Subject: Happy Birthday, FITS!

From: Don Wells <dwells at nrao.edu>
Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 19:58:30 -0500 (EST)

Dear friends of FITS,

I consider today, March 28th, to be the birthday of FITS, because it
was on this day in 1979 that Eric Greisen and I negotiated the original
FITS Agreement. FITS is 19 years old today.

Six years ago, as a birthday present for FITS, I prepared my version
of the early history and pre-history of FITS; see this URL:

    http://www.cv.nrao.edu/fits/documents/overviews/history.news

As in previous years, I offer original reprints of four FITS papers:

==> "FITS: A Flexible Image Transport System",
		Wells, Greisen, Harten, A&A Suppl. 44, 363-370 (June 1981).
		This is the Basic FITS paper, the original reference.

==> "The FITS tape formats: flexible image transport systems",
		Greisen, Wells, Harten, SPIE 264, 298 (1980).
		This was actually the first published paper about FITS.
		It is notable for its Figure 2, a superb schematic
		illustration of the random groups data structure concept
		as realized in a FITS file; this concept is also
		applicable to many BINTABLE data structures. 
==> "An extension of FITS for groups of small arrays of data",
		Greisen, Harten, A&A Suppl. 44, 371-374 (June 1981).
		This is the Random Groups paper, a key part of the 
		conceptual basis for the BINTABLE Agreement of 1991.

==> "Binary table extension to FITS",
		Cotton, Tody, Pence, A&A Suppl. 113, 159-166 (1995).
		This is the BINTABLE paper.

I will be delighted to mail out sets of these reprints until the supply
is exhausted; send your requests to me by Email.

			      -=-=-=-=-

Do any of you have a favorite icon for FITS files? If so, could I have
a copy of your icon? I have not yet chosen an icon to use for FITS files,
and would like to do so.

Best regards,
Don Wells
(Chair, IAU FITS Working Group)
-- 
  Donald C. Wells         Associate Scientist         dwells at nrao.edu
                    http://fits.cv.nrao.edu/~dwells
  National Radio Astronomy Observatory                +1-804-296-0277
  520 Edgemont Road,   Charlottesville, Virginia       22903-2475 USA