From owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Tue Nov 5 09:57:46 1996 Received: (from majdom at localhost) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.2/$Revision: 2.10 $) id JAA04861; Tue, 5 Nov 1996 09:57:46 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.2/$Revision: 2.10 $) with ESMTP id GAA04474; Tue, 5 Nov 1996 06:44:01 -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 GAA10225 for ; Tue, 5 Nov 1996 06:43:56 -0500 (EST) Received: by solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (4.1/DDN-CV/1.10) id AA00498; Tue, 5 Nov 96 06:43:53 EST To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Date: 30 Oct 1996 16:46 EDT From: bschlesinger at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (Barry M. Schlesinger) Message-Id: <30OCT199616463628 at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov> Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center -- Greenbelt, Maryland USA Path: solitaire.cv.nrao.edu!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!portal.gmu.edu!news.sprintlink.net!news-dc-9.sprintlink.net!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!arclight.uoregon.edu!enews.sgi.com!ames!newsfeed.gsfc.nasa.gov!nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov!bschlesinger References: <54jaio$2q8 at rossini.obs-nice.fr> Subject: Re: compressed fits format Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits Sender: owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk If other groups are developing compression algorithms, this would be a good time to speak up, so that the community can work out common standards. In article <54jaio$2q8 at rossini.obs-nice.fr>, Alain MAURY writes... > ... >Is there any standard for compressed fits files ?. There is no standard for compression within FITS and no standard compression algorithm. The extension type name COMPRESS has been reserved for a future compressed FITS data type but the details of this type have not been worked out. Warnock et al. have distributed a preliminary proposal, which is available at http://fits.cv.nrao.edu/documents/drafts/compression.*, where * is either tex (LaTeX) or ps (PostScript). I suggest reading this paper to see what some previous thoughts on this subject have been. Individual installations are experimenting with local schemes. >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 ... and a lossy one after the one used for >the digitised sky survey ( using H transform ). I ... > 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. Such data could be included in a FITS file only as a nonstandard conforming extension. The BITPIX, PCOUNT, GCOUNT, NAXIS and NAXISn keywords would have to have values that provided the size of the data area, as required by the generalized extensions agreement. A separate extension type name would have to be defined for each kind of data, e.g., DIFFCOMP for the first algorithm and SURVCOMP for the second, and registered with the IAU FITS Working Group. To conform to the rules, the names should be registered before the files are created. (Note: These are the first names that came off the top of my head; I am not necessarily recommending them.) There could then be software that would recognize these names as signifying FITS images compressed in the appropriate manner. Other software would just use the information in the header to skip the HDUs containing data compressed in these ways. Barry Schlesinger FITS Support Office GSFC/ADF From owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Tue Nov 5 16:50:25 1996 Received: (from majdom at localhost) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.2/$Revision: 2.10 $) id QAA06048; Tue, 5 Nov 1996 16:50:25 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.2/$Revision: 2.10 $) with ESMTP id QAA05947; Tue, 5 Nov 1996 16:35:46 -0500 Received: from solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (news at solitaire.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.79]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.0/8.8.0/CV-2.2) with SMTP id QAA14449 for ; Tue, 5 Nov 1996 16:35:43 -0500 (EST) Received: by solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (4.1/DDN-CV/1.10) id AA21261; Tue, 5 Nov 96 16:35:39 EST To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Date: Mon, 04 Nov 1996 09:12:35 -0600 From: Charles Hoffman Message-Id: <327E07E3.15FF at pelican.davlin.net> Organization: Skywave Comms & Scientific Consultants--GOV/MIL Path: solitaire.cv.nrao.edu!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!uunet!in1.uu.net!