HOU Image Processing Software (HOU-IP)

For PC and Mac

HOU high school and middle school curricula both rely on students being able to get real observatory telescope images and then analyze those images with image processing software. HOU Image Processing (HOU-IP) software is similar to software used by professional astronomers, but with an interface custom designed for use by middle school or high school students.

You can download a free trial edition of HOU-IP 2.0 (fully functional for 30 days). See the order page to find out how to purchase Licenses for for HOU IP 2.0, to make the trial version permanent.

Latest telescope image sets available at http://lhs.berkeley.edu/gss/rev/ip/index.html
including FITS images for:

A Changing Cosmos
Solar System Science
More telescope images...

FAQ for HOU IP 2.0

The HOU materials are now part of the
Global Systems Science (GSS) project.

HOU-IP functions:

View/Display Controls	Zoom, Color Palettes, "MinMax" brightness controls, Log scale.
Transformations/Mathematical Manipulations	Flip, Rotate, Transpose, Shift, Resize, Blur, Filters, Add, Subtract, Multiply, Divide.
Data/Analysis Tools	Slice (graph brightness vs distance along a line), Image info, Sky parameters, Axes, Find objects, Aperture (brightness measuring tool), Histogram
Standard Software Features	Open and Save FITS format files (FITS is astronomical "industry standard" format for images), Print, Save as bit map.

Recent Mac operating systems no longer support "Classic" environment, so the Mac version of the old HOU IP will not function on newer Macs. We have available now HOU IP 2.0 Image Processing software for Mac OSX and Windows. Differences between the old HOU IP and HOU IP 2.0 are given below:

HOU IP 2.0	Old HOU IP
Control Bar	Display Controls Bar
Control Bar:
No Zoom factor box or Redraw	Zoom/Redraw
Color Palette	Palette is in Tool Bar
"Pixel Coordinates" in Control Bar	"Status Bar" [toggle in View Menu]
Menus:
"Transform" menu	"Manipulation" menu
"Analysis" menu	"Data Tools" menu
Menu Items:
"Centroid"	"Axes" (Analysis/Data Tools)
"Zoom Factor" in View menu and Tool Palette	Zoom factor in Display Controls Bar
No Zoom Box	Zoom Box in Data Tools menu
"Tools" palette on left	No Tools palette

In addition ...some of the following image processing software programs have Mac OSX versions—some available for free:

MicroObservatory Image software (free—OSX and Windows)- MicroObservatory project.

Makali'i (free-Windows only) — Subaru Image Proecessor.

DS9 Data Analysis Software (free—OSX and Windows) - Chandra Education

MIRA AL from Mirametrics (Windows only; ≈ $250)

CCDSoft and The Sky (OSX and Windows; from $99) from Software Bisque

MaxImDL from Diffraction Limited (Windows only; from $199)

Photoshop Fits Liberator (free—OSX unix and Windows)

SalsaJ software (free—OSX and Windows) from EUHOU (European HOU). Based on Image J.
To try it out, below are detailed instructions, involving getting latest java support software from Apple (for free):

Check the version of Java that you currently have.
Under the Apple menu, select About This Mac. When the basic window appears, click More Info…
System Profiler will open. Once the program is open, click on the Applications tab. A list of all the applications available on your computer will eventually show up. The list is alphabetical.
Scroll down to view the version of Java that is installed. If you do not have at least version 1.4, go to step 2. If you have version 1.4 or version 1.5, go on to step 3.

Update Java software on your Mac (you will need an Internet connection for this step).
Open System Preferences (under the Apple menu) and click on Software Update.
Click “Check Now”.
Any software than can be updated will eventually be listed. If Java related software is listed, install these updates.
You will need to restart your computer after these updates are completed.

Download the Salsa J software from the Global HOU web site.
Click on the SalsaJ_V1.1-Mac link. The program should automatically download to your desktop (or other location you have designated for downloads).
Also, click on the salsaj_1.3beta_Java1.4 link. This is a file that you will need if you are running Java 1.4 instead of Java 1.5 (Java 1.5 will only run on System 10.4 an above, so earlier systems will have updated to Java 1.4).
Locate the Salsa J folder on your desktop. Open it.
In the Salsa J folder, locate the file salsaj.jar and remove it from the Salsa J folder. Place the salsaj_1.3beta_Java1.4 file you downloaded into the folder to replace it.

Run the program!
Double click on the salsaj_1.3beta_Java1.4 icon. The program should start up.