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QuickLook 3

Welcome to the documentation for QuickLook 3—a modern, high-performance Python/Qt-based application designed for viewing integral field spectroscopy (IFU) data.

This tool is a replacement for the legacy IDL qlook2 GUI for viewing and analyzing FITS data originally built for the OSIRIS instrument at the Keck Observatory. While QuickLook 3 is optimized for OSIRIS data, it works seamlessly with most IFU instruments including JWST NIRSpec IFU and Gemini NIFS.

QuickLook 3 UI

🚀 Downloads (Version v3.0.11)

Download the standalone compiled application for your operating system below. No Python installation is required.

Fetching latest release from GitHub...

macOS Installation Note

Because this is an open-source tool, it is not signed with a paid Apple Developer certificate. When you first open the app, macOS may block it and display a warning that the app "cannot be opened" or "is from an unidentified developer".

How to open the app:

  1. The Right-Click Method (Easiest): Instead of double-clicking, Right-click (or Control-click) on QuickLook3.app and select Open. You will get a similar warning dialog, but this one will have an Open button.
  2. The Settings Method: Double-click the app. When it fails, open your Mac's System Settings ➔ Privacy & Security. Scroll down, and you will see a message that QuickLook 3 was blocked. Click Open Anyway.
  3. The Terminal Method: If macOS falsely claims the app is "damaged and should be moved to the trash", open your Terminal and remove the quarantine attribute by running: 
    xattr -cr /path/to/QuickLook3.app

✨ Key Features

  • High-Performance Rendering: Built on PySide6 and pyqtgraph for efficient, hardware-accelerated visualization of large FITS data cubes.
  • IFU Data Cube Visualization: View FITS cubes interactively. Extract depth spectra from specific spatial pixels.
  • Z-Axis Collapsing: Collapse 3D ranges into 2D display slices using Median, Mean, or Sum algorithms on the fly.
  • Astronomical Coordinates: Integrates WCS pixel-to-world (RA/Dec) coordinate translations at your mouse pointer.
  • Advanced Scaling: Includes interactive Linear, Logarithmic, Square Root, AsinH, and Histogram Equalization scaling.
  • Analysis Tools: Features built-in region cuts (horizontal, vertical, arbitrary lines), SNR estimates, Encircled Energy plots, 2D Peak Fitting, and Catalog Plotting.
  • Live File Polling: Monitor a directory for incoming data files and automatically load them in real-time.

🛠️ Developer Installation

If you prefer to run the application using Python instead of the compiled binaries, PyQL3 manages its dependencies using uv.

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/astrodatalab/pyql3.git
cd pyql3

# 2. Run with uv (auto-installs all dependencies)
uv run python main.py

👨‍💻 Authors

Tuan Do (UCLA)

Based on QuickLook 2 (ql2) for IDL from the OSIRIS Data Reduction Pipeline. See the contributors of the OSIRIS DRP here: https://github.com/Keck-DataReductionPipelines/OsirisDRP#alphabetical-list-of-contributors