Example project: an astronomy catalogue simulator

The example project that we will be developing will simulate a catalogue of foreground stars in the direction of the Andromeda galaxy. The initial requirements are as follows:

• Stars should have randomised sky positions around the Andromeda galaxy
• Positions should fall within 1 degree of the central location
• Each star should have a unique ID
• The star ID and position should be saved in a csv file to be analysed by other programs

This program is intended to be used by the developer and their research group which includes people who are not proficient python programmers.

It is intended that the software will grow in capability and complexity only as needed to support a current research project.

With this in mind we move to the first stage of our software project – the proof of concept.