MIBAS (Midas Iraf Baader Astronomy Suite)

What it is:

MIBAS is a virtual machine built on the Linux distribution Fedora with installed and ready to use IRAF (Image Reduction and Analysis Facility) and ESO MIDAS (Munich Image Data Analysis System) installations. IRAF and MIDAS comprise a plethora of established tools for image analysis in the field of astronomy.  

For the advanced users, integrated development editors are installed. This allows immediate development of custom data reduction pipelines, in whichIRAF and MIDAS commands can be integrated via the Python APIs Pyraf and PyMidas.

 Latex installation and editor with templates allows writing of publication grade science reports.

The virtualization software VirtualBox enables the use on all operating systems.

System Requirements::

• Virtualbox virtualization application
• 30GB free disk space (use SSD if possible)
• 4GB RAM (MIBAS uses 2GB)
• CPU with virtualization capabilities (Intel VT-x or AMD-V. Most modern CPU support this. You might have to activate virtualization in your BIOS menu.)

To whom it is targeted:

MIBAS is suited for everyone who wants to use IRAF and/or MIDAS without going through the trouble of installing them both manually and/or looking for easy deployment for multiple users.

Astronomers, universities and researchers as well as already owners of the BACHES spectrograph will want to take advantage of its built in dedicated pipelines.

MIBAS and BACHES Spectrograph:

MIBAS includes dedicated pipelines for the calibration and reduction of spectra taken with theBACHES spectrograph.

• Common reduction tasks are integrated in the file manager context menu. Wavelength calibration and reduction is possible with only a few mouse clicks.
• Advanced options are available from the command line interface.
• A python module allows full customization of the calibration and reduction process as well as integration in custom pipelines if needed.

Getting started:

• Register on our site. The free MIBAS download is available in the section My Downloads.
• Extract the archive. 20-30GB free space required.
• Install the Virtual Box Manager.
• In Virtual Box, add the virtual machine. (Toolbar: Machine -> Add… -> Selectvbox).
• Create a shared folder on your disk for file exchange between the host (your operating system) and the guest system (MIBAS). Do not use spaces in the file path!
• Right click on the MIBAS VM shown in the left panel. In Shared Folders, edit the location of the shared folder.
• Run the virtual machine, login and start working.