Subject: Re: FITS

From: bschlesinger at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (Barry Schlesinger)
Date: 6 Dec 91 17:16:00 GMT

In article <PMURPHY.91Dec6101913 at baboon.cv.nrao.edu>, pmurphy at baboon.cv.nrao.edu (Pat Murphy) writes...
>In article <7822 at edfder1.fr> of comp.graphics, philippe at cli52ch.edf.fr
>(Philippe SUIGNARD) writes:
>> 
>>   What is FITS ? ...
>> 
>			...
>  The primary reference is
>Wells, Greisen, and Harten (1981) Astronomy and Astrophysics
>Supplement 44, p. 363.  There are other follow-on articles ... 
>but I don't have the references offhand ...

	The fundamental references on FITS are the following four
papers, often referred to collectively as the "Four FITS Papers". 
These papers are the formal standard for FITS, endorsed by the
International Astronomical Union (IAU). 

Wells, D. C., Greisen, E. W., and Harten, R. H., "FITS: a flexible 
image tranport system," Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Series, 
44,  363-370, 1981. 

Greisen, E. W. and Harten, R. H., "An extension of FITS for small 
arrays of data," Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Series, 44, 
371-374, 1981. 
(NOTE: The format described in this paper has been used almost 
exclusively to transport radio interferometry and is likely to be 
replaced by other formats in the future.  Writing data other than 
radio interferometry data using this format is not recommended.)   

Grosbol, P., Harten, R. H., Greisen, E. W., and Wells, D. C., 
"Generalized extensions and blocking factors for FITS," Astronomy and 
Astrophysics Supplement Series, 73, 359-364, 1988. 

Harten, R. H., Grosbol. P., Greisen, E. W., and Wells, D. C., "The 
FITS tables extension, Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Series, 
73, 365-372, 1988. 

	A User's Guide for FITS, designed to be a tutorial for new
FITS users, is available from the NASA/OSSA Office of Standards and
Technology (NOST).    In addition to presenting the rules of FITS, it
provides some of the history and reasoning behind the choice of the
rules, adds recommendations on good practices, and discusses current
developments in FITS.  This document is available only in hard copy
form. 

	NASA is sponsoring development of a formal standard for FITS,
designed to be a codification of FITS as endorsed by the IAU. The
current draft, the NASA/OSSA Office of Science and Technology (NOST)
Draft Standard for Implementation of FITS, version 0.2, is available
by anonymous ftp from nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov, in the subdirectory FITS.
A README explains how to obtain access.  As the term "draft" implies,
it is still under review, and caution should be exercising when using
it as a FITS reference. 
	
A detailed proposal for a Binary Table extension is now out for 
discussion.  It is available by anonymous ftp from fits.cx.nrao.edu, 
subdirectory \FITS\Documents. 

	Much of this documentation can be obtained from the NOST
Librarian. Paper copies of the User's Guide and either paper or
electronic copies of the Draft Implementation Standard, for those
without ftp access, are available.  Because of restrictions set by the
copyright holder, NOST can send copies of the four FITS papers only to
non-profit organizations.  The addresses of the NOST are as follows: 

(Postal) NASA/OSSA Office of Standards and Technology
	Code 930.8
	Goddard Space Flight Center
	Greenbelt MD 20771
	USA

(Internet) nost at nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov
(DECnet) NSSDCA::NOST

					Barry M. Schlesinger
					Coordinator,
					NOST FITS Support Office