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!nntp.uio.no!news.cais.net!in1.nntp.cais.net!news2.cais.com!news References: <31OCT199602213051 at sorbet.gsfc.nasa.gov> Reply-To: choffman at pelican.davlin.net Subject: Re: Keyword name for original BSCALE? Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits Sender: owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk Can someone tell me where to download a FITS 32 bit viewer for WIN95? Thanks Wayne Landsman (301)-286-3625 wrote: > > I have some old-style FITS images that are written with BITPIX = 16 and with > a BSCALE factor to convert the image to floating point. I want to convert > these images to the floating point FITS format with BITPIX=-32 (and BSCALE > = 1.0), but I also want to store the original BSCALE value in the new header, > so that the user could in principle work his way back to the original scaling > used in the 16 bit image. > > I seem to remember seeing FITS headers with a keyword like O_BSCALE or OBSCALE > giving the original value of BSCALE. Does anyone know if there is a > keyword name like this in any sort of moderately widespread use? > (If not, then I will probably go with O_BSCALE.) > > --Wayne Landsman landsman at sorbet.gsfc.nasa.gov From owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Wed Nov 6 09:15:04 1996 Received: (from majdom at localhost) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.2/$Revision: 2.10 $) id JAA09166; Wed, 6 Nov 1996 09:15:04 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.2/$Revision: 2.10 $) with ESMTP id SAA06279; Tue, 5 Nov 1996 18:40:58 -0500 Received: from solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (news at solitaire.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.79]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.0/8.8.0/CV-2.2) with SMTP id SAA15458 for ; Tue, 5 Nov 1996 18:40:55 -0500 (EST) Received: by solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (4.1/DDN-CV/1.10) id AA26129; Tue, 5 Nov 96 18:40:53 EST To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Date: 31 Oct 1996 02:21 EST From: landsman at sorbet.gsfc.nasa.gov (Wayne Landsman (301)-286-3625) Message-Id: <31OCT199602213051 at sorbet.gsfc.nasa.gov> Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center -- Greenbelt, Maryland USA Path: solitaire.cv.nrao.edu!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!portal.gmu.edu!newsfeed.internetmci.com!feed1.news.erols.com!news.bconnex.net!news.abs.net!cs.umd.edu!newsfeed.gsfc.nasa.gov!sorbet.gsfc.nasa.gov!landsman Subject: Keyword name for original BSCALE? Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits Sender: owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk I have some old-style FITS images that are written with BITPIX = 16 and with a BSCALE factor to convert the image to floating point. I want to convert these images to the floating point FITS format with BITPIX=-32 (and BSCALE = 1.0), but I also want to store the original BSCALE value in the new header, so that the user could in principle work his way back to the original scaling used in the 16 bit image. I seem to remember seeing FITS headers with a keyword like O_BSCALE or OBSCALE giving the original value of BSCALE. Does anyone know if there is a keyword name like this in any sort of moderately widespread use? (If not, then I will probably go with O_BSCALE.) --Wayne Landsman landsman at sorbet.gsfc.nasa.gov From owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Wed Nov 6 17:07:42 1996 Received: (from majdom at localhost) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.2/$Revision: 2.10 $) id RAA01316; Wed, 6 Nov 1996 17:07:42 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.2/$Revision: 2.10 $) with ESMTP id RAA01302; Wed, 6 Nov 1996 17:06:43 -0500 Received: from cv3.cv.nrao.edu (root at cv3.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.2]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.0/8.8.0/CV-2.2) with ESMTP id RAA25481 for ; Wed, 6 Nov 1996 17:06:40 -0500 (EST) Received: from tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov (tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov [128.183.127.109]) by cv3.