Telescope Control with Python

pyscope is a pure-Python package for robotic scheduling, operation, and control of small optical telescopes.

Important

If you use pyscope for data collection or work presented in a publication or talk, please help the project by properly acknowledging or citing the package.

pyscope is an open-source project that provides a set of tools to rapidly and easily control astronomical instrumentation. It is designed to be modular and extensible, allowing users to easily add support for new devices and observatories. pyscope is built on top of the ASCOM standard, but also provides support for non-ASCOM devices. Users may also access their devices through third-party applications such as MaxIm DL.

Observatories who use pyscope can take advantage of the telrun module, which provides a simple interface for fully-robotic observatory control.

pyscope is aiming to become an Astropy-affiliated package.

Features

• Control observatory hardware with Python

• Support for both ASCOM and non-ASCOM devices

• Observatory convenience methods like autofocus and recenter

• telrun module for fully-robotic operation of an observatory

• Basic data reduction tools like avg_fits and ccd_calib

• Simple analysis scripts like calc_zmag

• Powered by Astropy, Astropy-affiliated packages, and ASCOM

Getting Started

• Installation
  • Development Installation
• User Guide
  • Examples
  • Header
  • How to configure logging
  • Configuration files
  • Get Help
• API Reference
  • observatory Module
  • telrun Module
  • reduction Module
  • analysis Module
  • utils Module
• Development
  • Setting up your development environment
  • Contribution workflow
  • Contributing scripts
• Citing pyscope
• Report an Issue
• License

Authors

• Walter W. Golay

  • Lead Developer & Maintainer

  • Founding Member of the Macalester-Augustana Coe Robotic Observatory (MACRO) Consortium

  • Graduate Student at Harvard University, Department of Astronomy

  • Former Undergraduate at University of Iowa, Department of Physics and Astronomy

• John M. Cannon

  • Director of the MACRO Consortium

  • Professor at Macalester College, Department of Physics and Astronomy

• William M. Peterson

  • Founding Institution Lead of the MACRO Consortium

  • Associate Professor at Augustana College, Department of Physics and Astronomy

• James Wetzel

  • Founding Institution Lead of the MACRO Consortium

  • Adjunct Professor at Coe College, Department of Physics

• Philip Griffin

  • Founding Member of the MACRO Consortium

  • Graduate Student at University of Iowa, Department of Physics and Astronomy

• Student Developers:

  • William St. John, Macalester College Class of 2026

  • Lila Schisgal, Macalester College Class of 2026

  • Cain Rinkoski, Macalester College Class of 2025

  • Olivia Laske, Macalester College Class of 2024

Acknowledgements

• Robert Mutel, Professor Emeritus at University of Iowa, Department of Physics and Astronomy

• The former students and contributors to the Iowa Robotic Telescope Facility (RTF), the Van Allen Observatory (VAO), and the Iowa Robotic Observatory (IRO), including the Rigel Telescope and the Gemini Telescope, now known as the Robert L. Mutel Telescope (RLMT).

• The benefactors of the MACRO Consortium for providing unrestricted access to the Robert L. Mutel Telescope for testing the early iterations of this software.

• Mark and Pat Trueblood, Directors of the Winer Observatory where the Robert L. Mutel Telescope is located

• Kevin Ivarsen, Lead Software Developer at PlaneWave Instruments

• The astronomy faculty and staff at the University of Iowa, Department of Physics and Astronomy