From owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Mon Oct 7 09:34:47 1996 Received: (from majdom at localhost) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.0/$Revision: 2.10 $) id JAA16018; Mon, 7 Oct 1996 09:34:47 -0400 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.0/$Revision: 2.10 $) with ESMTP id QAA21199; Fri, 4 Oct 1996 16:54:33 -0400 Received: from solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (news at solitaire.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.79]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.7.6/8.7.1/CV-2.1) with SMTP id QAA01483 for ; Fri, 4 Oct 1996 16:54:25 -0400 (EDT) Received: by solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (4.1/DDN-CV/1.10) id AA15407; Fri, 4 Oct 96 16:54:22 EDT To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Date: Wed, 2 Oct 1996 15:41:32 +0100 From: Nicolas Devillard Message-Id: Organization: ESO - European Southern Observatory, Garching by Munich Path: solitaire.cv.nrao.edu!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!caen!news-ext.crl.dec.com!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!news.mathworks.com!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!howland.erols.net!Frankfurt.Germany.EU.net!Munich.Germany.EU.net!eso.org!mc14!ndevilla Subject: New astronomical software: ECLIPSE Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits Sender: owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk A new astronomy oriented image processing software has just been released by the European Southern Observatory: ECLIPSE. Originally aimed at processing data issued from Adonis, the Adaptive Optics instrument in use on the ESO 3.6 telescope, ECLIPSE can be used to process FITS data cubes from any kind of infra-red instrument. This tool is written in stand-alone ANSI C, and can be included in any standard data processing software. Provided functionalities are: FITS file format handling FITS header display FITS header output to text files (for edition) FITS header transfer between FITS files FITS header copy from text file to FITS file FITS header checking and update to standard format Image processing standard features All these processings can be applied to all single planes in a FITS data cube. Image spatial filtering (linear or morphological) Image warping (deformation + resampling) Pixel interpolation Image basic arithmetic (+ - x / pow log exp) Image normalization, threshold, absolute value Image FFT Cross-correlation Pattern image generation Image statistics extraction Data cube manipulation Plane, cube, pattern, or quadrant extraction from a cube Cube concatenation Cube averaging to one image Astronomical data reduction features Shift and add Correlated noise removal Image selection Weighted averaging Mosaicing 3-colour image combination Dead pixel detection/correction Linear gain map creation All these functions are provided as a C library, a set of Unix commands to call them, and C-shell scripts to perform pipe-line reductions. A user's manual and manual pages are also provided. Have a look at http://www.eso.org/~ndevilla/adonis/eclipse This software package is distributed under the GNU general public license. Cheers, --Nicolas ______________________________________________________________________ /\ \ \_| Nicolas Devillard | E-mail: nDevil at eso.org | | European Southern Observatory, | http://www.eso.org/~ndevilla | | Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, | Phone: +49 89 320-06-340 | | D-85748 Garching, Germany | Fax : +49 89 320-06-358 | | __________________________________________________________________|_ \_/____________________________________________________________________/ From owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Mon Oct 7 09:35:25 1996 Received: (from majdom at localhost) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.0/$Revision: 2.10 $) id JAA16032; Mon, 7 Oct 1996 09:35:25 -0400 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.0/$Revision: 2.10 $) with ESMTP id XAA11726; Sun, 6 Oct 1996 23:53:10 -0400 Received: from solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (news at solitaire.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.79]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.7.6/8.7.1/CV-2.1) with SMTP id XAA23407 for ; Sun, 6 Oct 1996 23:53:06 -0400 (EDT) Received: by solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (4.1/DDN-CV/1.10) id AA06679; Sun, 6 Oct 96 23:53:04 EDT To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Date: Fri, 4 Oct 96 13:27:01 GMT From: David Parkin Message-Id: <9610041327.AA000rr at astron.demon.co.uk> Organization: Vintage Combat Rules! Path: solitaire.cv.nrao.edu!