From owner-fitsbits Mon Nov 3 13:03:05 1997 Received: (from majordom at localhost) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) id NAA27936 for fitsbits-spinner; Mon, 3 Nov 1997 13:03:05 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id NAA27933 for ; Mon, 3 Nov 1997 13:03:02 -0500 Received: (from dwells at localhost) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.0/CV-2.2) id NAA03490 for fitsbits at majordomo.cv.nrao.edu; Mon, 3 Nov 1997 13:03:01 -0500 (EST) Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id MAA27885 for ; Mon, 3 Nov 1997 12:57:31 -0500 Received: from newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu (newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.17]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.0/CV-2.2) with ESMTP id MAA03458 for ; Mon, 3 Nov 1997 12:57:30 -0500 (EST) Received: (from news at localhost) by newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) id MAA25542; Mon, 3 Nov 1997 12:57:28 -0500 To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Date: 3 Nov 1997 12:15 EDT From: bschlesinger at ndadsb-f.gsfc.nasa.gov (Barry M. Schlesinger) Message-ID: <3NOV199712154392 at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov> Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center -- Greenbelt, Maryland USA Path: newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu!newsgate.duke.edu!nntprelay.mathworks.com!newsfeed.direct.ca!newshub1.home.com!news.home.com!nick.arc.nasa.gov!newsfeed.gsfc.nasa.gov!nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov!bschlesinger Reply-To: fits at nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov Subject: ANNOUNCE: Superseded FITS Basics and Information discontinued Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits Sender: owner-fitsbits at marmoset.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk As already announced, the FITS Basics and Information Web page and text file have been replaced by four separate Web pages: A Brief Introduction to the Flexible Image Transport System (FITS) FITS Documents Software and Sample Data On-line Sources of FITS Information Since the new pages became available, the FITS Basics and Information has not been updated; only the new pages have been maintained. As of this announcement, the FITS Basics and Information files will be replaced by directions to the FITS Support Office World Wide Web pages, for the benefit of those who arrive there by way of obsolete links. Barry Schlesinger FITS Support Office GSFC/ADF From owner-fitsbits Mon Nov 3 13:02:40 1997 Received: (from majordom at localhost) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) id NAA27928 for fitsbits-spinner; Mon, 3 Nov 1997 13:02:40 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id NAA27925 for ; Mon, 3 Nov 1997 13:02:36 -0500 Received: (from dwells at localhost) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.0/CV-2.2) id NAA03480 for fitsbits at majordomo.cv.nrao.edu; Mon, 3 Nov 1997 13:02:35 -0500 (EST) Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id MAA27883 for ; Mon, 3 Nov 1997 12:57:31 -0500 Received: from newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu (newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.17]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.0/CV-2.2) with ESMTP id MAA03457 for ; Mon, 3 Nov 1997 12:57:30 -0500 (EST) Received: (from news at localhost) by newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) id MAA25543; Mon, 3 Nov 1997 12:57:28 -0500 To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Date: 3 Nov 1997 12:12 EDT From: bschlesinger at ndadsb-f.gsfc.nasa.gov (Barry M. Schlesinger) Message-ID: <3NOV199712123800 at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov> Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center -- Greenbelt, Maryland USA Path: newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu!newsgate.duke.edu!nntprelay.mathworks.com!newsfeed.direct.ca!newshub1.home.com!news.home.com!nick.arc.nasa.gov!newsfeed.gsfc.nasa.gov!nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov!bschlesinger Reply-To: fits at nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov Subject: ANNOUNCE: Only one URL for FITS Support Office ftp files Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits Sender: owner-fitsbits at marmoset.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk As a result of changes in the hardware at SSDOO, the only copy of the FITS ftp files that will be maintained in the future will be that at ftp://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/fits/ ; there will no longer be a copy at nssdca.gsfc.nasa gov. The FITS Support Office World Wide Web pages at http://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/ are unaffected by this change and can be used to access all FITS Support Office material. Barry Schlesinger FITS Support Office GSFC/ADF From owner-fitsbits Sun Nov 9 21:55:51 1997 Received: (from majordom at localhost) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) id VAA17453 for fitsbits-spinner; Sun, 9 Nov 1997 21:55:51 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id VAA17450 for ; Sun, 9 Nov 1997 21:55:48 -0500 Received: (from dwells at localhost) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.0/CV-2.2) id VAA04451 for fitsbits at majordomo.cv.nrao.edu; Sun, 9 Nov 1997 21:55:47 -0500 (EST) Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id HAA02989 for ; Fri, 7 Nov 1997 07:03:58 -0500 Received: from newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu (newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.17]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.0/CV-2.2) with ESMTP id HAA01094 for ; Fri, 7 Nov 1997 07:03:54 -0500 (EST) Received: (from news at localhost) by newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) id HAA03255; Fri, 7 Nov 1997 07:03:51 -0500 To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Date: 07 Nov 1997 12:00:55 +0100 From: gvacanti at estsa2.estec.esa.nl (Giuseppe Vacanti) Message-ID: Organization: European Space Agency Path: newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!uunet!in4.uu.net!EU.net!sun4nl!193.67.144.10.MISMATCH!news.iaf.nl!Zwolle.NL.net!Leiden.NL.net!esa.nl!locker Subject: A question about the standard Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits Sender: owner-fitsbits at marmoset.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk Greetings. I have a question about the FITS standard that I haven't been able to address by reading NOST 100-1.1. 4.3.1 says that in the header of a primary HDU card imnages without information shall be filled with ASCII blanks. 5.1.1 (syntax of card images) says that header (any header I suppose) card images shall consist of key word (mandatory I suppose), optional value, and optional comment. Now my question is: is it legal to have (before the END key word) a card image filled with blanks? I have this problem in the header of a binary table extension. Trying to answer this question I noted that FTOOLS's fverify says the file is ok, FTOOLS's fv cannot display the extension containing such cards (but it doesn't complain), CFITSIO reports an error (202=key word does not exist), FTOOLS's fdump will gladly show the header. So I'm getting mixed replies from the software. Would anybody care to comment on this problem? Thanks. Giuseppe Vacanti From owner-fitsbits Sun Nov 9 21:59:09 1997 Received: (from majordom at localhost) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) id VAA17485 for fitsbits-spinner; Sun, 9 Nov 1997 21:59:09 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id VAA17482 for ; Sun, 9 Nov 1997 21:59:06 -0500 Received: (from dwells at localhost) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.0/CV-2.2) id VAA04461 for fitsbits at majordomo.cv.nrao.edu; Sun, 9 Nov 1997 21:59:05 -0500 (EST) Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id PAA04666 for ; Fri, 7 Nov 1997 15:27:29 -0500 Received: from newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu (newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.17]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.0/CV-2.2) with ESMTP id PAA01597 for ; Fri, 7 Nov 1997 15:27:28 -0500 (EST) Received: (from news at localhost) by newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) id PAA27309; Fri, 7 Nov 1997 15:27:27 -0500 To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Date: 7 Nov 1997 15:02 EDT From: bschlesinger at ndadsb-f.gsfc.nasa.gov (Barry M. Schlesinger) Message-ID: <7NOV199715020057 at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov> Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center -- Greenbelt, Maryland USA Path: newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu!newsgate.duke.edu!nntprelay.mathworks.com!news.sgi.com!nick.arc.nasa.gov!newsfeed.gsfc.nasa.gov!nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov!bschlesinger References: Reply-To: fits at nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov Subject: Re: A question about the standard Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits Sender: owner-fitsbits at marmoset.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk In article , gvacanti at astro.estec.esa.nl (Giuseppe Vacanti) writes... > >Greetings. > >I have a question about the FITS standard that I haven't been able to >address by reading NOST 100-1.1. > >4.3.1 says that in the header of a primary HDU card imnages without >information shall be filled with ASCII blanks. > >5.1.1 (syntax of card images) says that header (any header I suppose) >card images shall consist of key word (mandatory I suppose), optional >value, and optional comment. > >Now my question is: is it legal to have (before the END key word) a >card image filled with blanks? Yes. 5.2.2.4 (Commentary Keywords - Keyword Field is blank) addresses this question "Columns 9-80 may contain any ASCII text. Any number of card images with blank keyword fields may appear in the header." As is the case for the HISTORY and COMMENT keywords, a blank keyword field implies that the contents of columns 9-80 are to be treated as a comment. The comment may be blank, and if the keyword field is also blank, the entire card is blank. > >... in the header of a binary table extension. >... FTOOLS's fverify says the file is >ok, FTOOLS's fv cannot display the extension containing such cards >(but it doesn't complain), CFITSIO reports an error (202=key word does >not exist), FTOOLS's fdump will gladly show the header. > >So I'm getting mixed replies from the software. Would anybody care to >comment on this problem? > This question should be answered by the FTOOLS team. Barry Schlesinger FITS Support Office GSFC/ADF From owner-fitsbits Sun Nov 9 22:04:29 1997 Received: (from majordom at localhost) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) id WAA17528 for fitsbits-spinner; Sun, 9 Nov 1997 22:04:29 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id WAA17524 for ; Sun, 9 Nov 1997 22:04:26 -0500 