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'''Please note that there was a leap second in July 2015; data taken since then will be gridded wrongly by 2015A. Please use 2015B (or a development rsync version) to reduce JCMT data taken after July 2015.''' | '''Please note that there was a leap second in July 2015; data taken since then will be gridded wrongly by [[2015A]]. Please use [[2015B]] (or a development rsync version) to reduce JCMT data taken after July 2015.''' |
Starlink
The Starlink Project was a long running UK Project supporting astronomical data processing. It was shut down in 2005 but the software continued to be developed at the Joint Astronomy Centre until March 2015, and is now maintained by the East Asian Observatory. The code is open source.
Starlink News was last updated April 6th 2015.
Getting the Software
The Joint Astronomy Centre and East Asian Observatory have made a number of Releases. The most recent is 2015B which can be downloaded from here where installation instructions are also provided.
Please note that there was a leap second in July 2015; data taken since then will be gridded wrongly by 2015A. Please use 2015B (or a development rsync version) to reduce JCMT data taken after July 2015.
For a cutting edge version, you can rsync from the East Asian Observatory's build.
Getting Support
The original Starlink web site has been mothballed but additional support can be found:
For questions about JCMT data reduction please see the JCMT help desk
For other questions about any of the Starlink software (e.g. installation issues, software bugs or other errors) please use the Starlink support mailing list
There is also information on the Starlink wikipedia entry.
Support Pages for Starlink Applications and Libraries
Some Starlink applications and libraries have associated support pages:
Developing and Building the software
The source code is freely available. Development and build questions can be asked on the Starlink development mailing list
The source code is directly available from a Git source code repository. Download the source code:
% git clone git://github.com/Starlink/starlink.git
or (much slower but may work with some firewalls)
% git clone https://github.com/Starlink/starlink.git
You can download Git from its home page. A Git primer is available along with the Starlink Git development policies. The bulk of the collection is distributed under the GNU Public Licence, and the remainder under the old Starlink Licence.
The README file in the top level of the source code contains instructions for building. Please also see Building Starlink on OSX for some OSX tips (including a build script and list of dependencies).
Refer to the code in individual packages for more information.
We are trying to write new code in C rather than Fortran since this gives us much more flexibility in terms of threading and compilers. If you are a Fortran programmer familiar with Starlink programming some useful hints are available.
Primarily for local consumption, we also have a list of steps to take when making a release.
History
If you are interested in the history of Starlink there is a lot of documentation available.
The Starlink Bulletin was published between January 1988 and August 2004.
The Starlink Chronicle logged notable events and staff changes.
The former Atlas laboratory has a photographic record of the early days of its Starlink node, and of the Starlink inauguration. There is also an overview and summary of the genesis of Starlink.