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!caen!uwm.edu!spool.mu.edu!howland.erols.net!EU.net!usenet2.news.uk.psi.net!uknet!usenet1.news.uk.psi.net!uknet!dispatch.news.demon.net!demon!mail2news.demon.co.uk Subject: Amiga Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits Sender: owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk Hi folks, I'm using a robotic telescope in the states and as well as being able to receive my images in gif format, it also offers the images in fits format. I wonder if anyone in this newsgroup knows of any software for the Amaiga computer that can handle this format. Thanks in advance. Dave. -- *********************************************** * David Parkin - Swansea/Wales/UK * * E-Mail - Dave at astron.demon.co.uk * * http://www.astron.demon.co.uk/index.html * * http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/1136 * *********************************************** From owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Tue Oct 8 14:34:42 1996 Received: (from majdom at localhost) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.0/$Revision: 2.10 $) id OAA26631; Tue, 8 Oct 1996 14:34:42 -0400 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.0/$Revision: 2.10 $) with ESMTP id OAA26395; Tue, 8 Oct 1996 14:05:41 -0400 Received: from solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (news at solitaire.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.79]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.7.6/8.7.1/CV-2.1) with SMTP id OAA09702 for ; Tue, 8 Oct 1996 14:05:36 -0400 (EDT) Received: by solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (4.1/DDN-CV/1.10) id AA23758; Tue, 8 Oct 96 14:05:34 EDT To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Date: Sat, 05 Oct 1996 18:33:46 +0000 From: George Message-Id: <3256AA0A.4C7B at soho.ios.com> Organization: Internet Online Services Path: solitaire.cv.nrao.edu!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!uunet!in1.uu.net!news.ios.com!usenet Subject: FITS viewers for Mac (standalones) Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits Sender: owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk anyone know of any Mac program to read & process FITS images please email directly to me with any info and where to obtain it George lewycky at soho.ios.com From owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Mon Oct 14 09:50:29 1996 Received: (from majdom at localhost) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.0/$Revision: 2.10 $) id JAA04549; Mon, 14 Oct 1996 09:50:29 -0400 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.0/$Revision: 2.10 $) with ESMTP id MAA17859; Thu, 10 Oct 1996 12:17:47 -0400 Received: from solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (news at solitaire.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.79]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.7.6/8.7.1/CV-2.1) with SMTP id MAA21370 for ; Thu, 10 Oct 1996 12:17:43 -0400 (EDT) Received: by solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (4.1/DDN-CV/1.10) id AA24196; Thu, 10 Oct 96 12:17:40 EDT To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Date: 10 Oct 1996 11:48 EDT From: bschlesinger at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (Barry M. Schlesinger) Message-Id: <10OCT199611485921 at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov> Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center -- Greenbelt, Maryland USA Path: solitaire.cv.nrao.edu!iraf!newsfeed.gsfc.nasa.gov!nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov!bschlesinger References: <53bk5l$t53 at electra.saaf.se> <53eu1b$rar at eagle1.cc.GaSoU.edu> Subject: Re: MAc program for FITS files ?? (fwd) Newsgroups: adass.iraf.misc,sci.astro.fits Sender: owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk In article <53eu1b$rar at eagle1.cc.GaSoU.edu>, ZELLNER at GSVMS2.CC.GASOU.EDU (BENJAMIN_H. ZELLNER) writes... > > [replying to] > > > > MAIA...may still be around > > at info-mac, in gst/grf if it hasn't been moved to sci. > > The should also be some plugin for NIH Image (and PhotoShop) if you > > look around at NIH's ftp site. > >There is also a freeware FITS plug-in for Adobe Photoshop, and the >shareware product GraphicConverter can open an ordinary FITS file. > >However none of the above can correctly open an allegedly true-FITS >file written by the popular IRAF tool "wfits". If anyone knows >why, I