Subject: Info on "OGIP FITS" standard

From: Lucio Chiappetti <lucio at ifctr.mi.cnr.it>
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 93 16:22:21 ITA

I am involved in the definition of data formats (images, spectra, time
profiles and photon lists) for the X-ray missions SAX and XMM/EPIC.
Our definition is already at a quite advanced stage, but still not frozen,
and is based on a native format, which however is immediately mappable
to FITS. The main issue here is the semantics of the keywords associated
to a given file, and the related conventions.

In a recent meeting an ESTEC colleague mentioned the "OGIP FITS conventions"
and the case for compatibility with them. He also voluntereed to distribute
some related documentation.

Since I have never seen such topic discussed on FITSBITS or WGAS (I am
posting this to both lists) I would like to know more :

  - Are these OGIP conventions a "private" convention of GSFC, or it is
    intended to propose them as a draft standard in the traditional FITS
    way ?

  - Is the related documentation restricted in access or usage ?
    And if not is it available electronically ?

  - How stable are those conventions ? I mean, are they frozen ? Are
    they liable to change duirng development dramatically ? etc. etc.

  - Are these conventions open for discussion in the context of future
    missions in which European and Eastern countries may be involved
    (e.g. SAX, Spektrum-RG, XMM etc.) ?

  Any further information will be appreciated.

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