The ultimate PSF Swiss Army knife for space telescopes - generate, model, and drizzle point spread functions across HST, JWST, and Roman with surgical precision.

Every photon that travels millions of light-years to reach our space telescopes carries precious scientific data, but the telescope’s optics inevitably blur each point source into a characteristic pattern called the Point Spread Function (PSF). Whether you’re hunting exoplanets, measuring distant galaxy morphologies, or conducting precision photometry, understanding and modeling these PSFs is absolutely critical for extracting reliable science from your observations.

SPIKE emerges as the definitive solution for PSF modeling across NASA’s flagship observatories. This Python powerhouse seamlessly integrates multiple PSF generation methods - from the classic TinyTim for HST to the cutting-edge STPSF (formerly WebbPSF) for JWST and Roman. But SPIKE doesn’t stop at generation; it handles the complex drizzling process that properly accounts for geometric distortions and pixel sampling differences. The toolkit supports both theoretical PSF modeling and empirical approaches using PSFEx, giving researchers the flexibility to choose the method that best suits their science case.

With comprehensive support for HST’s veteran instruments, JWST’s revolutionary capabilities, and the upcoming Roman Space Telescope, SPIKE positions itself as an essential tool for the present and future of space-based astronomy. The active development, complete documentation, and growing user community make this an invaluable addition to any astronomer’s computational toolkit, whether you’re reducing archival data or planning cutting-edge observations.

⭐ Stars: 12
💻 Language: Python
🔗 Repository: avapolzin/spike