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For Science Students and Astronomy Enthusiasts
Mira AL is designed
for people who want to visualize and measure scientific data
but have only occasional need for image calibration and data reduction.
Mira AL showing image display, pseudo-color enhancement, aperture
photometry, plotting, line profile, and centroid measurements.
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Feature Comparison
Feature List
Mira vs. IRAF
Photometry Example
Image Registration
Academic & Gov't Price List
Also see our other Software:
Mira AP (more
features)
Mira Pro
(many more features)
Great Deals!
College Teachers: See
our "Educator
Bundles": a
Mira AL Site License plus Mira Pro.
K-12: Teachers: See the
K-12 section of our eStore
for Mira AL Classroom Licenses plus Student and Teacher discounts. |
Applications
- Mira AL makes it easy to make research quality photometric
measurements of any number of stars with any number of standards
on any number of images. Doing ensemble photometry, plotting
light curves, and reporting results are a snap!
- Use Mira AL for Variable star discovery & monitoring,
exosolar planet search, milli-mag level photometry, supernova patrol, minor planet rotation studies.
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Use Mira AL to data mine archival science images available on the Web.
Do hands-on analysis of terabytes of multi-wavelength data from ground and space-based
instruments, as well as your own CCD images.
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Ideal for K-12 and college astronomy education.
Around the world, Mira Pro, AP, and AL are used by
more academic astronomers and students than all other commercial
software packages combined.
Mira AL Reviewed by Sky &
Telescope Magazine.
Mira AL is the subject of a 2 page product
review in the December 2006 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine
(see
http://www.skypub.com).
From the magazine's Table of Contents:
"With its attractive price and impressive capabilities,
this software is an ideal gateway to professional-quality
imaging. By Joe Heafner"
Who benefits from Mira AL?
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K-12 science students and educators.
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College astronomy students and instructors.
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Amateur astronomers, especially those
collaborating with professionals or working with AAVSO, ALPO, and similar organizations.
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Students in distance learning and on-line degree
programs.
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Scientists and EPO professionals doing
outreach.
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K-12 students in home education environments.
Mira AL employs scientifically accurate methods
and innovative GUI techniques that allow users to measure and
visualize data in ways that cannot be done using software derived
from graphics arts, photo viewing, or camera controlling
applications. Despite its modest price, Mira AL truly is "industrial
strength" scientific software, and it is remarkably easy to learn
and use. Mira AL embodies what we've learned during 15 years
in the business and was developed with input and review by science
educators and EPO professionals.
Mira AL includes many of the highly
acclaimed measurement and visualization tools in our heavy-duty research software
like Mira AP and
Mira Pro.
But Mira AL is by no means light on capability! While Mira AL does
have the ability to create and apply CCD calibration frames (bias,
dark, and flat), we did not complicate it with the more detailed data reduction and automated image calibration tools
you'll find in Mira AP and Mira Pro. The result is
science software that can be used to advantage
at the middle school level yet offers advanced capabilities that
satisfy the needs of many at the university level. Mira AL can do
publication-worthy science with a simplicity you'll not find in any
other software.
Pages from the Mira AL User's Guide
Introduction to Aperture Photometry
Introduction to Image Registration
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Features
- Display, plot, animate, blink, and visually enhance
images in grayscale, color, and pseudo-color.
- Measure high-precision coordinates, distance, angle,
brightness, and statistics, using both pixel units and world
coordinates.
- Detect fainter objects and increase the statistical
significance of measurements using image combining and
normalization techniques.
- Correct alignment and distortion of image stacks using
Mira's exclusive high-precision registration package or its
1-click alignment on point sources or extended objects.
- Perform basic intensity calibrations: create and apply bias, dark, and flat frames,
do image math and filtering.
- Use FITS, TIFF, JPEG, BMP, and other images of any size, 8
to 64 bits per pixel, integer and real types, plus 24 bit color.
- Record your work using a text editor for messages and
notes, and screen capture to copy and save windows or regions
of the Mira screen.
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Requirements
- Windows Vista, XP, or 2000, or 100% compatible Windows
environment on Linux or Mac.
- Hard Drive Space: 60 MB.
- Minimum Platform: Windows® 2000 or ME; Intel Pentium® III or compatible CPU @ 550
MHz; 128MB RAM; 16 bit color.
- Suggested Platform: Windows XP or Windows Vista; 512MB
RAM.
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Want to discuss Mira techniques with other
astronomers?
Join the
MiraAstro forum at
Google Groups.
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Mira AL was developed with advice from
affiliates of the Hands On Universe (HOU) project of the
Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California at Berkeley.
and the Conceptual Astronomy and Physics Education Research
(CAPER) project of the Department of Astronomy at the University
of Arizona. Neither organization or its affiliates has any
affiliation with Mirametrics, Inc. |
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