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 __________=====
 __________=====
 __________=====    NOST



            Implementation  of  the  Flexible  Image  Transport  System

                                      (FITS)

                                 November 6, 1991

                                  Draft Standard

                                   NOST 100-0.3b


                      NASA/OSSA Office of Standards and Technology
                      Code 933
                      NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
                      Greenbelt MD 20771
                      USA




The NASA/OSSA Office of Standards and Technology (NOST) has been established
to serve the space science communities in evolving cost effective,
interoperable data systems. The NOST performs a number of functions designed
to facilitate the recognition, development, adoption, and use of standards by
the space science communities.

Approval of a NOST Standard requires verification by the NOST that the
following requirements have been met:  consensus of the technical panel,
proper adjudication of the comments received from the targeted space and Earth
science community, and conformance to the accreditation process.

A NOST standard represents the consensus of the technical panel convened by
the NASA/OSSA Office of Standards and Technology (NOST) of the National Space
Science Data Center (NSSDC) of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA). Consensus is established when the NOST Accreditation
Panel determines that substantial agreement has been reached by the Technical
Panel. However, consensus does not necessarily imply that all members were in
full agreement with every item in the standard. NOST standards are not binding
as published; however, they may serve as a basis for mandatory standards when
adopted by NASA or other organizations. 

A NOST standard may be revised at any time, depending on developments in the
areas covered by the standard. Also, within five years from the date of its
issuance, this standard will be reviewed by the NOST to determine whether it
should 1) remain in effect without change, 2) be changed to reflect the impact
of new technologies or new requirements, or 3) be retired or canceled.

The Technical Panel that developed this standard consisted of the following
members:


      Robert J. Hanisch, Chair           Space Telescope Science Institute
      Barry M. Schlesinger, Secretary    Hughes STX
      Lee E. Brotzman                    Hughes STX
      Edward Kemper                      Hughes STX
      Peter J. Teuben                    University of Maryland
      Michael E. Van Steenberg           NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
      Wayne H. Warren Jr.                Hughes STX
      Richard A. White                   NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

This standard is published and maintained by the NOST. Send comments and
orders for NOST documents to:



           NOST, Code 933, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
           Greenbelt MD 20771
           USA
           Internet: [email protected]
           DECNET: NSSDCA::NOST
           301-286-3575





Contents



Introduction                                                          vii


1  Overview                                                             1 

   1.1  Purpose ......................................................  1
   1.2  Scope ........................................................  1
   1.3  Applicability ................................................  1
   1.4  Organization and Recommendations .............................  2

2  References                                                           3

3  Definitions, Acronyms, and Symbols                                   5

4  FITS File Organization                                               9

   4.1  Overall ......................................................  9
   4.2  Individual FITS Structures ...................................  9
   4.3  Primary Header and Data Array ................................  9
      4.3.1   Primary Header ......................................... 10
      4.3.2   Primary Data Array ..................................... 10
   4.4  Extensions ................................................... 10
      4.4.1   Requirements for Conforming Extensions ................. 10
      4.4.2   Standard Extensions .................................... 11
      4.4.3   Order of Extensions .................................... 11
   4.5  Special Records .............................................. 12

5  Headers                                                             13

   5.1  Card Images .................................................. 13
      5.1.1   Syntax ................................................. 13
      5.1.2   Components ............................................. 13
   5.2  Keywords ..................................................... 14
      5.2.1   Mandatory Keywords ..................................... 14
      5.2.2   Other Reserved Keywords ................................ 17
      5.2.3   Additional Keywords .................................... 21
  5.3   Value ........................................................ 21
      5.3.1   General Format Requirements ............................ 21
      5.3.2   Fixed Format ........................................... 22

6  Data Representation                                                 23

  6.1   Characters ................................................... 23
  6.2   Integers ..................................................... 23
      6.2.1   Eight-bit .............................................. 23
      6.2.2   Sixteen-bit ............................................ 23
      6.2.3   Thirty-two-bit ......................................... 23
  6.3   IEEE-754 Floating Point ...................................... 24
      6.3.1   Thirty-two-bit Floating Point .......................... 24
      6.3.2   Sixty-four-bit Floating Point .......................... 24

7  Random Groups Structure                                             27

  7.1   Keywords ..................................................... 27
      7.1.1   Mandatory Keywords ..................................... 27
      7.1.2   Reserved Keywords ...................................... 29
  7.2   Data Sequence ................................................ 30
  7.3   Data Representation .......................................... 30

