.. include:: references.txt
.. raw:: html
.. module:: gala
****
Gala
****
Galactic Dynamics is the study of the formation, history, and evolution of
galaxies using the *orbits* of objects — numerically-integrated trajectories of
stars, dark matter particles, star clusters, or galaxies themselves.
``gala`` is an Astropy-affiliated Python package that aims to provide efficient
tools for performing common tasks needed in Galactic Dynamics research. Much of
this code uses Python for flexible, user-friendly interfaces that interact with
wrappers around low-level code (primarily C) to enable fast computations.
Common operations include `gravitational potential and force evaluations
`_, `orbit integrations `_,
`dynamical coordinate transformations `_, and computing
`chaos indicators for nonlinear dynamics `_. ``gala``
heavily uses the units and astronomical coordinate systems defined in the
Astropy core package (:ref:`astropy.units ` and
:ref:`astropy.coordinates `).
This package is being actively developed in `a public repository on GitHub
`_, and we are always looking for new
contributors! No contribution is too small, so if you have any trouble with this
code, find a typo, or have requests for new content (tutorials or features),
please `open an issue on GitHub `_.
.. note::
Welcome to the new Gala documentation! The documentation has a new theme and
some new content. Use the links in the nav bar above, the page listing below,
or the search bar on the left to dive in!
.. ---------------------
.. Nav bar (top of docs)
.. toctree::
:maxdepth: 1
:titlesonly:
install
getting_started
tutorials
user_guide
contributing
Contributors
============
.. include:: ../AUTHORS.rst
Citation and Attribution
========================
|JOSS| |DOI|
`Here is a list of papers that use Gala
`_
If you make use of this code, please cite the `JOSS `_
paper:
.. code-block:: bibtex
@article{gala,
doi = {10.21105/joss.00388},
url = {https://doi.org/10.21105%2Fjoss.00388},
year = 2017,
month = {oct},
publisher = {The Open Journal},
volume = {2},
number = {18},
author = {Adrian M. Price-Whelan},
title = {Gala: A Python package for galactic dynamics},
journal = {The Journal of Open Source Software}}
Please also cite the Zenodo DOI |DOI| of the version you used as a software
citation:
.. include:: ZENODO.rst
.. |JOSS| image:: http://joss.theoj.org/papers/10.21105/joss.00388/status.svg
:target: http://joss.theoj.org/papers/10.21105/joss.00388
.. |DOI| image:: https://zenodo.org/badge/17577779.svg
:target: https://zenodo.org/badge/latestdoi/17577779