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.0/8.8.0/CV-2.2) with SMTP id RAA09414 for ; Wed, 6 Nov 1996 17:06:38 -0500 (EST) Received: (from pence at localhost) by tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov (LHEA9504/950407.s1) id RAA00379; Wed, 6 Nov 1996 17:05:20 -0500 Date: Wed, 6 Nov 1996 17:05:20 -0500 From: William Pence Message-Id: <199611062205.RAA00379 at tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov> To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Subject: FTOOLS 3.6 now available Cc: pence at tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov Sender: owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk FTOOLS VERSION 3.6 DISTRIBUTION A new release of the FTOOLS software package is now publicly available. FTOOLS is a package of more than 200 data analysis programs and Perl and Tcl scripts that operate on FITS format data files. Some of these tasks are very general and may be used on any FITS format file. Of special note in this release is a new FITS file browser called 'fv' with a graphical interface written in Tcl/Tk. Other FTOOLS tasks are designed to perform specific data reduction or analysis procedures on data files from the ROSAT, ASCA, XTE, CGRO and other astrophysics X-ray and Gamma-ray satellites. The FTOOLS software is supported on most current workstations (including the linux operating system on a PC) and can be built either as a set of stand-alone programs or as a package under IRAF. This software is freely available from the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC) on the WWWeb at: http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftools or via Anonymous FTP from legacy.gsfc.nasa.gov in directory: software/ftools/release/FTools_3.6 Documentation about FTOOLS is available in the Installation Guide, the User's Guide, and the Developer's Guide, which are all available from the same locations. Any questions about FTOOLS should be directed to ftoolshelp at athena.gsfc.nasa.gov. From owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Thu Nov 7 09:24:46 1996 Received: (from majdom at localhost) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.2/$Revision: 2.10 $) id JAA04635; Thu, 7 Nov 1996 09:24:46 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.2/$Revision: 2.10 $) with ESMTP id RAA01416; Wed, 6 Nov 1996 17:43:09 -0500 Received: from cv3.cv.nrao.edu (root at cv3.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.2]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.0/8.8.0/CV-2.2) with ESMTP id RAA25780 for ; Wed, 6 Nov 1996 17:43:06 -0500 (EST) Received: from tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov (tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov [128.183.127.109]) by cv3.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.0/8.8.0/CV-2.2) with SMTP id RAA09879 for ; Wed, 6 Nov 1996 17:43:03 -0500 (EST) Received: (from pence at localhost) by tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov (LHEA9504/950407.s1) id RAA00397 for fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu; Wed, 6 Nov 1996 17:41:46 -0500 Date: Wed, 6 Nov 1996 17:41:46 -0500 From: William Pence Message-Id: <199611062241.RAA00397 at tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov> To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Subject: fv FITS File Viewer Sender: owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk ---------------------------------------------------------------------- First Release of fv: An Interactive Fits File Viewer fv is a general software tool written in Tcl/Tk which can be used for viewing, plotting, and (in the next release) editing FITS format data files. This first release of fv has a graphical user interface (GUI) that provides spreadsheet-like widgets to display data in any FITS table or image, a text widget to display FITS header keywords and a graph widget to display images. In addition, users can plot values in two or more columns of a FITS table/image and export the plot to a postscript file. Users can also save listings of table/image data to an ASCII file. The future release(s) of fv will allow users to edit any keywords or data values in the FITS file and save the changes. The current limited image/graph display will be greatly enhanced and an interface to the SAOTNG display tool will also be provided. fv is currently supported on most Unix platforms; in the future we hope to also support IBM and Macintoch PCs. fv is being distributed as a standard part of the latest FTOOLS 3.6 distribution, but is also available as a standalone program for those who do not want the entire FTOOLS package. Either FTOOLS or fv may be obtained from the HEASARC (High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center) FTOOLS Web site at: http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftools Any comments or questions about fv should be sent to ftoolshelp at athena.gsfc.nasa.gov. