Astronomy software as a research area encompasses the design, development, and validation of computational tools, algorithms, and frameworks that support observational and theoretical astrophysics. It includes pipeline software for data reduction and calibration, source detection and characterization, astrometric and photometric analysis, numerical simulations of astrophysical systems, and visualization and archive interfaces for large survey datasets. Research focuses on methods for handling high-throughput, heterogeneous data streams from ground- and space-based instruments, optimizing performance on high-performance and distributed computing architectures, ensuring reproducibility, and developing interoperable standards and APIs that integrate with virtual observatory infrastructures and community data repositories.
A powerful software tool capable of accurately modeling how cameras capture light could help democratize the development of new imaging systems for use in space.
Astronomy
Sep 18, 2025
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18
A new AI-powered tool has reduced astronomers' workload by 85%—filtering through thousands of data alerts to identify the few genuine signals caused by supernovae (powerful explosions from dying stars). The findings are published ...
Astronomy
Sep 9, 2025
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56
Over the course of more than two decades, researchers at the University of Bern have developed the so-called "Bern model," a suite of computer programs that can numerically simulate the formation of planetary systems, thus ...
Planetary Sciences
Sep 9, 2025
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53
When astronauts make the long journey to Mars in the not-so-distant future, communication with mission control will be impossible for days to weeks at a time. Enter Daphne-AT: a virtual assistant (VA) designed to help astronauts ...
Space Exploration
Jun 27, 2025
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Astrobee is a free-flying robotic system developed by NASA that is made up of three distinct cube-shaped robots. This system was originally designed to help astronauts who are working at the International Space Station (ISS) ...
CubeSats have a lot of advantages. They are small, inexpensive, and easily reproducible. But those advantages also come with significant disadvantages—they have trouble linking into broader constellations that allow them ...
Planetary Sciences
Mar 13, 2025
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30
Software engineers have been hard at work to establish a common language for a global conversation. The topic—revealing the mysteries of the universe. The U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory ...
Astronomy
Feb 6, 2025
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35
Research by astronomers and computer scientists at the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy (IfA) could revolutionize our understanding of the sun. The study, part of the "SPIn4D" project, combines cutting-edge solar ...
Astronomy
Nov 25, 2024
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94
The universe just got a whole lot bigger—or at least in the world of computer simulations, that is. In early November, researchers at the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory used the fastest supercomputer on ...
Astronomy
Nov 25, 2024
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7912
A team of computer scientists, astronomers and historians in Berlin has used machine-learning applications to learn more about the evolutionary history of European astronomical thought in the 15th and 16th centuries. In their ...
