AstroVirgil FAQ

Why did you create AstroVirgil?

    I think the world is full of wonderful, exciting scientific data sets.  The same data the world's leading scientists are using to explore the universe you can download.  Its all sitting on web servers and, as they say, no one on the internet knows if you're a dog.  Although lots of data is available, software to manipulate the data is a bit of a problem.  Typically, it runs on a Unix box and is designed for graduate students and people with Ph.D.s in the field.  I think that with the right software, amateurs can have a lot of fun and learn a lot with the data. 
    Eventually, the "Star Trek" vision of the future might become a reality.  But, if we have to wait for warp drive, we might be waiting a long time.  The important fact is that we don't need warp drive and we don't need a ship with a primary sensor array.  All that data is already available on the net.  Its time to create the United Federation.

Can AstroVirgil read data from the Hubble telescope?

    Sure.  I built on some earlier software (the wonderful JSky) that reads fits image files.  This means it can also read images from many, many ground based telescopes.

Who funds this work?

    To date, just me.  I write the code and try to figure out how to implement the features.  I also get some advice from some X-ray astronomers, but so far, no money :-(

What is the current state of AstroVirgil?

    Well, it has problems.  Sure, you can load in Chandra observation and make images, spectrums and a buggy light curve.  And, frankly, I enjoy doing that.  However to do any real "science" most of the time you're going to need two things that AstroVirgil doesn't yet give you.  First, is much, much more calibration data.  Second, you need the ability to create a mathematical model of an astronomical object and compare it the observed data.  Eventually, I hope to add these features to AstroVirgil so it will support more hard science.  But even in its current state, I think it is very educational and there is nothing else like it.