The Astropy Project: Sustaining and Growing a Community-oriented Open-source Project and the Latest Major Release (v5.0) of the Core Package

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal Vol. 935; no. 2; pp. 167 - 186
• Main Authors: Price-Whelan, Adrian M., Lim, Pey Lian, Earl, Nicholas, Bradley, Larry, Patil, Aarya A., Corrales, Lia, Brasseur, C. E., Nöthe, Maximilian, Donath, Axel, Morris, Brett M., Ginsburg, Adam, Weaver, Benjamin A., Tocknell, James, Jamieson, William, van Kerkwijk, Marten H., Robitaille, Thomas P., Merry, Bruce, Bachetti, Matteo, Günther, H. Moritz, Aldcroft, Thomas L., Alvarado-Montes, Jaime A., Archibald, Anne M., Barentsen, Geert, Bazán, Juanjo, Biswas, Manish, Boquien, Médéric, Burke, D. J., Cara, Mihai, Craig, Matthew W., Cruz, Kelle L., Dencheva, Nadia, Devillepoix, Hadrien A. R., Dietrich, Jörg P., Eigenbrot, Arthur Davis, Erben, Thomas, Ferreira, Leonardo, Foreman-Mackey, Daniel, Fox, Ryan, Freij, Nabil, Garg, Suyog, Geda, Robel, Gondhalekar, Yash, Grant, David, Groener, Austen M., Guest, Steve, Handberg, Rasmus, Hart, Akeem, Hatfield-Dodds, Zac, Homeier, Derek, Hosseinzadeh, Griffin, Jones, Craig K., Kalmbach, J. Bryce, Karamehmetoglu, Emir, Kałuszyński, Mikołaj, Kelley, Michael S. P., Kern, Nicholas, Kerzendorf, Wolfgang E., Kulumani, Shankar, Lee, Antony, MacBride, Conor, Maljaars, Jakob M., Muna, Demitri, Oman, Kyle A., Pacifici, Camilla, Pascual, Sergio, Pascual-Granado, J., Patil, Rohit R., Perren, Gabriel I, Pickering, Timothy E., Rastogi, Tanuj, Ryan, Daniel F, Sabater, Jose, Sakurikar, Parikshit, Salgado, Jesús, Sanghi, Aniket, Saunders, Nicholas, Savchenko, Volodymyr, Schwardt, Ludwig, Seifert-Eckert, Michael, Jain, Anany Shrey, Simpson, Chris, Singanamalla, Sudheesh, Singhal, Jaladh, Sipőcz, Brigitta M., Spitler, Lee R., Stansby, David, Streicher, Ole, Šumak, Jani, Swinbank, John D., Taranu, Dan S., Tewary, Nikita, Tremblay, Grant R., Val-Borro, Miguel de, Van Kooten, Samuel J., Vasović, Zlatan, Verma, Shresth, Winkel, Benjamin, Wood-Vasey, W. M., Xue, Rui, Yoachim, Peter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia The American Astronomical Society 01-08-2022; IOP Publishing; American Astronomical Society
• Subjects: Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi; Astronomical observatories; ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; Astronomy data analysis; Astronomy software; Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology; Astrophysics; Fysik; MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING; Natural Sciences; Naturvetenskap; Observatories; Open source software; Packages; Physical Sciences; Sciences of the Universe; Space missions; Astronomy data analysis; Open source software; Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics; Astronomy software
• ISSN: 0004-637X; 1538-4357
• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac7c74

Abstract
The Astropy Project supports and fosters the development of open-source and openly developed
Python
packages that provide commonly needed functionality to the astronomical community. A key element of the Astropy Project is the core package
astropy
, which serves as the foundation for more specialized projects and packages. In this article, we summarize key features in the core package as of the recent major release, version 5.0, and provide major updates on the Project. We then discuss supporting a broader ecosystem of interoperable packages, including connections with several astronomical observatories and missions. We also revisit the future outlook of the Astropy Project and the current status of Learn Astropy. We conclude by raising and discussing the current and future challenges facing the Project.