Received: (from dwells at localhost) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.0/CV-2.2) id WAA04477 for fitsbits at majordomo.cv.nrao.edu; Sun, 9 Nov 1997 22:04:25 -0500 (EST) Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id PAA09889 for ; Sat, 8 Nov 1997 15:42:01 -0500 Received: from newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu (newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.17]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.0/CV-2.2) with ESMTP id PAA02850 for ; Sat, 8 Nov 1997 15:42:00 -0500 (EST) Received: (from news at localhost) by newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) id PAA28072; Sat, 8 Nov 1997 15:41:59 -0500 To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Date: Sat, 08 Nov 1997 15:31:45 -0800 From: Tom Perotti Message-ID: <3464F661.1AAF at ix.netcom.com> Organization: disorganized Path: newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu!newsgate.duke.edu!nntprelay.mathworks.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!206.214.99.1!ix.netcom.com!news Reply-To: tperotti at ix.netcom.com Subject: Index of Data (picture) sources Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits Sender: owner-fitsbits at marmoset.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk Is there a list of sources fo fits format pictures avaiable to amatures and the general public? If so where? thanks From owner-fitsbits Mon Nov 10 09:29:58 1997 Received: (from majordom at localhost) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) id JAA20283 for fitsbits-spinner; Mon, 10 Nov 1997 09:29:58 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id JAA20280 for ; Mon, 10 Nov 1997 09:29:47 -0500 Received: (from dwells at localhost) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.0/CV-2.2) id JAA05245 for fitsbits at majordomo.cv.nrao.edu; Mon, 10 Nov 1997 09:29:46 -0500 (EST) Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id HAA19751 for ; Mon, 10 Nov 1997 07:07:12 -0500 Received: from newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu (newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.17]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.0/CV-2.2) with ESMTP id HAA05038 for ; Mon, 10 Nov 1997 07:07:11 -0500 (EST) Received: (from news at localhost) by newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) id HAA05302; Mon, 10 Nov 1997 07:07:10 -0500 To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Date: 10 Nov 1997 11:54:01 -0000 From: Clive Page Message-ID: <646skp$i6u at owl.le.ac.uk> Organization: University of Leicester, UK Path: newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu!newsgate.duke.edu!nntprelay.mathworks.com!rill.news.pipex.net!pipex!join.news.pipex.net!pipex!server1.netnews.ja.net!warwick!leicester!leicester!not-for-mail References: Subject: Re: A question about the standard Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits Sender: owner-fitsbits at marmoset.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk In article , Giuseppe Vacanti wrote: >I have a question about the FITS standard that I haven't been able to >address by reading NOST 100-1.1. > [snip] > >Now my question is: is it legal to have (before the END key word) a >card image filled with blanks? > My version of document NOST 100-1.1 "Definition of the Flexible Image Transport System (FITS)" issued by GSFC says in section 5.2.2.4 entitled "Commentary Keywords", near the top of page 19: "Keyword field is blank: Columns 1-8 contain ASCII blanks. Columns 9-80 contain any ASCII text. Any number of card images with blank keywords may appear in a header" So if columns 1-8 are blank, the rest of the card image may contain anything, including all blanks, and is treated as a comment line. This seems clear enough to me. Lots of our FITS data files contain blank lines and fverify seems to think they are ok, and I have never had problems with them (up to now). But I'd welcome more authoritative comments... -- -- Clive Page, Dept of Physics & Astronomy, University of Leicester. From owner-fitsbits Tue Nov 11 16:25:02 1997 Received: (from majordom at localhost) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) id QAA27851 for fitsbits-spinner; Tue, 11 Nov 1997 16:25:02 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id QAA27845 for ; Tue, 11 Nov 1997 16:24:58 -0500 Received: (from dwells at localhost) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.0/CV-2.2) id QAA07769 for fitsbits at majordomo.cv.nrao.edu; Tue, 11 Nov 1997 16:24:58 -0500 (EST) Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id QAA27834 for ; Tue, 11 Nov 1997 16:23:53 -0500 Received: from newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu (newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.17]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.0/CV-2.2) with ESMTP id QAA07760 for ; Tue, 11 Nov 1997 16:23:52 -0500 (EST) Received: (from news at localhost) by newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) id QAA31354; Tue, 11 Nov 1997 16:23:51 -0500 To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Date: 11 Nov 1997 16:22:59 -0500 From: Don Wells Message-ID: Organization: nrao Path: newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu!not-for-mail Subject: FITS year-2000 DATExxxx agreement approved by IAU-FWG Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits,sci.astro,sci.astro.amateur Sender: owner-fitsbits at marmoset.