射电天空与观测源分布可视化软件
A Visualization Software for the Radio Sky and Radio-Source Distribution
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摘要: 射电天文观测需要事先对射电源分布及天空背景有清晰的了解。目前国内射电天文台站缺乏射电天空与观测源分布可视化软件来对射电天空背景和观测源进行显示。开发一款简洁、移植性强的可视化软件,方便观测者直观地了解射电天空,帮助他们制定合理的观测计划。该软件使用C语言及PGPLOT子函数库编写,在Linux系统下运行,实现了星空的实时查询和按时查询,并支持用户更改观测台站、天空背景和射电源表等。该软件具有很好的扩展能力,将面向国内各天文台站及天文爱好者开源发布。Abstract: Directions of radio sources and the Galactic radio background map need to be known before or during practical radio-astronomy observing runs. We have developed a simple visualization software to display the radio sky and the distribution of radio sources. The visualization software, which should be helpful to observers, is developed using the C language and the PGPLOT subroutine library for graphic utilities. It can be run under a Linux environment. This software can be used to display the radio sky at any user-set time; particularly, it can display the real-time radio sky. It allows users to add or remove observational sites, to select desired data of the Galactic radio background, and to modify object entries in radio-source lists for display. This software has rather good expandability. The software together with its source codes will be made freely available to all astronomical institutes and amateur astronomers in China.