would like to find out. > The preceding appeared on sci.astro and has been posted to these two groups to assist in finding an answer. Followups are directed to sci.astro as well, but not the original, which has already been seen there. Barry Schlesinger From owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Mon Oct 14 10:17:59 1996 Received: (from majdom at localhost) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.0/$Revision: 2.10 $) id KAA04848; Mon, 14 Oct 1996 10:17:59 -0400 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.0/$Revision: 2.10 $) with ESMTP id KAA08654; Sat, 12 Oct 1996 10:10:27 -0400 Received: from solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (news at solitaire.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.79]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.7.6/8.7.1/CV-2.1) with SMTP id KAA24458 for ; Sat, 12 Oct 1996 10:10:22 -0400 (EDT) Received: by solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (4.1/DDN-CV/1.10) id AA02868; Sat, 12 Oct 96 10:10:18 EDT To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Date: Wed, 09 Oct 1996 20:37:50 +0100 From: sterngucker at fact018.fact.rhein-ruhr.de (Ralf Schoofs) Message-Id: Path: solitaire.cv.nrao.edu!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!uunet!in1.uu.net!fu-berlin.de!zrz.TU-Berlin.DE!cs.tu-berlin.de!uni-duisburg.de!news.rhein-ruhr.de!sterngucker References: <9610041327.AA000rr at astron.demon.co.uk> Subject: Re: Amiga Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits Sender: owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk Dave at astron.demon.co.uk (David Parkin) wrotes... DP> Hi folks, Hello Dave, DP> I'm using a robotic telescope in the states and as well as being able to DP> receive my images in gif format, it also offers the images in fits format. DP> DP> I wonder if anyone in this newsgroup knows of any software for the Amaiga DP> computer that can handle this format. The NetPBM Modules on the Meeting Pearls II CD can read and write the Fits-Format. If you have access to the Aminet look in the directory aminet/gfx/pbm. NetPBM consists of more than 130 Shell-programs, each beeing stand-alone and not depending on the other programs. A GUI can be found in aminet/gfx/pbm too. NetPBM is a collection of tools which do the following: 1. Import - read Images in popular formats and convert in one of the internal PBM formats. 2. Image processing - manipulate the image data to produce many effects, including contrast, scaling and gamma adjustment, edge detection, etc. 3. Export - write images in popular formats for use with other software. The Support-EMail is: Ingo.Wilken at informatik.uni-oldenburg.de The FULL installation takes more than 5 MB. My Config is only 300 KByte small and I use it to load and convert Fits- and PCD-Images. *Who wants to write a Fits-DataType for the Amiga?* Greetings from the Rhine, Ralf PS: I`m an amateur-astronomer. For stargazing I use a 12.5 Inch Dobsonian. From owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Fri Oct 18 09:53:46 1996 Received: (from majdom at localhost) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.0/$Revision: 2.10 $) id JAA21376; Fri, 18 Oct 1996 09:53:46 -0400 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.0/$Revision: 2.10 $) with ESMTP id FAA20095; Fri, 18 Oct 1996 05:35:27 -0400 Received: from solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (news at solitaire.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.79]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.7.6/8.7.1/CV-2.1) with SMTP id FAA28316 for ; Fri, 18 Oct 1996 05:35:18 -0400 (EDT) Received: by solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (4.1/DDN-CV/1.10) id AA04257; Fri, 18 Oct 96 05:35:09 EDT To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Date: Wed, 16 Oct 96 10:02:17 GMT From: David Parkin Message-Id: <9610161002.AA000ty at astron.demon.co.uk> Organization: Vintage Combat Rules! Path: solitaire.cv.nrao.edu!