<p>The most commonly used packages for generating graphics in astronomy are probably</p>

<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDL_(programming_language)" rel="noreferrer">IDL</a> -- this has long been the most popular, in part because there is a lot of astronomical data reduction and analysis code written in IDL.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SM_(plotting)" rel="noreferrer">SuperMongo</a></p></li>
<li><p>The Python package <a href="https://matplotlib.org" rel="noreferrer">matplotlib</a></p></li>
</ul>

<p>The apparently uniform style you refer to is probably a historical combination of IDL and SuperMongo.</p>

<p>Matplotlib (and other Python packages that act as wrappers around it) is on a trajectory to displace the others; I strongly suspect it is already much more common than SuperMongo, and may be roughly as common as IDL by now.</p>

<p>You will sometimes see figures produced by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLplot" rel="noreferrer">PLplot library</a> as output from programs written
in Fortran, C/C++, etc. Plots produced using R are also starting to appear.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-24T11:56:46.543Z
2017-07-24T11:56:46.543Z
Peter Erwin
<p>What are the most popular packages used to create graphs for astronomy journal papers?
Looking at various journals, the styles of the graphs appear to be quite uniform but I can't identify the package(s) that create them.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-24T08:45:21.677Z
is it [LaTeX](http://www.latex-project.org/) publishing tool you are after? This is great, but takes a little time to handle properly.
J. Chomel
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-24T09:15:55.543Z
Yes, but i'm talking about the graphs that will be inserted into the LaTeX document. (Question clarified.)
Friasco
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-24T09:23:20.087Z
Show us an example! Maybe you're looking for [GNUPLOT](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnuplot)?
J. Chomel
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-24T10:44:05.000Z
I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because this has nothing to do with astronomy
Carl Witthoft
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-24T10:44:38.057Z
What tools are you using to generate data in the first place?
Carl Witthoft
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-24T11:58:22.927Z
@CarlWitthoft -- I disagree slightly, in that it *is* a question about the *practice* of astronomy and the technical tools used. (Software is a tool in astronomy almost or just as much as telescopes are.)
Peter Erwin
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-24T12:18:12.707Z
@PeterErwin the technical tools used for scientific data analysis are almost 100% topic-agnostic.  Further,  it's possible to draw any style graph in any software package.  It's just a lot easier with the right package, e.g.,  R- ggplot.
Carl Witthoft
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-24T13:12:10.807Z
@CarlWitthoft -- yes, but as a matter of scientific *culture* and *practice*, they're not "topic agnostic". SuperMongo, for instance, was created by astronomers and is used almost exclusively by astronomers. IDL originates from a context of atmospheric science, space physics, and astronomy, and has remained popular in those fields, but little used outside them, except perhaps for medical imaging.
Peter Erwin
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-25T11:32:59.127Z
@PeterErwin and perhaps one should ask: why is it that `R`  and `Python` have come to dominate and IDL is fading?  It's because you can do all that and more with these two top candidates.
Carl Witthoft
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-25T11:48:05.543Z
@CarlWitthoft -- Agreed, plus the fact that both R and Python are open source, while SuperMongo is expensive and IDL is *very* expensive (certainly one of the motivations driving my shift from IDL to Python...).
Peter Erwin
<software>
Graphics packages for publishing
Friasco
# Graphics packages for publishing

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-07-24)

What are the most popular packages used to create graphs for astronomy journal papers?
Looking at various journals, the styles of the graphs appear to be quite uniform but I can't identify the package(s) that create them.

**Tags:** software

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: is it [LaTeX](http://www.latex-project.org/) publishing tool you are after? This is great, but takes a little time to handle properly.  
> **username_0**: Yes, but i'm talking about the graphs that will be inserted into the LaTeX document. (Question clarified.)  
> **username_1**: Show us an example! Maybe you're looking for [GNUPLOT](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnuplot)?  
> **username_2**: I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because this has nothing to do with astronomy  
> **username_2**: What tools are you using to generate data in the first place?  
> **username_3**: @username_2 -- I disagree slightly, in that it *is* a question about the *practice* of astronomy and the technical tools used. (Software is a tool in astronomy almost or just as much as telescopes are.)  
> **username_2**: @username_3 the technical tools used for scientific data analysis are almost 100% topic-agnostic.  Further,  it's possible to draw any style graph in any software package.  It's just a lot easier with the right package, e.g.,  R- ggplot.  
> **username_3**: @username_2 -- yes, but as a matter of scientific *culture* and *practice*, they're not "topic agnostic". SuperMongo, for instance, was created by astronomers and is used almost exclusively by astronomers. IDL originates from a context of atmospheric science, space physics, and astronomy, and has remained popular in those fields, but little used outside them, except perhaps for medical imaging.  
> **username_2**: @username_3 and perhaps one should ask: why is it that `R`  and `Python` have come to dominate and IDL is fading?  It's because you can do all that and more with these two top candidates.  
> **username_3**: @username_2 -- Agreed, plus the fact that both R and Python are open source, while SuperMongo is expensive and IDL is *very* expensive (certainly one of the motivations driving my shift from IDL to Python...).  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2017-07-24. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

The most commonly used packages for generating graphics in astronomy are probably

* [IDL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDL_(programming_language)) -- this has long been the most popular, in part because there is a lot of astronomical data reduction and analysis code written in IDL.
* [SuperMongo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SM_(plotting))
* The Python package [matplotlib](https://matplotlib.org)

The apparently uniform style you refer to is probably a historical combination of IDL and SuperMongo.

Matplotlib (and other Python packages that act as wrappers around it) is on a trajectory to displace the others; I strongly suspect it is already much more common than SuperMongo, and may be roughly as common as IDL by now.

You will sometimes see figures produced by the [PLplot library](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLplot) as output from programs written
in Fortran, C/C++, etc. Plots produced using R are also starting to appear.


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