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk Dear friends of FITS, I am pleased to announce that the IAU FITS Working Group has approved the final version of the FITS year-2000 DATExxxx agreement, which I append below. Please note section 7 ("Transition") in the text, in which the IAU-FWG recommends that "..readers should be altered as soon as possible to cope with the new format.." and "..FITS writers should commence writing the new format between 1999-01-01T00:00:00 and 2000-01-01T00:00:00." _All_ FITS reading and writing software must be examined and tested for conformance to these new rules in order to be prepared for full interchange of the new date syntax in 1999. Please circulate copies of this announcement widely, link HTML pages to URL http://www.cv.nrao.edu/fits/documents/standards/year2000.txt and please alert observatory and institute directors, department Chairs, managers of astronomical software groups, etc, to the need to implement this agreement systematically in order to maintain FITS interoperability. Regards, Don Wells (Chair, IAU FITS Working Group) 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 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- The following text was approved on 1997-11-10 by a formal vote of the IAU FITS Working Group, the body which controls the FITS standards under the authority of the International Astronomical Union. The rules specified below are now a part of the FITS standards. -Don Wells (Chair, IAU-FWG) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Precise re-definition of DATE-OBS Keyword encompassing the millennium Peter Bunclark 1996 Nov 19 Amended: Arnold Rots 1997-10-24T21:03:30 1) Introduction Although this document formally defines the format of the value field of the DATE-OBS keyword, the same format applies to the value field of all keywords beginning with the string "DATE" that have a value containing date, and optionally time, information. Known examples of such keywords, used in the exchange of date information, are DATE, DATE-OBS, DATE-END, and DATE-MAP. We shall refer to these keywords collectively as DATExxxx. 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 two digits; currently, digitized astronomical data span more than a century; and furthermore, 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 Three main issues are 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. 2.3) The specification of the time scales (time systems) used. 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 (only files created before this proposal went into effect) must be handled as special cases. 3.2) The new format is a restricted subset of ISO-8601, being one of two options: a) 'CCYY-MM-DD' b) 'CCYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss[.sss...]' represents a calendar year, the ordinal number of a calendar month within the calendar year, and
the ordinal number of a day within the calendar month. represents the hour in the day, the minutes, the seconds. The value of the integer part of the seconds field is normally in the range [0..59] but may take the value 60, if the time scale is UTC, to indicate a leap second. The literal 'T' is the ISO 8601 time designator. In the short form (a), there must not be any additional terminator/separator (such as T). In the long form, there must be a 'T' time designator between the date and the time. The decimal point character is an ASCII full-stop (hexadecimal value 0x2E). 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 strings 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) Henceforth, DATE-OBS shall be assumed to refer to the start of an observation. Other interpretations must be clearly explained in the comment field. 4.3) The default interpretation of all DATExxxx keywords shall use the Gregorian Calendar for the date portion. 4.4) The value of the DATExxxx keywords, with the exception of DATE (see section 5), shall be expressed in the principal time scale or time system of the HDU to which they belong. The default interpretation shall use UTC (for dates since 1972) or UT (for dates before 1972). If there is any chance of ambiguity as to which is the principal time scale, the choice shall be clarified in comments. 4.5) It is recommended that the time scale or time system be specified explicitly. However, implementors can be assured that the error resulting from ignoring the time scale specification and making the default assumption will not exceed 1000 s for the period 1001-01-01 through 3000-12-31. 4.6) By default, times will be deemed to be as measured at the detector (or in practical cases, at the observatory) for TAI and times that run synchronously with TAI (i.e., UTC and TT). In the case of coordinate times (such as TCG and TCB) and TDB which are tied to an unambiguous coordinate origin, the default meaning of time values will be: time as if the observation had taken place at the origin of the coordinate time system. These defaults follow common practice; a future convention on time scale issues in FITS files may allow other combinations but shall preserve this default behavior. 5) Use of the DATE keyword 5.1) The date-time string value of the DATE keyword indicates the creation time of the HDU. 5.2) The value of the DATE keyword shall always be expressed in UTC whenever the date-string format defined in this proposal is used, in all HDUs created on earth. 