Flexible Image Transport System

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{{FormatInfo
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|formattype=electronic
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|subcat=Scientific Data formats
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|extensions={{ext|fits}}, {{ext|fts}}, {{ext|fit}}
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|mimetypes={{mimetype|image/fits}}<br>{{mimetype|application/fits}}
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|locfdd={{LoCFDD|fdd000317}}
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|pronom={{PRONOM|x-fmt/383}}
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}}
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== General description ==
 
== General description ==
  
FITS is a heavily-used and well-standardised format for storing astronomical data.  It can store both images and tables, and has basic but flexible support for metadata.
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FITS (Flexible Image Transport System) is a heavily-used and well-standardised format for storing astronomical data.  It can store both images and tables, and has basic but flexible support for metadata.
  
 
The format is fundamentally rather simple; indeed it is simple enough that a basic reader can be constructed with a relatively small amount of effort, but this is rarely necessary, since there are readers and writers for a broad range of scientific programming languages.
 
The format is fundamentally rather simple; indeed it is simple enough that a basic reader can be constructed with a relatively small amount of effort, but this is rarely necessary, since there are readers and writers for a broad range of scientific programming languages.
Line 8: Line 17:
  
 
The format has been standardised in a sequence of papers in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, and a set of conventions for header metadata has been developed, over a number of years.
 
The format has been standardised in a sequence of papers in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, and a set of conventions for header metadata has been developed, over a number of years.
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[[PSRFITS]] is a particular variety of FITS for storing pulsar data, as used, for instance, in the SETI@Home project to analyze such data for possible evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence.
  
 
== Other information ==
 
== Other information ==
  
The format is summarised in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FITS Wikipedia].
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The format is summarised in [[Wikipedia:FITS|Wikipedia]], which includes some history of the format.
  
 
For further information, see:
 
For further information, see:
* Version 3 of FITS is described in <ref>Pence, William D and Chiappetti, L. and Page, Clive G and Shaw, R.~A. and Stobie, E., ''Definition of the Flexible Image Transport System (FITS), version 3.0'', Astronomy and Astrophysics, '''524''', A42+ (2010) doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201015362, (ADS bibcode: [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1981A&AS...44..363W 1981A&AS...44..363W])</ref>, and this document has been approved by the [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=International_Astronomical_Union&oldid=520671540 IAU's] [http://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/iaufwg/iaufwg.html FITS Working Group].  The document is also available [http://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/standard30/fits_standard30.pdf online].
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* Version 3 of FITS is described in <ref>William D Pence, L Chiappetti, Clive G Page, R A Shaw and E Stobie, ''Definition of the Flexible Image Transport System (FITS), version 3.0'', Astronomy and Astrophysics, '''524''', A42+ (2010) doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201015362, (ADS bibcode: [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1981A&AS...44..363W 1981A&AS...44..363W])</ref>, and this document has been approved by the [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=International_Astronomical_Union&oldid=520671540 IAU's] [http://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/iaufwg/iaufwg.html FITS Working Group].  The document is also available [http://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/standard30/fits_standard30.pdf online].
* The =image/fits= and =application/fits= MIME types were registered in [http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4047.txt RFC 4047].
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* The <code>image/fits</code> and <code>application/fits</code> MIME types were registered in [http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4047.txt RFC 4047].
 
* Further information, including libraries and file samples, is available at the [http://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov FITS support office]
 
* Further information, including libraries and file samples, is available at the [http://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov FITS support office]
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* {{EGFF|fits|FITS File Format Summary}}, from the [[Encyclopedia of Graphics File Formats]]
  
 
== Software ==
 
== Software ==
  
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*[[Konvertor]]
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* [https://blake.bcm.edu/emanwiki/EMAN2ImageFormats EMAN 2]
 
See the [http://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov FITS support office].
 
See the [http://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov FITS support office].
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Also [http://www.spacetelescope.org/projects/fits_liberator/ FITS Liberator], with source code [https://github.com/esoobservatory/fitsliberator here].
  
 
== Sample files ==
 
== Sample files ==
  
 
See the [http://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov FITS support office].
 
See the [http://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov FITS support office].
 +
 +
There are some more samples [http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/openFITS/ here], along with a nice tutorial on how to process the FITS images.
  
 
== Identification ==
 
== Identification ==
  
FITS files start with the sequence of characters =SIMPLE =.
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Valid FITS files start with the sequence of characters <code>SIMPLE=T </code>.
  
The common FITS file extensions are =.fits= and (less often) =.fts=.
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The common FITS file extensions are <code>.fits</code> and (less often) <code>.fts</code>.
  
The =image/fits= and =application/fits= MIME types were registered in [http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4047.txt RFC 4047].
+
The <code>image/fits</code> and <code>application/fits</code> MIME types were registered in [http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4047.txt RFC 4047].
  
 
== References ==
 
== References ==
  
For references, see above.
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<references/>
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[[Category:Graphics]]

Revision as of 02:11, 28 July 2019

File Format
Name Flexible Image Transport System
Ontology
Extension(s) .fits, .fts, .fit
MIME Type(s) image/fits
application/fits
LoCFDD fdd000317
PRONOM x-fmt/383


Contents

General description

FITS (Flexible Image Transport System) is a heavily-used and well-standardised format for storing astronomical data. It can store both images and tables, and has basic but flexible support for metadata.

The format is fundamentally rather simple; indeed it is simple enough that a basic reader can be constructed with a relatively small amount of effort, but this is rarely necessary, since there are readers and writers for a broad range of scientific programming languages.

The metadata is stored as a list of key-value pairs, with the keys being up to eight characters long, and the values up to 70 characters. There are some standards, and several conventions, for the choices of keyword. These conventions generally interoperate well, but readers should be aware that collisions are possible.

The format has been standardised in a sequence of papers in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, and a set of conventions for header metadata has been developed, over a number of years.

PSRFITS is a particular variety of FITS for storing pulsar data, as used, for instance, in the SETI@Home project to analyze such data for possible evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence.

Other information

The format is summarised in Wikipedia, which includes some history of the format.

For further information, see:

Software

See the FITS support office.

Also FITS Liberator, with source code here.

Sample files

See the FITS support office.

There are some more samples here, along with a nice tutorial on how to process the FITS images.

Identification

Valid FITS files start with the sequence of characters SIMPLE=T .

The common FITS file extensions are .fits and (less often) .fts.

The image/fits and application/fits MIME types were registered in RFC 4047.

References

  1. William D Pence, L Chiappetti, Clive G Page, R A Shaw and E Stobie, Definition of the Flexible Image Transport System (FITS), version 3.0, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 524, A42+ (2010) doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201015362, (ADS bibcode: 1981A&AS...44..363W)
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