Subject: RA-DEC from DSS headers

From: babic at physics.uq.oz.au (Boris Babic)
Date: 2 Apr 1998 04:41:22 GMT

Hi 
 I was wondering if anyone could tell me how to calculate an objects RA and 
 DEC from the plate solution co-eff's as given in the DSS fits headers.
 with the skyview headers its possible to calculate the positons given
 CRVAL1,CRVAL2 ,CDELT2,CDELT1 and the NAXIS1,NAXIS2 values ,although it
 doesnt appear that simple with the DSS headers. Note: Skyview returns
 the DSS headers if the field is small,so in this case i cant work out the
 RA-DEC either.
 thanks boris

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From: Doug Mink <dmink at cfa.harvard.edu>
Date: Wed, 08 Apr 1998 12:01:51 -0400

The WCSTools package, at

 http://tdc-www.harvard.edu/software/wcstools/

has code to decode the DSS header information.  That code has
been included in the SAOimage, SAOtng, and Skycat image browsers
for several years now.  It is in C and is fairly modular for easy
inclusion in other software.  WCSTools includes programs to
convert lists of (x,y) coordinates to RA and Dec (J2000 or B1950)
and vice versa.

-Doug Mink