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!uunet!in3.uu.net!feed1.news.erols.com!howland.erols.net!EU.net!usenet2.news.uk.psi.net!uknet!usenet1.news.uk.psi.net!uknet!dispatch.news.demon.net!demon!mail2news.demon.co.uk References: <9610041327.AA000rr at astron.demon.co.uk> Subject: Re: Amiga Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits Sender: owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk Hi Ralf, In article sterngucker at fact018.fact.rhein-ruhr.de (Ralf Schoofs) writes: > Dave at astron.demon.co.uk (David Parkin) wrotes... > > DP> Hi folks, > > Hello Dave, > > DP> I'm using a robotic telescope in the states and as well as being able to > DP> receive my images in gif format, it also offers the images in fits format. > DP> > DP> I wonder if anyone in this newsgroup knows of any software for the Amaiga > DP> computer that can handle this format. > > The NetPBM Modules on the Meeting Pearls II CD can > read and write the Fits-Format. If you have access to > the Aminet look in the directory aminet/gfx/pbm. > NetPBM consists of more than 130 Shell-programs, > each beeing stand-alone and not depending on the > other programs. A GUI can be found in aminet/gfx/pbm too. > NetPBM is a collection of tools which do the following: > > 1. Import - read Images in popular formats and convert > in one of the internal PBM formats. > > 2. Image processing - manipulate the image data to > produce many effects, including contrast, scaling > and gamma adjustment, edge detection, etc. > > 3. Export - write images in popular formats for > use with other software. > > The Support-EMail is: Ingo.Wilken at informatik.uni-oldenburg.de > > The FULL installation takes more than 5 MB. My Config > is only 300 KByte small and I use it to load and convert > Fits- and PCD-Images. > > *Who wants to write a Fits-DataType for the Amiga?* > > Greetings from the Rhine, > > Ralf > Thanks for the info Ralf. I downloaded the GUI, Help Guide and the Merged Binaries file. Everything seems to work okay (a bit slow though). What files are you using to keep it all down to 300K. I'm sure I don't need all of them. Thanks again. Dave. -- *********************************************** * David Parkin - Swansea/Wales/UK * * E-Mail - Dave at astron.demon.co.uk * * http://www.astron.demon.co.uk/index.html * * http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/1136 * *********************************************** From owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Thu Oct 24 09:36:54 1996 Received: (from majdom at localhost) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.2/$Revision: 2.10 $) id JAA20916; Thu, 24 Oct 1996 09:36:54 -0400 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.2/$Revision: 2.10 $) with ESMTP id DAA19173; Thu, 24 Oct 1996 03:19:59 -0400 Received: from solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (news at solitaire.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.79]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.0/8.8.0/CV-2.2) with SMTP id DAA01638 for ; Thu, 24 Oct 1996 03:19:56 -0400 (EDT) Received: by solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (4.1/DDN-CV/1.10) id AA20889; Thu, 24 Oct 96 03:19:52 EDT To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Date: 22 Oct 1996 20:24:56 GMT From: Alain MAURY Message-Id: <54jaio$2q8 at rossini.obs-nice.fr> Organization: Observatoire de la Cote d 'Azur Path: solitaire.cv.nrao.edu!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!caen!news-ext.crl.dec.com!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!news.mathworks.com!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!nntp.uio.no!nntp.zit.th-darmstadt.de!voskovec.radio.cz!univ-angers.fr!univ-rennes1.fr!irisa.fr!news-rocq.inria.fr!univ-lyon1.fr!cnusc.fr!malibu.unice.fr!rossini.obs-nice.fr!news Subject: compressed fits format Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits Sender: owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk Dear all fitsers... I am sorry to post this here since I guess it may be a question which appear every 2 weeks ( ? ). Is there any standard for compressed fits files ?. I am about to include two modes of compression on our images, one with a lossless algorithm ( storage of the difference between 2 16 bits pixels on a single byte, I presume this well known algorithm has even a name... ), and a lossy one after the one used for the digitised sky survey ( using H transform ). I assume I am not the only one who has to take care of more than 1 gigabytes of images per night, and would like to know is there are standard FITS keywords describing these compression ( COMPRESS = T ? ) We decided it was much better to perform real time processing of the data, then compress it by a factor of 10 and store it on CD ROMs ( which would then hold about a week of observations ) rather than to store everything on tape which cannot be read after 3 years... and would prefer to conform to some kind of standard if there is such a thing. Alain From owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Thu Oct 24 13:32:09 1996 Received: (from majdom at localhost) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.2/$Revision: 2.10 $) id NAA23032; Thu, 24 Oct 1996 13:32:09 -0400 Received: from cv3.cv.nrao.edu (root at cv3.