Download

SAOImageDS9 is released annually, with beta versions (denoted as b1, b2, etc.) available for download between major releases.

Scroll past the latest release to view the current beta versions.

Expand each section to view the currently supported operating system versions.

NOTE: If Chrome users have problems downloading from this page they can go to https://ds9.si.edu/download directly

Beta Release Version 8.8b1

15 July 2026

Release Notes

Linux

MacOS

Ports of SAOImageDS9 for MacOS

SAOImageDS9 for the Mac Operating System is released in two ports:

as an Aqua application (the graphical user interface native to MacOS)
as an Darwin X11 application (requires XQuartz to run).

There is no operational difference between the two ports and it is just a matter of preference.

The Aqua port is installed by the normal MacOS method of downloading a disk image, double clicking on the file, and click and drag the application into the /Applications directory.

The X11 port is installed by downloading a tarball archive, unpacking the file:

% tar -xvzf darwin<os><arch>.<version>.tar.gz

and moving 2 files, ds9 and ds9.zip into a directory that is in your shell PATH variable, such as your local bin directory:

% mv ds9 ds9.zip $HOME/bin/.

General users can install the Aqua version which does not require any additional software.

If you need to use command line options, install the Darwin X11 version

SAOImageDS9 is also released for the two different kinds of processors in Mac computers: Intel processors (2020 and before) or Apple Silicon processors (2020 and after). To find out the kind of processor check "About this Mac" from the Apple menu.

IMPORTANT- READ ME

The installation for several versions may show warnings about "unknown developer" or "damaged application". If this is the case after the installation run the following command at the prompt in a Terminal window:

X11 installation:

xattr -c $HOME/bin/ds9

Aqua installation:

xattr -c /Applications/SAOImageDS9.app

MacOS Aqua Intel Sequoia Users: If you recieve the following error message;

"The application “Finder” does not have permission to open “(null)”."

Please run the following commands at the prompt in a Terminal window

codesign --remove-signature /Applications/SAOImageDS9.app

codesign --force --deep --sign - /Applications/SAOImageDS9.app

Download

Beta Release Version 8.8b1

15 July 2026

Linux

Debian

OpenSUSE

Fedora

Ubuntu

CentOS

Arch

Manjaro

Rocky Linux

MacOS

Ports of SAOImageDS9 for MacOS

IMPORTANT- READ ME

The installation for several versions may show warnings about "unknown developer" or "damaged application". If this is the case after the installation run the following command at the prompt in a Terminal window:

X11 installation:

xattr -c $HOME/bin/ds9

Aqua installation:

MacOS Aqua Intel Sequoia Users: If you recieve the following error message;

AQUA

X11 (requires XQuartz)

Windows

Source

XPA Version 2.1.20

15 July 2026

Linux

Debian

OpenSUSE

Fedora

Ubuntu

CentOS

Arch

Manjaro

Rocky Linux

MacOS