6) Examples Three legal representations of the date of October 14, 1996, are possible: DATE-OBS= '14/10/96' / Original format, means 1996 Oct 14. DATE-OBS= '1996-10-14' / Date of start of observation, by default UTC. DATE-OBS= '1996-10-14T10:14:36.123' / Date and time of start of obs. in UTC. 7) Transition FITS readers must continue to interpret the old format, as a twentieth century date (with the year "00" to be interpreted as "1900"), indefinitely. 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 revise their software, FITS writers should commence writing the new format between 1999-01-01T00:00:00 and 2000-01-01T00:00:00. FITS writing code which must be distributed and operated before 1999-01-01 should be coded to test the current year to decide whether to use the old date format or the new format. Cases of DATE-OBS before 1900-01-01 should always be written with the new format. A) Appendix: Suggested time scale specification [Note: this appendix is not part of the formal DATExxxx agreement] A.1) Use of the keyword TIMESYS is suggested as an implementation of the time scale specification. It sets the principal time system for time-related keywords and data in the HDU (i.e., it does not preclude the addition of keywords or data columns that provide information for transformations to other time scales, such as sidereal times or barycenter corrections). Each HDU shall contain not more than one TIMESYS keyword. Initially, officially allowed values are: UTC Coordinated Universal Time; defined since 1972. UT Universal Time, equal to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) since 1925; the UTC equivalent before 1972; see: Explanatory Supplement, p. 76. TAI International Atomic Time; "UTC without the leap seconds"; 31 s ahead of UTC on 1997-07-01. IAT International Atomic Time; deprecated synonym of TAI. ET Ephemeris Time, the predecessor of TT; valid until 1984. TT Terrestrial Time, the IAU standard time scale since 1984; continuous with ET and synchronous with (but 32.184 s ahead of) TAI. TDT Terrestrial Dynamical Time; =TT. TDB Barycentric Dynamical Time. TCG Geocentric Coordinate Time; runs ahead of TT since 1977-01-01 at a rate of approximately 22 ms/year. TCB Barycentric Coordinate Time; runs ahead of TDB since 1977-01-01 at a rate of approximately 0.5 s/year. For reference, see: Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac, P. K. Seidelmann, ed., University Science Books, 1992, ISBN 0-935702-68-7. http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/systime.html Use of GPS time (19 s behind TAI) is deprecated. A.2) By default, times will be deemed to be as measured at the detector (or in practical cases, at the observatory) for times that run synchronously with TAI (i.e., TAI, UTC, and TT). In the case of coordinate times (such as TCG and TCB) and TDB which are tied to an unambiguous coordinate origin, the default meaning of time values will be: time as if the observation had taken place at the origin of the coordinate time system. These defaults follow common practice; a future convention on time scale issues in FITS files may allow other combinations but shall preserve this default behavior. The rationale is that raw observational data are most likely to be tagged by a clock that is synchronized with TAI, while a transformation to coordinate times or TDB is usually accompanied by a spatial transformation, as well. This implies that path length differences have been corrected for. Note that the difference TDB-UTC, in that case, is approximately sinusoidal, with period one year and amplitude up to 500 s, depending on source position. Also, note that when the location is not unambiguous (such as in the case of an interferometer) precise specification of the location is strongly encouraged in, for instance, geocentric Cartesian coordinates. A.3) Note that "TT" is the IAU preferred standard. It may be considered equivalent to "TDT" and "ET", though "ET" should not be used for data taken after 1984. For reference, see: Explanatory Supplement, pp. 40-48. A.4) If the TIMESYS keyword is absent or has an unrecognized value, the value "UTC" will be assumed for dates since 1972, and "UT" for pre-1972 data. A.5) Examples The three legal representations of the date of October 14, 1996, from Section 6 might be written as: DATE-OBS= '14/10/96' / Original format, means 1996 Oct 14. TIMESYS = 'UTC ' / Explicit time scale specification: UTC. DATE-OBS= '1996-10-14' / Date of start of observation in UTC. DATE-OBS= '1996-10-14' / Date of start of observation, also in UTC. TIMESYS = 'TT ' / Explicit time scale specification: TT. DATE-OBS= '1996-10-14T10:14:36.123' / Date and time of start of obs. in TT. A.6) The convention suggested in this Appendix is part of the mission-specific FITS conventions adopted for, and used in, the RXTE archive, building on existing High Energy Astrophysics FITS conventions. See: http://legacy.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/xte/abc/time_tutorial.html http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/xte/abc/time.html The VLBA project has adopted a convention where the keyword TIMSYS, rather than TIMESYS, is used, currently allowing the values UTC and IAT. See p.9 and p.16 of: http://www.cv.nrao.edu/fits/documents/drafts/vlba_format.ps From owner-fitsbits Thu Nov 13 17:10:58 1997 Received: (from majordom at localhost) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) id RAA01643 for fitsbits-spinner; Thu, 13 Nov 1997 17:10:58 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id RAA01640 for ; Thu, 13 Nov 1997 17:10:55 -0500 Received: (from dwells at localhost) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.0/CV-2.2) id RAA12059 for fitsbits at majordomo.cv.nrao.edu; Thu, 13 Nov 1997 17:10:54 -0500 (EST) Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id QAA01554 for ; Thu, 13 Nov 1997 16:49:58 -0500 Received: from palantir.cv.nrao.edu (tismail at palantir.