Astropy is a collection of software packages written in the Python programming language and designed for use in astronomy.

[7] Around the turn of the millennium the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) started development of Python-based utilities to extend or substitute existing astronomical data analysis tools on a modern, object-oriented platform.

Both libraries were merged into a new array package by Travis Oliphant in 2005–2006, creating NumPy, now the de facto standard for numerical data handling in Python.

This, together with the more extensive SciPy computing environment, provided a platform to develop customized scripts and applications for a variety of astronomical tasks.

[18] Core data structures and operations File I/O Computational utilities A major part of the Astropy project is the concept of "affiliated packages”.