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.2]) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.2/$Revision: 2.10 $) with ESMTP id MAA22497; Thu, 24 Oct 1996 12:30:40 -0400 Received: from xebec.gsfc.nasa.gov (xebec.gsfc.nasa.gov [128.183.126.205]) by cv3.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.0/8.8.0/CV-2.2) with SMTP id MAA12081 for ; Thu, 24 Oct 1996 12:30:38 -0400 (EDT) Received: (from arots at localhost) by xebec.gsfc.nasa.gov (LHEA9504/950407.s1) id MAA04347; Thu, 24 Oct 1996 12:30:32 -0400 From: Arnold Rots Message-Id: <199610241630.MAA04347 at xebec.gsfc.nasa.gov> Subject: Re: compressed fits format To: maury at ocar01.obs-azur.fr (Alain MAURY) Date: Thu, 24 Oct 1996 12:30:32 -0400 (EDT) Cc: fitsbits at nrao.edu In-Reply-To: <54jaio$2q8 at rossini.obs-nice.fr> from "Alain MAURY" at Oct 22, 96 08:24:56 pm X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL25] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk We skirted the issue by gzipping all our FITS files ... - Arnold Rots RXTE-GOF, GSFC > > Dear all fitsers... > I am sorry to post this here since I guess it may be a question > which appear every 2 weeks ( ? ). > Is there any standard for compressed fits files ?. > I am about to include two modes of compression on our images, one > with a lossless algorithm ( storage of the difference between 2 16 > bits pixels on a single byte, I presume this well known algorithm > has even a name... ), and a lossy one after the one used for > the digitised sky survey ( using H transform ). I assume I am not > the only one who has to take care of more than 1 gigabytes of images > per night, and would like to know is there are standard FITS keywords > describing these compression ( COMPRESS = T ? ) > We decided it was much better to perform real time processing of the > data, then compress it by a factor of 10 and store it on CD ROMs ( which > would then hold about a week of observations ) rather than to store > everything on tape which cannot be read after 3 years... and would > prefer to conform to some kind of standard if there is such a thing. > Alain > > > From owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Mon Oct 28 10:10:11 1996 Received: (from majdom at localhost) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.2/$Revision: 2.10 $) id KAA26441; Mon, 28 Oct 1996 10:10:11 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.2/$Revision: 2.10 $) with ESMTP id AAA18596; Sun, 27 Oct 1996 00:57:41 -0400 Received: from solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (news at solitaire.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.79]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.0/8.8.0/CV-2.2) with SMTP id AAA07800 for ; Sun, 27 Oct 1996 00:57:38 -0400 (EDT) Received: by solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (4.1/DDN-CV/1.10) id AA07719; Sun, 27 Oct 96 00:57:36 EDT To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Date: 22 Oct 1996 22:48:34 GMT From: sla at umbra.ucolick.org (Steve Allen) Message-Id: <54jj02$2s2 at darkstar.ucsc.edu> Organization: UCO/Lick Observatory, Santa Cruz Path: solitaire.cv.nrao.edu!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!news-server.ncren.net!concert!gatech!csulb.edu!hammer.uoregon.edu!news-peer.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!howland.erols.net!agate!news.ucsc.edu!umbra.ucolick.org!sla Subject: ASCII tables, practical interpretation Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits Sender: owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk Many of the existing FITS ASCII tables consist of catalogs which were converted from non-FITS files. The treatment of NULL values in such files is not entirely uniform, and neither are the needs of FITS reading programs. It helps to have some conventions about the interpretation of data which address both. Here is a (probably arguable) truth table: ++++++++ Reading a value out of a FITS ASCII table This applies when TTYPEn is one of (Iw, Dw.d, Ew.d, Fw.d). (If TTYPEn is Aw then the field content is always "legal".) field || TNULLn exists and | otherwise content || field matches it | ========##====================#============== blank || NULL | NULL (1) --------++ - - - - - - - - - +-------------- legal || NULL | use field (2) --------++ - - - - - - - - - +-------------- illegal || NULL | ERROR (3) --------++--------------------+-------------- The cases marked () deserve a little