Gala: A Python package for galactic dynamics
Abstract
Gala is an Astropy-affiliated Python package for galactic dynamics. Python enables wrapping low-level languages (e.g., C) for speed without losing flexibility or ease-of-use in the user-interface. The API for Gala was designed to provide a class-based and user-friendly interface to fast (C or Cython-optimized) implementations of common operations such as gravitational potential and force evaluation, orbit integration, dynamical transformations, and chaos indicators for nonlinear dynamics. Gala also relies heavily on and interfaces well with the implementations of physical units and astronomical coordinate systems in the Astropy package (astropy.units and astropy.coordinates). Gala was designed to be used by both astronomical researchers and by students in courses on gravitational dynamics or astronomy. It has already been used in a number of scientific publications and has also been used in graduate courses on Galactic dynamics to, e.g., provide interactive visualizations of textbook material.
- Publication:
-
The Journal of Open Source Software
- Pub Date:
- October 2017
- DOI:
- 10.21105/joss.00388
- Bibcode:
- 2017JOSS....2..388P
- Keywords:
-
- galactic dynamics;
- python;
- stellar kinematics