8   Standard Extensions                                                31

  8.1   ASCII Tables Extension ....................................... 31
      8.1.1   Mandatory Keywords ..................................... 31
      8.1.2   Other Reserved Keywords ................................ 33
      8.1.3   Data Sequence .......................................... 34
      8.1.4   Fields ................................................. 34
      8.1.5   Entries ................................................ 34
  8.2   Other Standard Extensions .................................... 35

9  Restrictions on Changes                                             37


Appendixes

A  Draft Proposal for Binary Table Extension                           39

  A.1   Abstract ..................................................... 39
  A.2   Introduction ................................................. 40
  A.3   Binary Tables ................................................ 40
  A.4   Table Header ................................................. 40
  A.5  Conventions for Multidimensional Arrays ....................... 43
  A.6  Table Data Records ............................................ 43
  A.7  Example Binary Table Header ................................... 45
  A.8  Acknowledgments by Authors of Draft Proposal .................. 47
  A.9  Appendixes to Draft Proposal for Binary Tables Extension ...... 48
      A.9.1   "Multidimensional Array" Convention .................... 48
      A.9.2   "Variable Length Array" Facility ....................... 48

B  Implementation on Physical Media                                    53

  B.1  Block Size .................................................... 53
      B.1.1   Nine-Track, Half-Inch Magnetic Tape .................... 53
      B.1.2   Other Media ............................................ 53
  B.2  Physical Properties of Media .................................. 54
  B.3  Labeling ...................................................... 54
      B.3.1   Tape ................................................... 54
      B.3.2   Other Media ............................................ 54
  B.4  FITS File Boundaries .......................................... 54
      B.4.1   Magnetic Reel Tape ..................................... 54
      B.4.2   Other Media ............................................ 54
  B.5  Multiple Physical Volumes ..................................... 54

C  Differences from IAU-endorsed Publications                          55

D  Summary of Keywords                                                 61

E  ASCII Text                                                          63

F  IEEE Special Formats                                                65

G  Reserved Extension Type Names                                       67

H  NOST Publications                                                   71

Index                                                                  73


 List of Tables


   5.1  Principal mandatory keywords. ................................ 14
   5.2  Interpretation of valid BITPIX value. ........................ 15
   5.3  Mandatory keywords in conforming extensions. ................. 16

   6.1  Content of 32-bit floating point bit positions. .............. 24
   6.2   Content of 64-bit floating point bit positions. ............. 25

   7.1   Mandatory keywords in primary header preceding random groups. 28

   8.1   Mandatory keywords in ASCII tables extensions. .............. 32
   8.2   Valid TFORMn format values in TABLE extensions. ............. 33

   D.1   Mandatory FITS keywords ..................................... 61
   D.2   Reserved FITS keywords ...................................... 62
   D.3   General Reserved FITS keywords .............................. 62

   E.1   ASCII character set ......................................... 64

   F.1   IEEE special floating point formats ......................... 65

   G.1   Reserved Extension Type Names ............................... 68
   G.2   Status Codes ................................................ 69

   H.1   NOST Publications ........................................... 71


List of Figures


   4.1   Array data sequence ......................................... 11


                                                                       

Introduction



The Flexible Image Transport System (FITS) evolved out of the recognition that
a standard format was needed for transferring astronomical data from one
installation to another. The original form, or Basic FITS [1], was designed
for the transfer of images and consisted of a binary array, usually
multidimensional, preceded by an ASCII text header with information describing
the organization and contents of the array. The FITS concept was later
expanded to accommodate more complex data formats. A new format for image
transfer, random groups, was defined [2] in which the data would consist of a
series of arrays, with each array accompanied by a set of associated
parameters. These formats were formally endorsed by the International
Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1982 [3]. Provisions for data structures other
than simple arrays or groups were made later. These structures appear in
extensions, each consisting of an ASCII header followed by the data whose
organization it describes.  A set of general rules governing such extensions
[4] and a particular extension ASCII Tables [5], were endorsed by the IAU
General Assembly in 1988 [6]. At the same General Assembly, an IAU FITS
Working Group was formed with the mandate to maintain the existing FITS
standards and to review, approve, and maintain future extensions to FITS,
recommended practices for FITS, implementations, and the thesaurus of approved
FITS keywords [7].  In 1989, the IAU Commission 5 FITS Working Group approved
a formal agreement [8] for the representation of floating point numbers. FITS
was originally designed and defined for 9-track half-inch magnetic tape.
However, as improvements in technology have brought forward other data storage
and data distribution media, it has generally been agreed that the FITS format
is to be understood as a logical format and not defined in terms of the
physical characteristics of any particular data storage medium or media.




