regions
An Astropy coordinated package for region handling
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes, if you work with astronomical data and need to define or manipulate spatial regions. The package is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, and integrates with the Astropy ecosystem. The medium install friction is typical for scientific Python packages with compiled dependencies. BSD-3-Clause licensing poses no restrictions for most use cases.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Python 3.11 or later; astropy and numpy must be installed.
- Medium install friction due to compiled dependencies.
- Active maintenance with recent release; last commit was 2026-08-07.
License · maintenance · safety
BSD-3-Clause (permissive) — BSD-3-Clause permissive license allows commercial and private use with minimal restrictions, provided the license notice is retained.
last release 2026-06-24 (51 days) · last repo commit 2026-08-07 · 65 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 118,922 downloads/mo, #12,097 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install regions
import regions
import numpy
import astropy
# Create a region for astronomical analysis
region = regions.Region()- Specific region types supported (circular, elliptical, polygonal, etc.)
- Whether regions can be serialized to/from standard formats (FITS, DS9, etc.)
- Performance characteristics for large region sets or complex geometries
- Concrete usage examples beyond basic region creation
What it is and what it does
Regions is an Astropy package that provides a unified interface for working with astronomical regions—geometric shapes defined on the celestial sphere or in pixel coordinates. It handles the creation, manipulation, and analysis of regions commonly used in astronomy workflows. The package integrates tightly with astropy and numpy, allowing astronomers to work with regions in a Pythonic way.
The package is actively maintained as part of the Astropy ecosystem and supports current Python versions. It includes both sky-based regions and pixel-based regions, enabling flexible region handling across different astronomical data types and workflows.
Use it for
- Define apertures for photometric measurements on astronomical images
- Create masks to exclude or include specific regions when analyzing survey data
- Convert between different region coordinate systems in astronomical workflows
- Store and retrieve region definitions for reproducible astronomical analysis
- Filter astronomical catalogs based on spatial region membership
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes, if you work with astronomical data and need to define or manipulate spatial regions.
The package is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, and integrates with the Astropy ecosystem. The medium install friction is typical for scientific Python packages with compiled dependencies. BSD-3-Clause licensing poses no restrictions for most use cases.
Install
regions on PyPI
Before you install
Medium install friction due to compiled dependencies. Active maintenance with recent release; last commit was 2026-08-07. Requires Python 3.11 or later.
Requires Python 3.11 or later; astropy and numpy must be installed.
License in practice
BSD-3-Clause permissive license allows commercial and private use with minimal restrictions, provided the license notice is retained.
Quickstart
pip install regions
import regions
import numpy
import astropy
# Create a region for astronomical analysis
region = regions.Region()Verify before relying
- Specific region types supported (circular, elliptical, polygonal, etc.)
- Whether regions can be serialized to/from standard formats (FITS, DS9, etc.)
- Performance characteristics for large region sets or complex geometries
- Concrete usage examples beyond basic region creation
Package facts
| License | BSD-3-Clause permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.11 |
| Install friction | Medium. Platform-specific wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | 2 packagesastropynumpy |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 51 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 118,922 / month, #12,097 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Intended Audience :: Science/ResearchNatural Language :: EnglishOperating System :: OS IndependentProgramming Language :: CythonProgramming Language :: PythonProgramming Language :: Python :: 3Topic :: Scientific/Engineering :: Astronomy |
Evidence: regions-0.12-cp311-abi3-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl; regions-0.12-cp311-abi3-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl; regions-0.12-cp311-abi3-manylinux2014_aarch64.manylinux_2_17_aarch64.manylinux_2_28_aarch64.whl; regions-0.12-cp311-abi3-manylinux2014_x86_64.manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux_2_28_x86_64.whl; regions-0.12-cp311-abi3-win_amd64.whl; regions-0.12-cp311-abi3-win_arm64.whl
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