Yahoo! News – New Software Puts Space on Your Desktop

By Tariq Malik

SPACE.com

Astronomers working with the Hubble Space Telescope (news – web sites) often build spectacular space images based on the raw data taken by the orbital instrument. But new thanks to some new software that power can sit in the hands of anyone, not just scientists, equipped with a computer and a digital imaging program.

The software, called FITS Liberator, is actually a plugin application for the imaging software Adobe Photoshop and is now available free at the Hubble’s European website. The plugin allows space image enthusiasts to piece together in Photoshop the same raw data that were once reserved for astronomers with highly specialized imaging tools could touch.

Read more…

Author: Jorah

I grew up in New England, did a short stint in the U.S. Navy after high school, worked in various factories, built & renovated houses, and finally moved to the Carolinas in 1998 to start working at what was then a large regional bank and is now a really big nationwide bank. I work doing SharePoint management site management. After work I make soap, knit, ride my motorcycle, read, watch movies & eat. I ride a Yamaha V-Star 1300. I am pretty sure that I want to hike the Appalachian Trail someday, or possibly do a long-distance rowing trip. I'll be retiring in a few years, and hope to run a craft soap-making business to bring in some cash.