SphereView

Coordinates (RA / Dec)

SphereView uses Right Ascension (RA) and Declination (Dec) as its primary coordinate system. All coordinates are natively handled in the ICRS reference frame. The application includes a built-in star catalog. Support for user-defined catalogs may be added in a future version.

Embedded Stars

Embedded stars are taken from the HYG Star Database: https://astronexus.com/projects/hyg
The HYG 4.2 catalog is used.

Raster Files

Supported formats:

• FITS – fully supported, including image data and WCS metadata
• AstroTIFF – TIFF images with astronomical metadata and WCS support https://astro-tiff.sourceforge.io/

Point Data

SphereView can load and display point data from:

• CSV files
• TSV files

Interoperability

Browser

SphereView supports opening external astronomical web services using the current coordinates:

• SIMBAD – https://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad
• SDSS SkyServer – https://skyserver.sdss.org
• CzSky – https://www.czsky.cz

The current RA/Dec position is passed directly to the selected service and opened in the system web browser.

FITS

SphereView can download and display FITS images from online services based on the current position.

• ESO DSS – FITS files are downloaded from https://archive.eso.org/dss/dss based on the current crosshair position and displayed directly in SphereView. Zoom can be adjusted as needed.
• Alasky CDS – FITS images are retrieved from the Alasky HiPS service https://alasky.cds.unistra.fr using the current coordinates.

Supernovae

SphereView can display supernova positions using publicly available online catalogs:

• Rochester Astronomy – supernova data are obtained from https://rochesterastronomy.org/supernova.html
• Transient Name Server – official IAU supernova and transient database https://www.wis-tns.org

Ephemeris

SphereView can display ephemerides of Solar System objects downloaded from online services:

• NASA Horizons – ephemeris data are retrieved from https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons/app.html

Comets

SphereView can display comet positions using data from international astronomical catalogs:

• Minor Planet Center – comet data are obtained from https://minorplanetcenter.net

Object Search

SphereView allows searching for astronomical objects by name.

Object coordinates are resolved using the SIMBAD database: https://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad

The resolved position is used to center the view on the selected object.

External Applications

• Open in Associated Application – clicking Open in the right-hand file manager opens the selected file in its default application (for example DS9)
• Open Directory in File Manager – clicking a directory opens it using the default operating system file manager

Tip

FITS files can be downloaded from: https://mast.stsci.edu/portal/Mashup/Clients/Mast/Portal.html

Downloaded files can be opened and displayed directly in SphereView.