galpy: A Python Library for Galactic Dynamics

Understand

I describe the design, implementation, and usage of galpy, a Python package for galactic-dynamics calculations.

• At its core, galpy consists of a general framework for representing galactic potentials both in Python and in C (for accelerated computations); galpy functions, objects, and methods can generally take arbitrary combinations of these as arguments.
• Numerical orbit integration is supported with a variety of Runge-Kutta-type and symplectic integrators.
• For planar orbits, integration of the phase-space volume is also possible.