FITS Data Format
FITS stands for `Flexible Image Transport System' and is the standard astronomical data format endorsed by both NASA and the IAU. FITS is much more than an image format (such as JPG or GIF) and is primarily designed to store scientific data sets consisting of multi-dimensional arrays (1-D spectra, 2-D images or 3-D data cubes) and 2-dimensional tables containing rows and columns of data.
NEW!  Instantly verify any FITS file over the Web.
The FITS Support Office - for general information about FITS.
HEASARC FITS conventions - recommended usage for high-energy astrophysics data
Other HEASARC FITS Resources
Documents
- Overview of the FITS format
- Checksum Proposal - embedded checksum keywords to verify integrity of FITS files
- Tiled Image Compression Proposal - a compressed image format supported by CFITSIO
- Table Indexing Proposal - for creating indices on FITS tables (Postscript)
- HEASARC FITS Working Group - recommendations and minutes from previous meetings
Software
- fv - graphical FITS file viewer and editor (FITS images and tables)
- SAOImage ds9 - astronomical visualization application from SAO
- CFITSIO - C and Fortran library for reading and writing FITS files
- FITS Utils - portable set of utility programs to manipulate FITS files
-
FTOOLS
- large set of programs for analyzing data in FITS format
including:
- fverify - verify that a file conforms to the FITS Standard. (A standalone version called fitsverify is also available).
- fcopy - powerful program to selectively copy parts of FITS file to a new file
- ftlist - print the contents of FITS headers, images, and tables
Page Author: William Pence, (email: pence 'at' milkyway.gsfc.nasa.gov)
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Last modified: Monday, 21-May-2007 15:57:36 EDT