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.254]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.0/CV-2.2) with ESMTP id QAA12023 for ; Thu, 13 Nov 1997 16:49:57 -0500 (EST) Received: (from tismail at localhost) by palantir.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) id QAA03317 for ; Thu, 13 Nov 1997 16:49:56 -0500 Received: from wheelo.gsfc.nasa.gov(128.183.50.20) by palantir.cv.nrao.edu via smap (V1.3) id sma003313; Thu Nov 13 16:49:37 1997 Received: from tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov (tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov [128.183.127.109]) by wheelo.gsfc.nasa.gov (8.8.5/8.8.4) with SMTP id QAA00839 for ; Thu, 13 Nov 1997 16:46:33 -0500 (EST) Received: by tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov (SMI-8.6/SMI-SVR4) id QAA27085; Thu, 13 Nov 1997 16:46:29 -0500 Date: Thu, 13 Nov 1997 16:46:29 -0500 From: pence at tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov (William Pence) Message-Id: <199711132146.QAA27085 at tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov> To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Subject: Re: A question about the standard Cc: pence at tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov X-Sun-Charset: US-ASCII Sender: owner-fitsbits at marmoset.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk Giuseppe Vacanti wrote: > Now my question is: is it legal to have (before the END key word) a > card image filled with blanks? > > I have this problem in the header of a binary table extension. Trying > to answer this question I noted that FTOOLS's fverify says the file is > ok, FTOOLS's fv cannot display the extension containing such cards > (but it doesn't complain), CFITSIO reports an error (202=key word does > not exist), FTOOLS's fdump will gladly show the header. Clive Page sent me a FITS file with this problem and it turned out not to be related to the blank keywords, but instead due to the following TDISPn keywords: TDISP3 = 'f8.4 ' / display format TDISP7 = 'i8 ' / display format The fv program requires that the Fortran display format be given only in upper case (e.g., 'F8.4' and 'I8') as is implied by the definition of the TDISPn keyword in the Binary Tables Extension FITS paper. We plan to change fv to be more lenient and allow lowercase format characters in the TDISPn keywords, but the question remains whether this is really legal. Fortran-90 (and Fortran-77) allow lowercase format descriptors, but the Binary Table definition document specifically lists only uppercase format characters. What say other FITS experts on whether lowercase TDISPn values are legal? -Bill Pence NASA/GSFC p.s. I was unable to reproduce the error=202 in CFITSIO, so I suspect that it is unrelated to this TDISP issue. From owner-fitsbits Fri Nov 14 11:55:54 1997 Received: (from majordom at localhost) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) id LAA06684 for fitsbits-spinner; Fri, 14 Nov 1997 11:55:54 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id LAA06681 for ; Fri, 14 Nov 1997 11:55:51 -0500 Received: (from dwells at localhost) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.0/CV-2.2) id LAA13790 for fitsbits at majordomo.cv.nrao.edu; Fri, 14 Nov 1997 11:55:50 -0500 (EST) Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id LAA06660 for ; Fri, 14 Nov 1997 11:52:11 -0500 Received: from palantir.cv.nrao.edu (tismail at palantir.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.254]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.0/CV-2.2) with ESMTP id LAA13780 for ; Fri, 14 Nov 1997 11:52:10 -0500 (EST) Received: (from tismail at localhost) by palantir.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) id LAA00745 for ; Fri, 14 Nov 1997 11:52:08 -0500 Received: from silk.gsfc.nasa.gov(128.183.127.210) by palantir.cv.nrao.edu via smap (V1.3) id sma000738; Fri Nov 14 11:51:56 1997 Received: by silk.gsfc.nasa.gov; id AA22170; Fri, 14 Nov 1997 11:57:00 -0500 Message-Id: <346C82DB.52BF at silk.gsfc.nasa.gov> Date: Fri, 14 Nov 1997 11:56:59 -0500 From: "Thomas A. McGlynn" Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/USRA X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0 (X11; I; OSF1 V3.2 alpha) Mime-Version: 1.0 To: William Pence Cc: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Subject: Further questions about the standard References: <199711132146.QAA27085 at tetra.gsfc.nasa.gov> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-fitsbits at marmoset.