is a package that allows fast manipulation of arrays in python, in a way that is similar to the capabilites of IDL.

SpecView
SpecView is a spectrum plotting/visualization tool written in Java.

PyDrizzle
PyDrizzle is a Python package that simplifies the combination of dithered images. It is a wrapper around the "drizzle" program of Fruchter and Hook.

HST exposure time calculators
CGI exposure time calculators for ACS, NICMOS and STIS.

Users can get help on any of these products by sending mail to help@stsci.edu, including information about the task/package that is causing the problem, the type of computer and operating system, and the version of the software being used. Alternatively, you can call (410) 338-1082 or 1-800-544-8125

STSDAS	General purpose data analysis tools that run under the IRAF environment, including HST instrument calibration pipelines.	Related Sites: STScI home ESS Home Page IRAF @ NOAO HST Instruments Old STSDAS page Old PyRAF page Old PyFITS page Old numarray page Internal SSB page
TABLES	The TABLES package allows manipulation of STSDAS-format tables, and is REQUIRED in order to run STSDAS.
PyRAF	PyRAF is an alternative environment to the IRAF cl for running IRAF/STSDAS tasks: it provides access to almost all of IRAF/STSDAS functionality, but with the added power and flexibility of the Python scripting language.
PyFITS	PyFITS is a module that, when combined with the numarray package, allows Python users to access the data and headers of FITS files.
numarray	numarray is a package that allows fast manipulation of arrays in python, in a way that is similar to the capabilites of IDL.
SpecView	SpecView is a spectrum plotting/visualization tool written in Java.
PyDrizzle	PyDrizzle is a Python package that simplifies the combination of dithered images. It is a wrapper around the "drizzle" program of Fruchter and Hook.
HST exposure time calculators	CGI exposure time calculators for ACS, NICMOS and STIS.