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Mon Nov 11 14:27:59 1996 Received: (from majdom at localhost) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.2/$Revision: 2.10 $) id OAA00345; Mon, 11 Nov 1996 14:27:59 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.2/$Revision: 2.10 $) with ESMTP id NAA08495; Mon, 11 Nov 1996 13:44:40 -0500 Received: from solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (news at solitaire.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.79]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.0/8.8.0/CV-2.2) with SMTP id NAA03248 for ; Mon, 11 Nov 1996 13:44:37 -0500 (EST) Received: by solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (4.1/DDN-CV/1.10) id AA05991; Mon, 11 Nov 96 13:44:35 EST To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Date: 6 Nov 1996 11:06:56 GMT From: Alain MAURY Message-Id: <55prgg$nlv at rossini.obs-nice.fr> Organization: Observatoire de la Cote d 'Azur Path: solitaire.cv.nrao.edu!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!portal.gmu.edu!newsfeed.internetmci.com!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!cam-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!howland.erols.net!math.ohio-state.edu!jussieu.fr!univ-lyon1.fr!cnusc.fr!malibu.unice.fr!rossini.obs-nice.fr!news References: <54jaio$2q8 at rossini.obs-nice.fr> <30OCT199616463628 at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov> Subject: Re: compressed fits format Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits Sender: owner-fitsbits at tarsier.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk Since my original message was posted, I was able to read the document recommended by Dr Schlesinger, and found it to be a very good basis to start from. I have also tried the Hcompress algorithm, and with a factor of compression of 10, it does not seem to loose much as far as faint stars are concerned if you blink the original image and the compressed-decompressed one. This is rather subjective, a more detailed analysis will be done here. Still, sounds good. The compression time may be a concern, but we should run this algorithm on a Pentium and see what we get. It seems that 2 minutes of compression time for a 2K image ( i.e. 8.5 megabytes ) is doable. What is the procedure for some modifications to the FITS standard to be registered by the IAU FITS WG. Next general assembly ( next year ? ), or a separate meeting ? Finally, after possible "registration", would compressed fits files still have the .fit ot .fts extension, or would a new extension like .ftc ( fits compressed ) be used ? Alain From owner-fitsbits at marmoset.cv.nrao.edu Tue Nov 26 13:57:36 1996 Received: (from majdom at localhost) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.7.6/8.7.3: $Revision:$) id NAA04680; Tue, 26 Nov 1996 13:56:31 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.3/$Revision: 2.10 $) with ESMTP id WAA03327; Fri, 22 Nov 1996 22:04:50 -0500 Received: from solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (news at solitaire.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.79]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.3/8.8.0/CV-2.2) with SMTP id WAA04552 for ; Fri, 22 Nov 1996 22:04:47 -0500 (EST) Received: by solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (4.1/DDN-CV/1.10) id AA03191; Fri, 22 Nov 96 22:04:43 EST To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Date: Mon, 18 Nov 1996 17:28:50 -0700 From: James Adams Message-Id: <3290FF42.41C6 at ucar.edu> Organization: National Center for Atmospheric Research Path: solitaire.cv.nrao.edu!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!portal.gmu.edu!newsfeed.internetmci.com!ncar!usenet Subject: cfitsio - not opening FITS file Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits Sender: owner-fitsbits at marmoset.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk Hello, I am attempting to use cfitsio to read FITS images and convert them to our in-house image format for processing. I have coded and compiled a program which opens a FITS file and then reads its image data. I am running into trouble as soon as I attempt to open the FITS file (which has correct permissions set). The status returned by the fits_open_file() routine is indecipherable ( status == 260934144 ) and produces no error message on the error message stack, so I'm clueless as to where the problem lies. I am running on an SGI, IRIX 5.3. I am compiling using SGI's native C++ compiler (is the problem that I am using these routines with C++ instead of plain C ?) My sample code (which compiles but doesn't work as advertised) //--------------------------------------------------------------------- Boolean nrifFrame::readFromFITSFile (const char *fits_name) { // local variables fitsfile *fptr; int status; // open the FITS file if (fits_open_file (&fptr, fits_name, READONLY, &status)) { return Error ("Unable to open FITS file"); } ........ //--------------------------------------------------------------------- Where would I start to look for the problem ? As I said the error message and status information returned by the cfitsio routine is useless, so I am looking for any other methods of debugging the problem (or hopefully someone reading this will have seen this before and can suggest a workaround). Any assistance you can provide will be greatly appreciated ! Kind regards, James -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- James Adams Email: jadams at ucar.edu National Center for Atmospheric Research Phone: (303) 497-1356 Boulder, Colorado Fax: (303) 497-1348 WWW: http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/ccr/jadams/home.html From owner-fitsbits at marmoset.cv.nrao.edu Tue Nov 26 14:12:26 1996 Received: (from majdom at localhost) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.7.6/8.7.3: $Revision:$) id OAA04852; Tue, 26 Nov 1996 14:11:44 -0500 Received: from cv3.cv.nrao.edu (cv3.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.2]) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.7.6/8.7.3: $Revision:$) with ESMTP id OAA04824; Tue, 26 Nov 1996 14:09:28 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by cv3.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.3/8.8.0/CV-2.3) with ESMTP id OAA16409 for ; Tue, 26 Nov 1996 14:09:20 -0500 (EST) Received: (from dwells at localhost) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.3/8.8.0/CV-2.2) id OAA14805; Tue, 26 Nov 1996 14:08:50 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 26 Nov 1996 14:08:50 -0500 (EST) From: Don Wells Message-Id: <199611261908.OAA14805 at fits.cv.nrao.edu> To: fitsbits at nrao.edu Subject: Problem with sci.astro.fits===>fitsbits gateway Sender: owner-fitsbits at marmoset.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk Dear fitsbits subscribers, At least five messages posted to sci.astro.fits during the past eight days have been delayed in reaching the News server at NRAO-Charlottesville, where the gateway to the fitsbits Email exploder operates. We are unsure where or why this traffic was delayed/lost (it may have occurred upstream from us). We have established a redundant News feed for sci.astro.fits in response to this problem, and may activate an additional feed to minimize the possibility that such loss will occur again. Two of the five messages were delivered to the NRAO-CV news server after the redundant feed was activated. I will post the other three messages, copies of which Bill Pence has forwarded to me from the news server at GSFC. These three messages will appear for a second time in sci.astro.fits, of course. Regards, Don Wells -- Donald C. Wells Associate Scientist dwells at nrao.edu http://fits.cv.nrao.edu/~dwells National Radio Astronomy Observatory +1-804-296-0277 520 Edgemont Road, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903-2475 USA From owner-fitsbits at marmoset.cv.nrao.edu Tue Nov 26 14:13:21 1996 Received: (from majdom at localhost) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.7.6/8.7.3: $Revision:$) id OAA04863; Tue, 26 Nov 1996 14:12:39 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.3/$Revision: 2.10 $) with ESMTP id RAA02524; Fri, 22 Nov 1996 17:03:00 -0500 Received: (from dwells at localhost) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.3/8.8.0/CV-2.2) id RAA04174; Fri, 22 Nov 1996 17:02:57 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <199611222202.RAA04174 at fits.cv.nrao.edu> To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Subject: [Fwd: Re: cfitsio - not opening FITS file] From: Clive Page Date: 21 Nov 1996 11:51:16 -0000 Organization: University of Leicester, UK Sender: owner-fitsbits at marmoset.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk [This message was originally posted to newsgroup sci.astro.fits but was not gateway-ed to the fitsbits Email exploder. -Don Wells] I haven't used CFITSIO only FITSIO, so I don't know if the same requirements apply, but in the Fortran version the STATUS argument of each procedure has intent INOUT. Sorry, this may not make much sense to a C programmer, it means its value needs to be set (normally to zero) before you call any FITSIO procedure (sorry function in C-speak). So my suggestion is: try setting STATUS to zero before your first call. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clive Page, Internet: cgp at star.le.ac.uk Dept of Physics & Astronomy, University of Leicester. From owner-fitsbits at marmoset.cv.nrao.edu Tue Nov 26 14:14:18 1996 Received: (from majdom at localhost) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.7.6/8.7.3: $Revision:$) id OAA04880; Tue, 26 Nov 1996 14:13:36 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.3/$Revision: 2.10 $) with ESMTP id RAA02535; Fri, 22 Nov 1996 17:04:41 -0500 Received: (from dwells at localhost) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.3/8.8.0/CV-2.2) id RAA04187; Fri, 22 Nov 1996 17:04:38 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <199611222204.RAA04187 at fits.cv.nrao.edu> to: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Subject: [Fwd: DATE-OBS and the millennium; the proposal.] From: Peter Bunclark Date: Tue, 19 Nov 1996 16:56:22 +0000 Organization: Royal Greenwich Observatory Sender: owner-fitsbits at marmoset.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk [This message was originally posted to newsgroup sci.astro.fits but was not gateway-ed to the fitsbits Email exploder. -Don Wells] The following proposal has been submitted to the European FITS Committee, and is a distillation of all the previous discussion on the newsgroup, some email interchanges, and discussion with Preben Grosbol, who helped enormously in transforming an idea into a rigorous statement. As you might expect, the proposal cannot please everyone, because there were opposing views (for example, I wanted a new keyword!). However, I believe it reflects the majority view on the subject. I hope that we can move swiftly to the acceptance of this rather urgent modification to the FITS standard. --------------------------------%<---------------------------------------- Precise re-definition of DATE-OBS Keyword encompassing the millennium Peter Bunclark 1996 Nov 19 1) Introduction The original DATExxxx keywords, including in particular DATE-OBS, have several shortcomings which make it desirable to alter the definition: 1.1) The year is expressed in only 2-digits; currently, digitized astronomical data spans more than a century, and further, the implied most-significant two digits of the year will change from 19 to 20 shortly. 1.2) The timescale of DATExxxx is not defined. 1.3) The relation of DATE-OBS to the start, middle or end of an observation is not defined. 1.4) The order of day, month, year is least-significant first, so lists of dates cannot be sorted simply on the ASCII collating sequence. 2) Scope There are several related issues to DATE-OBS, such as multiple timescales, which will not be addressed in this proposal in order to keep it finite. There are two main issues addressed; 2.1) the format of date strings to be used in any DATExxxx keyword. 2.2) the future of the DATE-OBS keyword itself 3) The Date-String format Proposal 3.1) A DATExxxx field in the old format of 'DD/MM/YY' will explicitly refer to a year 1900-1999. The very few instances of digitized nineteenth-century plates represented as FITS files must be handled as special cases. 3.2) The new recommended format is a restricted subset of ISO-8601, being one of three options: a) 'ccyy-mm-dd' b) 'ccyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss[.sss...]Z' c) 'ccyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss[.sss...]' In the short form, there may not be any additional terminator/separator (such as T or Z). In the long form, there must be a 'T' time designator between the date and the time. The presence of a 'Z' time-zone designator indicates UTC. The decimal point character is an ascii full-stop. The number of decimal places in the `seconds' field may be arbitrarily long up to the FITS header-card limitations. 3.3) Only fully-specified date or date/time string are permitted. No fields may be defaulted, no leading zeroes omitted. The decimal part of the seconds field is optional. 4) Use of the DATE-OBS keyword 4.1) The name of the keyword shall remain DATE-OBS. 4.2) It is suggested that the DATE-OBS refer to the start of an observation. This relationship should be clarified in the comment field. 4.3) The preferred timescale shall be Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), as measured at the detector (or in practical cases, at the observatory). The timescale may be explicitly specified to be Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) by using the 'Z' time-zone designator. 