COCOA: Simulating Observations of Star Cluster Simulations

COCOA (Cluster simulatiOn Comparison with ObservAtions) creates idealized mock photometric observations using results from numerical simulations of star cluster evolution. COCOA is able to present the output of realistic numerical simulations of star clusters carried out using Monte Carlo or N-body codes in a way that is useful for direct comparison with photometric observations. The code can simulate optical observations from simulation snapshots in which positions and magnitudes of objects are known. The parameters for simulating the observations can be adjusted to mimic telescopes of various sizes. COCOA also has a photometry pipeline that can use standalone versions of DAOPHOT (ascl:1104.011) and ALLSTAR to produce photometric catalogs for all observed stars.