SuperNOVAS is a C/C++ astronomy software library, providing high-precision astrometry such as one might need for running an observatory, a precise planetarium program, or for analyzing astronomical datasets. It is a fork of the Naval Observatory Vector Astrometry Software (NOVAS) C version 3.1, providing bug fixes, tons of extra features, while making it easier (and safer) to use also.
SuperNOVAS is easy to use and it is very fast, providing 3–5 orders of magnitude faster position calculations than astropy 7.0.0 in a single thread (see the benchmarks), and its performance will scale with the number of CPUs when calculations are performed in parallel threads.
SuperNOVAS is entirely free to use without licensing restrictions. Its source code is compatible with the C99 standard, and hence should be suitable for old and new platforms alike. And, despite it being a light-weight library, it fully supports the IAU 2000/2006 standards for sub-microarcsecond position calculations.
SuperNOVAS is maintained by Attila Kovacs at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and it available via the Smithsonian/SuperNOVAS repository on GitHub.
This site contains various online resources that support the library:
Downloads
- Releases from GitHub
Documentation
- User’s guide (
README.md) - API Documentation
- History of changes (
CHANGELOG.md) - Issues affecting SuperNOVAS releases (past and/or present)
- Community Forum – ask a question, provide feedback, or check announcements.
Linux Packages
SuperNOVAS is also available in packaged for for both RPM and Debian-based Linux distros. It has the following package structure, which allows non-bloated installations of just the parts that are needed for the particular use case(s):
| Fedora RPM | Debian package |
|---|---|
supernovas |
libsupernovas1 |
supernovas-cio-data |
libsupernovas-cio-data |
supernovas-solsys1 |
libsolsys1_1 |
supernovas-solsys2 |
libsolsys2_1 |
supernovas-solsys-calceph |
libsolsys-calceph1 |
supernovas-devel |
libsupernovas-dev |
supernovas-doc |
libsupernovas-doc |
The differences in package naming are due to the different naming policies for RedHat/Fedora vs Debian. Otherwise, the RPM and Debian packages provide identical contents and features.