5) Examples Four legal representations of the date of the first formal draft of this proposal are possible: DATE-OBS= '14/10/96' / Original format, means 1996 Oct 14. DATE-OBS= '1996-10-14' / Date of start of observation in UTC. DATE-OBS= '1996-10-14T10:14:36.123Z' / Date/time of start of observation in UTC. DATE-OBS= '1996-11-19T13:37:34.123' / This comment specifies the time system. 6) Transition FITS readers must continue to interpret the old format, as a twentieth century date, for ever. Readers should be altered as soon as possible to cope with the new format. In order to give adequate time for the major package writers to adopt their systems, FITS writers should commence writing the new format between 1998-01-01T00:00:00Z and 2000-01-01T00:00:00Z 7) Appendix: Relevent ISO 8601 paragraphs 5.2.1.1 Complete representation When the application clearly identifies the need for an expression only of a calendar date, then the complete representation shall be a single numeric data element comprising eight digits, where [CCYY] represents a calendar year, [MM] the ordinal number of a calendar month within the calendar year, and [DD] the ordinal number of a day within the calendar month. Basic format: CCYYMMDD Example: 19850412 Extended format: CCYY-MM-DD Example: 1985-04-12 5.3.1.3 Representation of decimal fractions If necessary for a particular application a decimal fraction of hour, minute or second may be included. If a decimal fraction is included, lower order components (if and) shall be omitted, and the decimal fraction shall be divided from the integer par by the decimal sign specified in ISO 31-0: ie the comma [,] or full stop [.]. Of these, the comma is the preferred sign. If the magnitude of the number is less than unity, the decimal sign shall be preceded by a zero (see ISO 31-0). The number of digits in the decimal fraction shall be determined by the interchange parties, dependent upon the application. The format shall be [hhmmss,s], [hhmm,m] or [hh,h] as appropriate (hour minute second, hour minute and hour, respectively), with as many digits as necessary following the decimal sign. If the extended format is required, separators may be included in the decimal representation when the complete representation is used, or when it is reduced by omission of [ss,s] ... Example: 23:20:50,5 ... 5.3.3 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) To express the time of the day in Coordinated Universal Time, the representations specified in 5.3.1 shall be used, followed immediately, without spaces, by the time-zone designator [Z]. The examples below are complete and reduced precision representations of the UTC time 20 minutes and 30 seconds past 23 hours: ... Example: 23:20:30Z ... 5.4.1 Complete Representation The components of an instant of time shall be written in the following sequence: a) For calendar dates: year-month-day-time designator-hour-minute-second b) For ordinal dates: year-day-time designator-hour-minute-second c) For dates identified by week and day numbers: year-week designator-week-day-time designator-hour-minute-second The character [T] shall be used as time designator to indicate the start of the representation of date time of day in combined date and time of day expressions. The hyphen [-] and the colon [:] shall be used, in accordance with 4.4, as separators within the date and time of the day expressions respectively, when required. When any of the date or time components are omitted, the time designator shall always precede the remaining time of day components. ... From owner-fitsbits at marmoset.cv.nrao.edu Tue Nov 26 14:14:32 1996 Received: (from majdom at localhost) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.7.6/8.7.3: $Revision:$) id OAA04887; Tue, 26 Nov 1996 14:13:50 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.3/$Revision: 2.10 $) with ESMTP id LAA09545; Sun, 24 Nov 1996 11:57:42 -0500 Received: from solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (news at solitaire.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.79]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.3/8.8.0/CV-2.2) with SMTP id LAA07129 for ; Sun, 24 Nov 1996 11:57:38 -0500 (EST) Received: by solitaire.cv.nrao.edu (4.1/DDN-CV/1.10) id AA15425; Sun, 24 Nov 96 11:57:36 EST To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Date: 21 Nov 1996 16:32:35 GMT From: thompson at orpheus.nascom.nasa.gov (William Thompson) Message-Id: <572073$neb at post.gsfc.nasa.gov> Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center -- Greenbelt, Maryland USA Path: solitaire.cv.nrao.edu!