closer inspection. (1) The FORTRAN parsing semantics which are specified by the FITS papers would force the interpretation of a blank field to be numeric ZERO. Nonetheless, in many of the converted catalogs it is clear that the intent of the authors should have been to insert a TNULLn = ' ' card so that the blanks would be interpreted as a NULL. It seems unlikely that original table authors would not insert an explicit zero for a field whose value was zero. This means that the default Fortran interpretation (ZERO) is probably not the right thing to assume. Depending on the application it may be desirable to have an option which permits this case to be flagged as ERROR. (2) In the case where TTYPEn = 'Aw' and the datatype is actually transmitting a LOGICAL value the arguments about point (1) and (3) apply at a later stage, but this is not within the scope of the interpretation of FITS. (3) Depending on the application it may be desirable to have an option which permits this case to be flagged as NULL. ++++++++ I have used the above truth table for the ingestion of ASCII tables into a relational database. It may be useful for reference or discussion. -- Steve Allen UCO/Lick Observatory Santa Cruz, CA 95064 sla at ucolick.org Voice: +1 408 459 3046 FAX: +1 408 454 9863 WWW: http://www.ucolick.org/~sla PGP public keys: see WWW From owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Mon Oct 28 10:11:37 1996 Received: (from majdom at localhost) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.2/$Revision: 2.10 $) id KAA26486; Mon, 28 Oct 1996 10:11:37 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.2/$Revision: 2.10 $) with ESMTP id WAA23287; Sun, 27 Oct 1996 22:14:18 -0500 Received: from solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (news at solitaire.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.79]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.0/8.8.0/CV-2.2) with SMTP id WAA09141 for ; Sun, 27 Oct 1996 22:14:14 -0500 (EST) Received: by solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (4.1/DDN-CV/1.10) id AA20286; Sun, 27 Oct 96 22:14:10 EST To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Date: 23 Oct 1996 16:41 EDT From: bschlesinger at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (Barry M. Schlesinger) Message-Id: <23OCT199616413361 at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov> Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center -- Greenbelt, Maryland USA Path: solitaire.cv.nrao.edu!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!news-server.ncren.net!concert!gatech!csulb.edu!news.sgi.com!news.mathworks.com!howland.erols.net!psinntp!psinntp!news.intercon.com!news5.digex.net!haven.umd.edu!hecate.umd.edu!cs.umd.edu!newsfeed.gsfc.nasa.gov!nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov!bschlesinger Reply-To: fits at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov Subject: Sources of FITS Information Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits,sci.answers,news.answers Sender: owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk Archive-name: astronomy/fits/info-sources Last-modified: 1996/09/25 -------- Sources of FITS Information Preface This material on sources of Flexible Image Transport System (FITS) information is posted and updated periodically by the FITS Support Office at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). It discusses where general FITS information, including some answers to frequently asked questions, can be found, and provides sources for detailed information on FITS software and documentation. ------- FITS Support Office The FITS Support Office maintains a library of FITS information accessible from http://ssdoo.gsfc.nasa.gov/astro/fits/fits_home.html or ftp://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/fits/. The material available includes o "Definition of FITS," a codification of FITS for the NASA/Science Office of Standards and Technology (NOST), available in LaTeX, uncompressed PostScript, compressed PostScript and (usually) ASCII text (The ASCII text version may not be available for a short while after the announcement of a new version.) o "A User's Guide to FITS", published by the FITS Support Office, in LaTeX, and compressed and uncompressed PostScript o Revisions to version 1.0 of the "Definition of FITS" covering the specification of units that were incorporated into version 1.1 (text) o A current list of the extension type (structure) names registered with the International Astronomical Union FITS Working Group (IAUFWG) (text) o Rules for