COMMISSION 5: DOCUMENTATION AND ASTRONOMICAL DATA

PRESIDENT:            G. A. Wilkens
VICE-PRESIDENT:       B. Hauck
ORGANISING COMMITTEE: O. B. Dluzhnevskaya, W. D. Heintz, C. O. Jaschek,
                      P. Lantos, S. Mitton, F. Spite, P. A. Wayman,
		      G. Westerhout, C. E. Worley
		      
REPORT BY THE PRESIDENT FOR THE PERIOD 1985 DECEMBER 1 to 1987 October 30

    The aims of this report are, firstly, to review the activities of 
Commission 5 during the period since the IAU General Assembly in Delhi in
November 1985 and, secondly, to draw attention to other relevant activities.  It
is based mainly on contributions from the Chairmen of the working groups and
other members of the Commission, but it also includes some items of general 
interest that have been taken from the Commission's Newsletter.  The Working
Groups and their Chairmen are as follows:

            Astronomical Data          G. Westerhout
	    Designations              C.O. Jaschek
	    Classification             P. Lantos
	    Abstracting Guidelines     L.D. Schmadel


[9 non-relevant paragraphs omitted.]

FITS Task Force

    The FITS Task Force was created by the Working Group on Astronomical Data
during the IAU General Assembly in 1982, when the FITS tape format was
recommended for the interchange of image data between observatories. The two
main functions of the Task Force are: (1) to channel comments and suggestions on
the use of FITS for the interchange of data, and (2) to investigate the 
extension of FITS for use in the exchange of catalogues.  The FITS Task Force
consists at present of: P. Grosbol (ESO, Chairman), F. Ochsenbein (ESO), W. H.
Warren (NASA), and D. Wells (NRAO).

    A European FITS Committee was created with members from major institutes in
most European countries to act as a local forum for discussions of FITS matters.
After extensive tests, a proposal for a Generalized Extension of FITS including
a Table Extension was finalized and presented to the AAS-WGAS FITS Group and to
the European FITS Committee; both groups accepted the proposal.  The final text
of the proposal was accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Supplement Series.  The Task Force also made a proposal for the physical
blocking of FITS data files to improve efficiency, while maintaining the logical
blocksize of 2880 bytes; it allows a blocking factor of 1 to 10 on nine-track
magnetic tapes.  This proposal was also accepted, and both came into use from 1
January 1987.

    An electronic mailbox for FITS was set up at NRAO by D Wells.  It is
accessible from all major computer networks and will distribute mail messages to
all major institutes using FITS.  It enables a faster and more general
discussion of the FITS standard in the community.


Reference: Transactions of the International Astronomical Union, Vol. XXA (1988),
Reports on Astronomy, pp. 7-9.