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!uunet!in1.uu.net!news.sprintlink.net!news-peer.sprintlink.net!howland.erols.net!peerfeed.internetmci.com!msfc!news.msfc.nasa.gov!centauri.hq.nasa.gov!newsfeed.gsfc.nasa.gov!orpheus.nascom.nasa.gov!thompson References: <3291E6B6.3B0B at ast.cam.ac.uk> Subject: Re: DATE-OBS and the millennium; the proposal. Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits Sender: owner-fitsbits at marmoset.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk Works for me. Bill Thompson From owner-fitsbits at marmoset.cv.nrao.edu Tue Nov 26 14:14:53 1996 Received: (from majdom at localhost) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.7.6/8.7.3: $Revision:$) id OAA04894; Tue, 26 Nov 1996 14:14:11 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by tarsier.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.3/$Revision: 2.10 $) with ESMTP id RAA02593; Fri, 22 Nov 1996 17:07:51 -0500 Received: (from dwells at localhost) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.3/8.8.0/CV-2.2) id RAA04204; Fri, 22 Nov 1996 17:07:48 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <199611222207.RAA04204 at fits.cv.nrao.edu> To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Subject: [Fwd: Sources of FITS Information] From: bschlesinger at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (Barry M. Schlesinger) Date: 21 Nov 1996 10:01 EDT Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center -- Greenbelt, Maryland USA Expires: 17 Dec 1996 19:00 EST Sender: owner-fitsbits at marmoset.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk [This message was originally posted to newsgroup sci.astro.fits but was not gateway-ed to the fitsbits Email exploder. -Don Wells] 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 marmoset.cv.nrao.edu Tue Nov 26 14:56:09 1996 Received: (from majdom at localhost) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.7.6/8.7.3: $Revision:$) id OAA05077; Tue, 26 Nov 1996 14:55:27 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.7.6/8.7.3: $Revision:$) with ESMTP id OAA05031; Tue, 26 Nov 1996 14:38:19 -0500 Received: from cv3.cv.nrao.edu (cv3.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.2]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.3/8.8.0/CV-2.2) with ESMTP id OAA15137 for ; Tue, 26 Nov 1996 14:38:10 -0500 (EST) Received: from arupa.gsfc.nasa.gov (arupa.gsfc.nasa.gov [128.183.127.166]) by cv3.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.3/8.8.0/CV-2.3) with ESMTP id OAA17031 for ; Tue, 26 Nov 1996 14:38:07 -0500 (EST) Received: from [128.183.127.175] (ingham.gsfc.nasa.gov [128.183.127.175]) by arupa.gsfc.nasa.gov (8.8.3/8.8.3) with SMTP id OAA19407; Tue, 26 Nov 1996 14:33:17 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <199611261933.OAA19407 at arupa.gsfc.nasa.gov> Subject: Re: cfitsio - not opening FITS file Date: Tue, 26 Nov 96 14:32:47 -0500 x-mailer: Claris Emailer 1.1 From: "Bruce O'Neel" To: "James Adams" , cc: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Sender: owner-fitsbits at marmoset.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk > > I am attempting to use cfitsio to read FITS images and convert them to >our in-house image format for processing. I have coded and compiled a >program which opens a FITS file and then reads its image data. I am >running into trouble as soon as I attempt to open the FITS file (which >has correct permissions set). The status returned by the >fits_open_file() routine is indecipherable ( status == 260934144 ) and >produces no error message on the error message stack, so I'm clueless as >to where the problem lies. > > I am running on an SGI, IRIX 5.3. I am compiling using SGI's native >C++ compiler (is the problem that I am using these routines with C++ >instead of plain C ?) > Hi, Clive Page is correct. Try changing your code to //--------------------------------------------------------------------- Boolean nrifFrame::readFromFITSFile (const char *fits_name) { // local variables fitsfile *fptr;  int status = 0; // ^^^ // That was the change // open the FITS file if (fits_open_file (&fptr, fits_name, READONLY, &status)) { return Error ("Unable to open FITS file"); } ........ //--------------------------------------------------------------------- should fix your problem. Bruce Aspiring to be the junior vice president of water cooler refilling [partially from Dan Meriwether]