Subject: Re: Sources of FITS Information

From: 0201ba at fiol.nbrock.dk (Bright Amenuvor)
Date: 2 Apr 1996 23:37:31 GMT

Barry M. Schlesinger (bschlesinger at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov) wrote:
: Archive-name: astronomy/fits/info-sources
: Last-modified: 1996/02/21

: --------
: 		Sources of FITS Information 

: 	(corrected URL for FITS Support Office home page)
: 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

: (Note the new URL for the hypertext World Wide Web pages; ssdoo... rather 
: than www.... The old www.... address will work for some - indefinite - 
: time yet, but links to the FITS Support Office pages should be changed 
: to the new URL.)

: 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 under the heading of FITS Basics
: and Information.  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 packages for display of FITS images on Windows, 
: 	Macintosh, and Unix/X-Windows

: o 	Other code 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

: -------

: 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 a the FITSIO package of software routines for easily
: reading and writing FITS files, in FORtRAN with a C interface
: 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 OGIP/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/heasarc/ofwg/ofwg_intro.html or
: ftp://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/fits_info/ . 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.

--
Bright Amenuvor 0201ba at fiol.nbrok.dk