---
id: astroquery
version: "0.4.11"
license: BSD
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# astroquery — Functions and classes to access online astronomical data resources

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 431.3K/mo

## What it is and what it does

Astroquery is an astropy-affiliated package that wraps access to multiple online astronomical databases and web services into a unified Python interface. Rather than writing HTTP requests or parsing HTML manually, you import a sub-package for the service you need (SIMBAD, VizieR, NED, etc.) and call standard query methods like `query_object` or `query_region` to retrieve structured data. It handles authentication (via keyring), parsing HTML and XML responses (using beautifulsoup4 and html5lib), and returning results as astropy tables.

The package is designed for astronomers and researchers who need to programmatically fetch observational data, object catalogs, or survey results from public databases. It abstracts away the details of each service's API or web interface, letting you write portable code that works across multiple data sources. Dependencies include numpy for numerical work, requests for HTTP communication, and pyvo for Virtual Observatory protocol support.

Use it for:

- Query SIMBAD to retrieve coordinates, magnitudes, and cross-references for a named astronomical object.
- Retrieve spectroscopic or photometric data from online surveys for a region of sky defined by coordinates and radius.
- Automate batch lookups of multiple objects across different catalogs without manually visiting web interfaces.
- Integrate astronomical data retrieval into a data reduction or analysis pipeline.
- Access Virtual Observatory services programmatically for interoperable data discovery.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Astroquery provides a Python interface to query and retrieve data from online astronomical databases and web services, with sub-packages for each service like SIMBAD, VizieR, and others.

Yes. Astroquery is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, low install friction, and a permissive license. It is the standard tool in the Python astronomy ecosystem for programmatic access to online data. Install it if you need to query astronomical databases from Python; skip it only if you work exclusively with local data or have no need for online lookups.

## Install

pip install astroquery
uv add astroquery
poetry add astroquery

## Installing astroquery

Before you install: Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel distribution. Actively maintained as of 2026-08-13 with regular releases; last release was 328 days ago. Depends on well-established packages (numpy, astropy, requests, beautifulsoup4) with no exotic system requirements.

License in practice: BSD license (permissive) places no restrictions on use, modification, or distribution in proprietary or academic contexts.

Quickstart:

pip install astroquery

from astroquery.simbad import Simbad
result = Simbad.query_object('tet01 Ori C')
print(result)

Requires Python 3.9 or later and astropy version 5.0 or later.

Verify before relying:

- Whether all available sub-packages (e.g. VizieR, NED, Gaia) are documented or discoverable in the current version.
- Performance characteristics when querying large result sets or multiple services in sequence.
- Rate-limiting or throttling policies enforced by the underlying web services.

## Package facts

- License: BSD (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 431.3K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

astronomical data query, online astronomy databases, SIMBAD interface, astronomical web services, astronomy data retrieval, astropy affiliated package, query astronomical objects, astronomy, data-retrieval, web-services

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