Subject: Teaching NCSA Mosaic to view FITS images



NCSA Mosaic can be taught to view datatypes other than those commonly sent over
the WWW.  In particular, it can be taught how to view FITS images.  The
procedures and protocols are described in
    http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Mosaic/Docs/d2-multimedia.html
and they use the standard Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME)
mechanisms.  (The same mechanisms could be used to email and view FITS
images from inside a MIME-capable mail reader such as elm.)

First, create a .mime.types file in your home directory containing
    image/x-fits    fits
Then, create a .mailcap file in your home directory containing
    image/x-fits;           saoimage %s

The next time you start Mosaic it will know what to do with a FITS image
found anywhere on the Internet.  This trick cannot be performed with IRAF
image format because the data are not all stored in a single file.
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Steve Allen          UCO/Lick Observatory       Santa Cruz, CA 95064
sla at lick.ucsc.edu    Voice: +1 408 459 3046     FAX: +1 408 454 9863
<a href=http://ucowww.ucsc.edu/~sla/morris/sms.html>Seabright Morris & Sword</a>