physical blocking on various media adopted by the IAUFWG (text) In the same directory but accessible directly via http://ssdoo.gsfc.nasa.gov/astro/fits/basics_info.html is the FITS Basics and Information that used to be regularly posted to sci.astro.fits and sci.data.formats. It continues to be revised to reflect current FITS developments. It contains the following material: o An overview of FITS o A list of FITS documents o A list of software packages that support FITS, including FITS <--> image converters for various platforms o A list of on-line FITS resources o A description of the FITS Support Office The hypertext version provides links to many of the documents, software, and network locations listed. The text version provides information on how to obtain much of this material. There is also a hypertext version of the List of Registered Extensions. Links from the Web page and subdirectories of the ftp directory contain o Software developed by the FITS Support Office. o Error test files: primary HDUs useful for testing the ability of software designed to read FITS files to cope with files that have errors or are non-standard. These files should be downloaded in binary form. Printed copies of the material in the FITS directory can be obtained from the Coordinated Request and User Support Office (CRUSO): (Postal) Coordinated Request and User Support Office Code 633 National Space Science Data Center NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD 20771 USA (Electronic mail) request at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (Telephone) +1-301-286-6695 8:00 A. M. - 4:30 P.M. U. S. Eastern Time (-0500 from the last Sunday in October through the first Saturday in April; -0400 the remainder of the year) When no one is available, messages can be left on voice mail. (FAX) +1-301-286-1635 ------- National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) A FITS Archive can be found at URL http://fits.cv.nrao.edu/ or at ftp://fits.cv.nrao.edu/fits, located at NRAO. This machine supports a WAIS server named nrao-fits which has an index of all of the FITS-related text files in the archive; the file nrao-fits.src is available at think.com and at ftp://fits.cv.nrao.edu/fits/wais-sources/nrao-fits.src. Some of the more noteworthy materials in this archive are o Drafts of proposed additions to the FITS standard and other drafts that may in the future be formally proposed o Text of any detailed proposals currently being discussed by the FITS committees o A collection of documents on World Coordinate Systems, including the current draft proposal o Conventions specific to particular projects or disciplines o Software for various environments and Usenet postings about code o Sample data and special test files designed to measure the ability of a FITS reader to handle a wide variety of FITS files o Archives of traffic on FITS-related newsgroups and exploders A separate NRAO site, http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~bcotton/fitsview.html, provides information on the FITSview family of software packages for display of FITS images on Microsoft Windows 3.1 and Windows 95, Apple Macintosh, and Unix/X-Windows, with links to the software. It also links to a number of sources of astronomical FITS images. ------- HEASARC The NASA/Goddard High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC) Web server at http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/fits.html and the anonymous ftp access through ftp://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/fits_info/ provide FITS material. HEASARC has developed the FITSIO package of software routines for easily reading and writing FITS files, with FORTRAN and C versions available, portable to a wide variety of machines. There is also the FTOOLS collection of software tools and the VERIFITS FITS conformance verifier. HEASARC software is available directly through http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/tech_res_software.html or ftp://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/fits_info/software/ . The HEASARC server also provides information from the HEASARC FITS Working Group, (HFWG) the internal legislative body on FITS-related matters within the Office of Guest Investigator Programs (OGIP) at NASA/GSFC, at http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/ofwg/ofwg_intro.html or at ftp://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/fits_info/ in the directories ofwg_minutes and ofwg_recomm. The HFWG has developed a number of FITS conventions that are more specific than