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk In response to Bill's question about lower case values from the TDISPn keywords: I agree with hime that the standard requires uppercase but I suppose readers can do whatever they want with non-standard files. However, I think there is a problem with another clearly stated rule for FITS that only the first 8 characters of a character string value can be significant in decoding the values in the FITS file. I believe the following two columns for a binary table are illegal. TFORM1 = '16000000B' TDIMS1 = '(4000,4000)' TFORM2 = '1000I' TDIMS2 = '(10,10,10)' In the first case both the TFORM and TDIMS keyword are invalid while in the second only the TDIMS is too long. The first row might be a little unusual, but is certainly feasible with current detectors. The second is rather common. I think that FITS binary tables need to support columns like these. Am I right that they are illegal? If so what should be about this? Regards, Tom McGlynn tam at silk.gsfc.nasa.gov P.S., On an unrelated topic, I've been revising Java FITS classes. I'd be curious to know if there are any forseeable needs for FITS to support long (i.e., 8 byte) integers now that this data type is becoming more commonly available. From owner-fitsbits Tue Nov 25 14:33:19 1997 Received: (from majordom at localhost) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) id OAA08923 for fitsbits-spinner; Tue, 25 Nov 1997 14:33:19 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id OAA08920 for ; Tue, 25 Nov 1997 14:33:15 -0500 Received: (from dwells at localhost) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.0/CV-2.2) id OAA01335 for fitsbits at majordomo.cv.nrao.edu; Tue, 25 Nov 1997 14:33:14 -0500 (EST) Received: from cv3.cv.nrao.edu (cv3.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.2]) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id NAA08621 for ; Tue, 25 Nov 1997 13:10:51 -0500 Received: from palantir.cv.nrao.edu (tismail at palantir.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.254]) by cv3.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5/CV-2.7) with ESMTP id NAA10447 for ; Tue, 25 Nov 1997 13:10:43 -0500 (EST) Received: (from tismail at localhost) by palantir.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) id NAA00089 for ; Tue, 25 Nov 1997 13:10:40 -0500 Received: from xebec.gsfc.nasa.gov(128.183.126.205) by palantir.cv.nrao.edu via smap (V1.3) id sma032506; Tue Nov 25 13:10:00 1997 Received: (from arots at localhost) by xebec.gsfc.nasa.gov (LHEA9504/950407.s1) id NAA05525; Tue, 25 Nov 1997 13:08:10 -0500 From: Arnold Rots Message-Id: <199711251808.NAA05525 at xebec.gsfc.nasa.gov> Subject: JPL DE200 and DE405 in FITS; Barycenter Code To: fitsbits at nrao.edu, heafits at olegacy.gsfc.nasa.gov, ems at smyles.jpl.nasa.gov, djt at bartok.gsfc.nasa.gov, pulsar at puppsr12.Princeton.EDU, psrnews at physics.usyd.edu.au Date: Tue, 25 Nov 1997 13:08:09 -0500 (EST) Cc: xtegof-l at xebec.gsfc.nasa.gov, pks at spica.usno.navy.mil, rsinha at nesdis.noaa.gov (Ramesh Sinha), rmanches at atnf.csiro.au (Dick Manchester), vicky at space.mit.edu (Vicky Kaspi), agl at jb.man.ac.uk (Andrew Lyne), keith at xebec.gsfc.nasa.gov (Keith Jahoda) 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 marmoset.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk This is the announcement of the release of a FITS version of the JPL DE200 and DE405 solar system ephemerides, and an ANSI-C software package to access these ephemerides and calculate barycenter corrections. The package was developed for the RXTE mission, but written in such a way that, where necssary, mission-dependent functions can be plugged in for other space missions, as well as for ground-based observatories. I would like to emphasize that the FITS versions contain the full DE ephemeris data (i.e., all planets) and use the original Chebyshev polynomials. This summer, the new JPL DE405 solar system ephemeris was released. That seemed a good reason to revamp XTE's barycenter correction code and make it fully generic. It would be good if the astronomical community were to switch over to DE405 and I hope that making this code available will further that cause. In order to distinguish which planetary ephemeris (if any) has been used to create a particular FITS file, I have adopted a convention using the existing FITS keyword RADECSYS and the new keyword PLEPHEM. DE200 is indicated by: RADECSYS= 'FK5' PLEPHEM = 'JPL-DE200' DE405 is indicated by: RADECSYS= 'ICRS' PLEPHEM = 'JPL-DE405' In addition, the TIMESYS keyword, as defined in the Appendix to the FITS Year-2000 resolution, is used. The package may be obtained from: ftp://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/xte/calib_data/clock/bary This directory contains a 00README and a gzipped tar file. Appended below is the introduction of the 00README file. The package requires the HEASARC's cfitsio library. - Arnold Rots NASA/GSFC - USRA arots at xebec.gsfc.nasa.gov XTE-GOF Code 660.2 GSFC Greenbelt, MD 20771 -------------------------------------------------------------- BARY $Id: 00README,v 2.0 1997/11/25 14:56:24 arots Exp arots $ Arnold Rots USRA 25 November 1997 A package containing: - the JPL DE200 and DE405 ephemerides (full Chebyshev polynomials) in FITS format; - ANSI standard C code to access those ephemerides; - new barycenter correction code that can use either ephemeris and starts from any of these time systems: UTC, ET, TT, TCG, TAI; - a phase binner that bins photon events in absolute phase, using the Princeton radio pulsar database (format); - a utility, baryFase, that calculates barycenter corrections and (optionally) absolute phase for any time and celestial position. One should be aware that the JPL ephemeris, as distributed in "Unix" format, are really IEEE; hence, those files will work just fine on, say, a Sparc station, but will cause trouble on Alphas and Intel machines. The FITS format circumvents this problem. Although the application is for barycenter corrections, the dpleph version distributed as part of this package will allow retrieval of positions for all members of the solar system contained in the JPL DE ephemerides. The barycenter package is geared toward space missions and detects the identity of