From wgas@Hypatia.gsfc.nasa.gov Thu Mar 5 17:50:14 1992 Status: RO X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil] ["4036" "Thu" "5" "March" "92" "17:44:55" "-0500" "William Thompson" "thompson@serts.gsfc.nasa.gov " nil "98" "FITS binary table software for IDL" "^From:" nil nil "3"]) Return-Path: Received: from cv3.cv.nrao.edu by fits.cx.nrao.edu (4.1/SMI-DDN) id AA00950; Thu, 5 Mar 92 17:50:11 EST Received: from Hypatia.gsfc.nasa.gov by cv3.cv.nrao.edu (4.1/DDN-DLB/1.12) id AA11529; Thu, 5 Mar 92 17:47:44 EST Received: from localhost.gsfc.nasa.gov by Hypatia.gsfc.nasa.gov (911016.SGI/1.35) id AA19581; Thu, 5 Mar 92 17:44:55 -0500 Message-Id: <9203052236.AA00296@serts.gsfc.nasa.gov.gsfc.nasa.gov> Comment: AAS Working Group for Astronomical Software Originator: wgas@hypatia.gsfc.nasa.gov Errors-To: leb@Hypatia.gsfc.nasa.gov Reply-To: Version: 5.4 -- Copyright (c) 1991/92, Anastasios Kotsikonas From: thompson@serts.gsfc.nasa.gov (William Thompson) Sender: wgas@Hypatia.gsfc.nasa.gov To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: FITS binary table software for IDL Date: Thu, 5 Mar 92 17:44:55 -0500 FITS BINARY TABLE SOFTWARE FOR IDL ================================== This is to announce the availability of FITS binary table I/O software for use with the language IDL. This software is being provided as part of the IDL Astronomy User's Library, of which more information is discussed below. IDL itself is a commercial product available from Research Systems, Inc. 777 29th Street, Suite 302 Boulder, CO 80303 (303) 786-9900 This software, written using the IDL language, supports the binary table extension as described in "Binary Table Extension to FITS: A Proposal", by W. D. Cotton, and D. Tody, which can also be found in the latest version of the "NOST FITS Implementation Draft Standard". In particular, the software supports the following: * The "Multidimensional Array Convention" (the TDIMn keywords) from Appendix A of Cotton and Tody, for storing multidimensional arrays. * The "Variable Length Array Facility" from Appendix B of Cotton and Tody, for storing arrays of varying length. * IEEE Not-A-Number (NaN) special values for signalling data dropouts in floating point arrays. However, other IEEE special values are not currently supported. Following is the documentation that tells you how to access software from the IDL Astronomy User's Library. Note that the binary table software is located in the subdirectory [IDLUSER.PRO.FITS_BINTABLE]. Look at the files AAAREADME.TXT and the LaTeX document SAMPLE.DOC in that directory for more information. Questions on the binary table software should be directed to: William Thompson STARS::THOMPSON thompson@stars.gsfc.nasa.gov (301)-286-2040 =============================================================================== THE IDL ASTRONOMY USER'S LIBRARY ================================ (January 1992) The IDL Astronomy Users Library is a central repository for general purpose astronomy procedures written in IDL. The library currently contains 300+ procedures including general FITS I/O, interfaces with STSDAS and IRAF, astronomical utilities, and photometry and spectral analysis procedures. The library is not meant to be an integrated package, but rather is a collection of procedures from which users can pick and choose (and possibly modify) for their own use. Submitted procedures are given a cursory testing, but are basically stored in the library as submitted. Funding for the IDL Astronomy User's Library began May 15, 1990 under the NASA Astrophysics Software Aids program. The library is available on both a SUN SparcStation accessible via anonymous FTP, and on VAX 750 account accessible via SPAN or FTP. The procedures are basically identical in both locations. However, the VMS location alone includes IDL VMS Version 1 procedures, and a VAX text library version of all the procedures. The UNIX location alone includes a tar file version of all the procedures. The success of the IDL Astronomy User's Library will depend upon the willingness of users to give as well as take. Submission of relevant procedures is strongly encouraged. Equally important is the notification (or correction) of programming bugs or documentation errors. Questions about the IDL Astronomy Library can be addressed to Wayne Landsman landsman@stars.gsfc.nasa.gov (301) - 286 - 3625 ************************************************************ VMS Access: DECNET users can access the [IDLUSER] account via DECNET on node UIT (15384), from the directory UIT::$1$DUA5:[IDLUSER] or 15384::$1$DUA5:[IDLUSER] and subsequent subdirectories. See the AAAREADME.TXT file for more information. ************************************************************* UNIX Access: Anonymous ftp is available via ftp idlastro.gsfc.nasa.gov (128.183.57.82) Username: anonymous Password: (Put anything here) See the README file for more information.