aladin - interactive software sky atlas
aladin [options...] [filenames...]
aladin -hipsgen|-mocgen [-h] [options...]
aladin -help|-version
aladin is an interactive sky atlas for viewing astronomical
images in the online Virtual Observatory (VO) developed by the Centre de
Données astronomiques de Strasbourg (CDS). It is possible to
superimpose entries from astronomical catalogues or databases with remotely
accessed data fetched on demand.
Aladin can also open and save to a large number of astronomical
image formats (FITS, HEALPix, JPEG/GIF/PNG/...); and table formats (FITS,
VO-Table, CSV/TSV, S-extractor, IPAC-TBL, Skycat, ASCII, ...).
This manual describes only the command line parameters of
aladin. The possibilities of the graphical user interface can be
discovered with the Help menu once the program is started.
- -help
- show top-level help
- -version
- display the Aladin release number
- -local
- skip internet connectivity tests (off-line usage)
- -screen=full|cinema|preview|frame
- start in full-screen, cinema, preview, or other visual modes.
- -script=cmd1;cmd2;...
- script commands passed on the command-line
- -nogui
- script-mode. Does not use graphical user interface. Equivalent to
-noplugin -nohub
- -[no]hub
- disable/enable starting the internal SAMP communcations hub for sharing
data with other astronomical applications
- -[no]plugin
- disable/enable plugin support
- -[no]beta
- disable/enable features that currently in beta-test
- -[no]proto
- disable/enable prototype feature. Useful for testing or when performing
demonstrations
- -trace
- debugging trace mode
- -debug
- debugging extra verbose mode
The -hipsgen command allows a script-/command-line based
Hierarchical Progressive Surveys (HiPS) generation. The options can be given
on the command line, or in a config file (param=configfile).
Additional parameters may be retrieved with the command aladin
-hipsgen -h.
- in=dir|file
- Source image directory (FITS or JPEG|PNG +hhh or HiPS) or unique image or
HEALPix map file (required parameter)
- out=dir
- HiPS target directory (default $PWD+"HiPS")
- obs_title=name
- Name of the survey (by default, input directory name)
- creator_did=id
- HiPS identifier (syntax: [ivo://]AUTHORITY/internalID)
- hips_creator=name
- Name of the person or institute who builds the HiPS
- hips_status=private|public
clonable|clonableOnce|unclonable
- HiPS status (default: public clonableOnce)
- hdu=n1,n2-n3,...|all
- List of HDU numbers (0 is the primary HDU - default is 0)
- blank=nn
- Specifical BLANK value
- skyval=key|auto|%info|%min
%max
- FITS key to use for removing a sky background, or auto detection or
percents of pixel histogram kept (central ex 99, or min max ex 0.3
99.7)
- color=jpeg|png
- The source images are colored images (jpg or png) and the tiles will be
produced in jpeg (resp. png)
- shape=ellipse|rectangle
- Shape of the observations
- border=...
- Margins (in pixels) to ignore in the original observations (N W S E or
constant)
- fov=true|x1,y1..
- Observed regions by files.fov or global polygon (in FITS convention).
- pilot=nnn
- Pilot test limited to the nnn first original images.
- verbose=n
- Debug information from -1 (nothing) to 4 (a lot)
- -live
- incremental HiPS (keep weight associated to each HiPS pixel)
- -f
- clear previous computations
- -n
- Just print process information, but do not execute it.
The -mocgen command generates the MOC (Multi
Object Coverage Map) corresponding to a collection of images
or WCS headers. A MOC is a a coverage map based on HEALPix sky
tesselation.
The supported formats are: FITS files, MEF files, jpeg or png
files (WCS header in the comment segment), .hhh file (FITS header files
without pixels) and .txt simple ASCII file (FITS header as keyword = value
basic ASCII lines).
- -v
- Verbose mode
- -strict
- Scan pixel values instead of using WCS image coverage
- blank=value
- Alternate BLANK value (-strict only)
- order=nn
- MOC resolution (default 10 => 3.345')
- mocfmt=fits|json
- MOC output format (default FITS)
- previous=moc.fits
- Previous MOC (if additions)
- hdu=n1,n2-n3|all
- List of concerned FITS extensions
- -r
- Recursive directory scanning
- -o
- Output MOC updated continuously rather than generated at the end
- in=fileOrDir
- Directory of images/headers collection
- out=outMoc.fits
- Output MOC file
- -d
- Debug trace
Aladin is able to process the following file formats:
- images
- FITS (gzipped,RICE,MEF,...), HEALPix maps, JPEG,GIF,PNG
- tables
- FITS, XML/VOTable, CSV, TSV, S-extractor, IPAC-TBL, Skycat or ASCII
tables
- graphics
- Aladin or IDL or DS9 regions, MOCs
- directories
- HiPS (Hierarchical Progressive Surveys)
- Aladin
backups
- Files with "*.aj" extension
- Aladin
scripts
- Files with "*.ajs" extension
Aladin was written by Pierre Fernique (Aladin Desktop core
base & documentations), Thomas Boch (many advanced Aladin Desktop
features), Anaïs Oberto (RGB support, HiPS prototypes),
François Bonnarel (Image calibration), and Chaitra
(TAP,SIAv2 implementation).
Copyright © 1999-2017 Universite de Strasbourg / Centre de
Donnees astronomiques de Strasbourg (CDS/CNRS)
Aladin is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
Software Foundation, version 3 of the License.
If the Aladin Sky Atlas was helpful for your research work, the
following citation would be appreciated: This research has made use of
"Aladin sky atlas" developed at CDS, Strasbourg Observatory,
France. 2000A&AS..143...33B and 2014ASPC..485..277B.
http://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/
The user manual is available in PDF format in french language at
http://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/java/AladinManuelV10.pdf
An older version is available in english:
http://aladin.u-strasbg.fr/java/AladinManual6.pdf