Документ взят из кэша поисковой машины. Адрес оригинального документа : http://www.adass.org/adass/proceedings/adass94/corcoranm.ps Дата изменения: Tue Jun 13 20:45:24 1995 Дата индексирования: Tue Oct 2 02:19:56 2012 Кодировка: Поисковые слова: туманность андромеды

Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems IV
ASP Conference Series, Vol. 77, 1995
R. A. Shaw, H. E. Payne, and J. J. E. Hayes, eds.
The OGIP FITS Working Group
M. F. Corcoran, L. Angelini, I. George, T. McGlynn, K. Mukai,
W. Pence, A. Rots
Office of Guest Investigator Programs, Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, MD, 20771
Abstract. We present an overview of the workings of the OGIP FITS
Working Group (OFWG).
1. Introduction
Nearly all high­energy astrophysics projects provide data in FITS format (Wells,
Greisen, & Harten 1981). However, arbitrary and/or inconsistent use of file
formats and header keywords leads to confusion and requires that specialized
software be used for correct data interpretation and analysis. The need to sup­
port specialized FITS formats and software systems is a significant (sometimes
unmanageable) burden for data archives. However, adherence to simple, agreed­
upon conventions can alleviate this burden at little cost.
The Office of Guest Investigator Programs (OGIP) at the Goddard Space
Flight Center has organized a working group to identify appropriate conventions,
and, with community support, to encourage adherence to these conventions.
2. The OFWG
The OFWG was set up to (1) ensure that new FITS definitions used within the
OGIP do not violate any established FITS standards/conventions; (2) encourage
standardization of keyword usage, data types, and FITS file formats used within
the OGIP (i.e., the so­called Rationalized Data File or RDF format); and (3)
disseminate OFWG recommendations to the broader High Energy Astrophysics
and FITS communities to promote community­wide standardization.
3. Community Involvement
The OFWG recognizes that many of the issues it considers are of potential
interest to the wider FITS community. The OFWG encourages community
involvement by announcing proposed standards/conventions to the HEA and
FITS communities to gauge community reaction, and by disseminating accepted
recommendations for possible use in the community. The OFWG uses two e­mail
exploders to distribute proposals or recommendations and gauge community
response:
HEAFITS ­ which primarily serves the high energy astronomy community
1

2
FITSBITS ­ serving the entire FITS community
as well as contributing to discussions on the newsgroup sci.astro.fits.
4. For More Information
The minutes of all OFWG meetings, along with the text of all full recommen­
dations and pending proposals, are publically available via the anonymous ftp
account on legacy.gsfc.nasa.gov in two areas directly related to the OFWG:
fits info/ofwg minutes containing ASCII files of the minutes from all OFWG
meetings
fits info/ofwg recomm containing ASCII (and occasionally also PostScript)
files of OFWG recommendations, pending proposals, etc.
Information regarding the OFWG is also available via the WWW. The most
useful starting point is probably the URL
http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/0/docs/heasarc/ofwg/ofwg—intro.html
All of the documents available via anonymous ftp are also accessible via the
WWW.
References
Wells, D. C., Greisen, E. W., & Harten, R. H. 1981, A&AS, 44, 363