the requirements of the FITS standards. Proposed conventions are publicized to the FITS community as a whole, with the goal of collaborative development of a set of conventions that will be accepted throughout the community as well as within OGIP/HEASARC. ------- Direct questions about this posting to Barry M. Schlesinger Coordinator, FITS Support Office Electronic mail: fits at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov Telephone: +1-301-441-4205 The FITS Support Office is operated under the guidance of the NASA/GSFC Astrophysics Data Facility. From owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Tue Oct 29 09:45:10 1996 Received: (from majdom at localhost) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.2/$Revision: 2.10 $) id JAA15519; Tue, 29 Oct 1996 09:45:10 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.2/$Revision: 2.10 $) with ESMTP id BAA05406; Tue, 29 Oct 1996 01:18:31 -0500 Received: from solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (news at solitaire.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.79]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.0/8.8.0/CV-2.2) with SMTP id BAA16266 for ; Tue, 29 Oct 1996 01:18:27 -0500 (EST) Received: by solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (4.1/DDN-CV/1.10) id AA14370; Tue, 29 Oct 96 01:18:25 EST To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Date: 28 Oct 1996 20:04:02 -1000 From: kgb at jach.hawaii.edu (Karl Glazebrook) Message-Id: <5546oi$bgt at pa.jach.hawaii.edu> Organization: UK/Canada/Netherlands Joint Astronomy Centre, Hilo, Hawaii Path: solitaire.cv.nrao.edu!iraf!news.Hawaii.Edu!jach.hawaii.edu!not-for-mail Subject: ANNOUNCE: perlDL v1.00 - the 'perl Data Language' Newsgroups: adass.general,sci.astro.fits,comp.lang.idl-pvwave,comp.soft-sys.matlab,sci.astro,sci.image.processing Sender: owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk `perlDL' ("perl Data Language") gives standard perl the ability to COMPACTLY store and SPEEDILY manipulate the large N- dimensional data arrays which are the bread and butter of scientific computing. The idea is to turn perl in to a, free, array-oriented, numerical language in the same sense as commerical packages like IDL and MatLab. One can write simple perl expressions to manipulate entire numerical arrays all at once. For example with `perlDL' the perl variable `$a' can hold a 1024x1024 floating point image, it only takes 4Mb of memory to store it and expressions like `$a=sqrt($a)+2' would manipulate the whole image in a few seconds. A simple interactive shell ("`perldl'") is provided for command line use together with a module ("`PDL'") for use in perl scripts. v1.00 is the first official alpha release. It provides the fundumental numerical processing facilities and a limited set of standard functions. Graphics are supported via the perl PGPLOT module and image display via the external programs saoimage/ximtool. The goal is to allow perlDL to interact with a variety of external graphics systems. I/O is currently supported via the FITS standard, though given the simple design it ought to be possible to create perl code to read many common formats. There are of course many things missing from this first release but it is hoped that perlDL will grow through efforts of interested users. It has a modular design to encourage this. Where to obtain perlDL: Home Site: WWW: http://www.aao.gov.au/local/www/kgb/perldl/ ftp: ftp://ftp.aao.gov.au/pub/perldl/ Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN): ftp: In directory modules/by-module/PDL/ WWW: You can automatically select your LOCAL CPAN site by going to: http://www.perl.com/CPAN/modules/by-module/PDL/ The PGPLOT module is available from (among others): http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~kgb/pgperl.html (Home Page/General information) http://www.perl.com/CPAN/modules/by-module/PGPLOT/ ftp://ftp.ast.cam.ac.uk/pub/kgb/pgperl/ ftp://ftp.aao.gov.au/pub/pgperl/ SAOimage is available from: http://tdc-www.harvard.edu/software/saoimage.html Documentation The current perlDL documentation is available from http://www.aao.gov.au/local/www/kgb/perldl/PDL.html Mailing List Finally, a mailing list has been set up to talk about perlDL and for developers to coordinate their work. The address of the list is perldl at jach.hawaii.edu. To subscribe, send a message to perldl-request at jach.hawaii.edu containing a string in the following format: subscribe me at my.email.address I hope you find perlDL useful and enjoyable, Karl Glazebrook. email: kgb at aaoepp.aao.gov.au