Astropy provides a common framework, core package of code, and affiliated packages for astronomy in Python. Development is actively ongoing, with major packages such as PyFITS, PyWCS, vo, and asciitable already merged in. Astropy is intended to contain much of the core functionality and some common tools needed for performing astronomy and astrophysics with Python.

TARDIS creates synthetic spectra for supernova ejecta and is sufficiently fast to allow exploration of the complex parameter spaces of models for SN ejecta. TARDIS uses Monte Carlo methods to obtain a self-consistent description of the plasma state and to compute a synthetic spectrum. It is written in Python with a modular design that facilitates the implementation of a range of physical approximations that can be compared to assess both accuracy and computational expediency; this allows users to choose a level of sophistication appropriate for their application.

Photutils provides tools for detecting and performing photometry of astronomical sources. It can estimate the background and background rms in astronomical images, detect sources in astronomical images, estimate morphological parameters of those sources (e.g., centroid and shape parameters), and perform aperture and PSF photometry. Written in Python, it is an affiliated package of Astropy (ascl:1304.002).

Carsus manages atomic datasets. It requires Chianti (ascl:9911.004), and can read data from a variety of sources and output them to file formats readable by radiative transfer codes such as TARDIS (ascl:1402.018).

wsynphot provides a broad set of filters, including observation facility, instrument, and wavelength range, and functions for imaging stars to produce a filter curve showing the transmission of light for each wavelength value. It can create a filter curve object, plot the curve, and allows the user to do calculations on the filter curve object.