HEASARC FITS File Format Recommendations
This page contains links to documents that define the recommended FITS formats for various types of data files used within High Energy Astrophysics. The first section lists the higher-level definition documents, and the second sections lists the 15 specific recommendations that were approved by the HEASARC FITS Working Group.
I. General HEASARC FITS Documents
-
Event Lists Definition and File Format.
(also available in postscript and
latex format).
A list of recommended columns and keywords in an Event List has also been published in Legacy 6, 36 (1995). - Spectral analysis FITS file formats for Xspec-compatible PHA files. See also the Addendum.
- Definition of RMF and ARF Spectral calibration file formats. See also the Addendum.
- XSPEC Table Models File format. (also available in postscript and latex format).
-
WMAP FITS file format in spectral files
-
Timing analysis data file formats for High Energy Astrophysics Data.
- Effective Areas FITS file format
- Radial PSF datasets FITS file format
- 2D (image) PSF datasets FITS file format
-
Vignetting Functions FITS file format
- Strings for specifying Physical Units within FITS files
- Standard Strings for Mission, Instrument, Filter, Detector & Grating Names for OGIP FITS files
- Standard strings for Detector Operating and Observing Modes. (Also available in postscript and latex format).
- Calbration Database: documentation on installation and use of the CALDB.
II. Specific HEASARC Recommendations
The following 15 specific recommendations were formally approved by the HEASARC FITS Working Group from 1993 through 1995.
- R1: Recommends using underscores rather than hyphens in FITS keywords and column names (text version)
- R3: RA and Dec keywords for giving the position of the observed object, the telescope pointing, and the spacecraft axes (text version)
- R4: The CATIDn FITS keywords to contain source catalog identifications (text version)
- R5: Specifying physical units in FITS files. This recommendation is contained in OGIP memo ogip_93_001 (postscript, latex). A slightly earlier version of this memo was published in Legacy 4, 57 (1994).
- R6: On using the TLMINn, TLMAXn, TDMINn and TDMAXn keywords to record the the minimum and maximum values within columns of FITS tables (text version)
- R7: The CREATOR keyword to denote the name and version of the software program that generated that FITS file/extension (text version)
- R2/R8: The HDUCLASn/HDUVERS keywords to provide a hierarchial classification scheme for the various types of FITS extensions (text version). Also available is a list of all HDUCLASn/HDUVERS values currently defined by the HFWG.
- R9: Quality flags with a value of zero should be reserved to indicate GOOD (not rejected) quality data. Non-zero quality flag values may be used to indicate varying degrees of 'badness'. (text version)
- R10: Keywords to define channel & energy boundaries (text version)
- R11: Keywords and definitions relating to exposure times (text version)
- R12: Standard strings to denote the mission, instrument and filters within X- and gamma-ray astronomy. This recommendation is contained in OGIP memo ogip_93_013 (postscript, latex).
- R13: Long string keyword convention (text version)
- R14: TSORTKEY - a keyword for specifying the sort order of a FITS Table (text version)
- R15: Recommendations for naming columns in a FITS table (text, latex, postscript)
Page Author: William Pence, (email: pence 'at' milkyway.gsfc.nasa.gov)
Last Update: Thursday, 01-Apr-2004 23:46:08 EST
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Last modified: Thursday, 01-Apr-2004 23:46:08 EST