the mission through the TELESCOP or MISSION keywords in the FITS headers. However, it will be easy to include ground-based observatories by inserting an appropriate geographic position function for the "orbit ephemeris". Indeed, the currently supported "missions" are XTE and the Geocenter. This directory contains the following files: 00README This file JPLEPH.200 FITS version of the JPL DE200 lunar and planetary ephemeris for 1950-2050 JPLEPH.405 FITS version of the JPL DE405 lunar and planetary ephemeris for 1950-2050 JPLEPH Symbolic link to the default ephemeris dpleph.c Functions to access the JPL ephemeris bary.c General utilities and functions to calculate barycenter corrections ctatv.c Function to calculate TDB - TT baryFase.c Utility to calculate individual barycenter corrections and phase phaseHist.c Phase binner function: bins events in energy and absolute phase according to timing ephemeris faseBin.c The phase binner main function, or wrapper, for phaseHist bary.h Header file required by all xCC.c XTE clock correction function bineph2fits.c Utility to convert ephemerides to FITS From owner-fitsbits Sun Nov 30 16:30:48 1997 Received: (from majordom at localhost) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) id QAA04967 for fitsbits-spinner; Sun, 30 Nov 1997 16:30:48 -0500 Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id QAA04964 for ; Sun, 30 Nov 1997 16:30:45 -0500 Received: (from dwells at localhost) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.0/CV-2.2) id QAA08013 for fitsbits at majordomo.cv.nrao.edu; Sun, 30 Nov 1997 16:30:44 -0500 (EST) Received: from fits.cv.nrao.edu (fits.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.8]) by marmoset.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id AAA00009 for ; Sun, 30 Nov 1997 00:20:06 -0500 Received: from newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu (newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu [192.33.115.17]) by fits.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.0/CV-2.2) with ESMTP id AAA07319 for ; Sun, 30 Nov 1997 00:20:05 -0500 (EST) Received: (from news at localhost) by newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) id AAA19185; Sun, 30 Nov 1997 00:20:04 -0500 To: fitsbits at fits.cv.nrao.edu Date: 26 Nov 1997 09:08 EDT From: bschlesinger at ndadsb-f.gsfc.nasa.gov (Barry M. Schlesinger) Message-ID: <26NOV199709080896 at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov> Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center -- Greenbelt, Maryland USA Path: newsfeed.cv.nrao.edu!newsgate.duke.edu!nntprelay.mathworks.com!logbridge.uoregon.edu!su-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!su-news-feed4.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!coop.net!cs.umd.edu!newsfeed.gsfc.nasa.gov!nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov!bschlesinger Reply-To: fits at ndadsb-f.gsfc.nasa.gov Subject: Sources of FITS Information Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits,sci.sci.answers,news.answers Sender: owner-fitsbits at marmoset.cv.nrao.edu Precedence: bulk Archive-name: astronomy/fits/info-sources Last-modified: 1997/11/25 -------- 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 via http://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/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 (often) ASCII text o "A User's Guide to FITS", published by the FITS Support Office, in LaTeX, uncompressed PostScript, and gzipped PostScript o Revisions to version 1.0 of the "Definition of FITS" covering the specification of units, which 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) o The new format for DATExxxx keyword values endorsed by the IAUFWG, which provides for a four digit year, thus eliminating the year 2000 ambiguity of the old format, and for both date and time. (text) In the same directory as fits_home.html and accessible from it are four files that contain an update and expansion of the information that used to be in the FITS Basics and Information: o fits_intro.html: An overview of FITS o documents.html: A discussion of FITS documents o software.html: A discussion of software packages that support FITS, including FITS->image converters for various platforms, and a list of sample FITS files o info_sources.html: A discussion of on-line FITS resources Links are provided to many of the documents, software, and network locations listed. This FITS Support Office on-line material is continually revised to reflect current FITS developments. The file whats_new.html contains an outline of the most recent changes in the FITS Support Office Web pages and other developments in the world of FITS. There is also a hypertext version of the List of Registered Extensions. Links from the Web software page and a subdirectories of the main 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 ftp://fits.cv.nrao.edu/fits/wais-sources/nrao-fits.src. Some of the more noteworthy materials in this archive are o Text of any detailed proposals currently being discussed by the FITS committees o Drafts of other formally proposed additions to the FITS standard and of potential future proposals 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 are also the FTOOLS collection of software tools, the VERIFITS FITS conformance verifier, and the fv FITS file viewer and editor. 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: +1-301-286-2899 The FITS Support Office is operated under the guidance of the NASA/GSFC Astrophysics Data Facility.