PyGaia#
Python modules for the simulation and basic manipulation of Gaia catalogue data and the corresponding uncertainties. To simulate Gaia astrometric data the following functionalities are provided:
transform phase space variables to astrometric observables as well as radial velocities and vice versa
transformations between sky coordinate systems
epoch transformations of the astrometric data, including the transformation of the astrometric covariance matrix
uncertainty models for the astrometric, photometric, and radial velocity data from Gaia
This toolkit is basically an implementation of the performance models for Gaia which are publicly available at: http://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/science-performance. In addition much of the material in chapter 4 of the book Astrometry for Astrophysics: Methods, Models, and Applications (2012, van Altena et al.) is implemented.
Warning
The code in this package is intended for simulating Gaia catalogue data and its uncertainties and manipulating (Gaia) astrometric data, but is not intended for accurate on-sky astrometry applications, such as predicting in detail astrometric paths of stars on the sky.