cabaret is a Python package to simulate astronomical images using the Gaia catalog of stars.

Documentation can be found at cabaret.readthedocs.io.

You can install cabaret in a Python (>=3.11) environment with

pip install cabaret

or from a local clone

git clone https://github.com/ppp-one/cabaret
pip install -e cabaret

You can test the package has been properly installed with

python -c "import cabaret"

To generate an image from RA/DEC coordinates, run:

import cabaret

image = cabaret.Observatory().generate_image(
    ra=12.33230,  # right ascension in degrees
    dec=30.4343,  # declination in degrees
    exp_time=10,  # exposure time in seconds
)

To display the image (matplotlib required here):

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from cabaret.plot import plot_image

plot_image(image)
plt.show()

Explore the full documentation, API reference, and advanced usage examples at cabaret.readthedocs.io.