What is GIPSY

GIPSY is an acronym of Groningen Image Processing SYstem. It is a highly interactive software system for the reduction and display of astronomical data. It supports multi-tasking using a versatile user interface, it has an advanced data structure, a powerful script language and good display facilities based on the X Window system.

It was designed originally for the reduction of interferometric data from the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, but in its history of more than 20 years it has grown to a system capable of handling data from many different instruments (e.g. TAURUS, IRAS etc.).

GIPSY consists of a number of components which can be divided into a number of classes:

The user interfaces. Currently two user interfaces are available; one for interactive work and one for batch processing.
The data structure.
The display utilities.
The application programs. These are the majority of programs.

References:

J. M. van der Hulst, J. P. Terlouw, K. Begeman, W. Zwitser and P. R. Roelfsema, ``The Groningen Image Processing System, GIPSY'', in: Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems I, (eds. D. M. Worall, C. Biemesderfer and J. Barnes), ASP Conf. series no. 25, p. 131, 1992.

M. G. R. Vogelaar and J. P. Terlouw, ``The Evolution of GIPSY, or the Survival of an Image Processing System'', in: Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems X, (eds. F. R. Harnden, Jr., F. A. Primini & H. E. Payne), ASP Conf. series Vol. 238, p. 358, 2001. (PostScript, also available in PDF and HTML)