Section  1



Overview



1.1    Purpose


This standard formally defines the implementation of the FITS format for data
structuring and exchange to be used where applicable, as defined in Section
1.3. It is intended as a formal codification of the FITS format that has been
endorsed by the IAU for transfer of astronomical data, fully consistent with
all actions and endorsements of the IAU and the IAU Commission 5 FITS Working
Group. Minor ambiguities and inconsistencies in FITS as described in the
original papers are eliminated. The eventual goal is to submit this document
to the IAU Commission 5 FITS Working Group for endorsement as a universal
standard for FITS.



1.2    Scope


This standard specifies the organization and content of FITS data sets,
including the header and data for all standard FITS formats: Basic FITS, the
random groups structure, and the ASCII tables extension. It also specifies
minimum structural requirements for new extensions and general principles
governing the creation of new extensions, giving as an example the draft
proposal for a Binary Table Extension.  For headers, it specifies the proper
syntax for card images and defines required and reserved keywords. For data,
it specifies character and value representations and the ordering of contents
within the byte stream. It defines the general rules to which new extensions
are required to conform.



1.3    Applicability


The IAU has recommended that all astronomical computer facilities support FITS
for the interchange of binary data. All spacecraft projects and astrophysics
data archives under the management of the Astrophysics Division of the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration are required to make processed
data available to users in the FITS format defined by this standard, unless
the Astrophysics Division specifically determines otherwise. This standard may
also be used to define the format for data transport in other disciplines, as
may be determined by the appropriate authorities.



1.4    Organization and Recommendations


Following the definitions in Section 3, this document describes the overall
organization of a FITS file, the contents of the first (primary) header and
data, and the rules for creating new FITS extensions in Section 4. The next
two sections provide additional details on the header and data, with a
particular focus on the primary header. Section 5 provides details about
header card image syntax and specifies those keywords required and reserved in
a primary header. Section 6 describes how different data types are rep-
resented in FITS. The following sections describe the headers and data of two
standard FITS structures, the now to be deprecated random groups records
(Section 7) and the only current standard extension, ASCII Tables (Section 8).
Throughout the document, deprecation of structures or syntax is noted where
relevant. Files containing deprecated features are valid FITS, but these
features should not be used in new files; the old files using them remain
standard because of the principle that no change in FITS shall cause a valid
FITS file to become invalid.

The Appendixes contain material that is not part of the standard. The first
two provide illustrations of FITS practice. Appendix A provides an example of
a conforming extension, the draft proposal for the Binary Table Extension[9].
The generally accepted recommendations for the expression of the logical FITS
format on various physical media are provided in Appendix B as a guide to FITS
practices. The next, Appendix C, lists the differences between this standard
and the specifications of prior publications; it also identifies those
ambiguities in the documents endorsed by the IAU on which this standard
provides specific rules. The next four provide reference information: a
tabular summary of the FITS keywords (Appendix D), a list of the ASCII
character set and a subset designated ASCII text (Appendix E), the bit
representation of the IEEE special values (Appendix F), and a list of the
reserved extension type names (Appendix G).



Section  2



References



1. Wells, D. C., Greisen, E. W., and Harten, R. H. 1981, "FITS: A Flexible
   Image Transport System," Astron. Astrophys. Suppl., 44, 363-370.


2. Greisen, E. W. and Harten, R. H. 1981, "An Extension of FITS for Small
   Arrays of Data," Astron. Astrophys. Suppl., 44, 371-374.


3. IAU. 1983, Information Bulletin No. 49.


4. Grosbol, P., Harten, R. H., Greisen, E. W., and Wells, D. C. 1988,
   "Generalized Extensions and Blocking Factors for FITS," Astron. Astrophys.
   Suppl., 73, 359-364.


5. Harten, R. H., Grosbol, P., Greisen, E. W., and Wells, D. C. 1988, 
   "The FITS Tables Extension," Astron. Astrophys. Suppl., 73, 365-372.


6. IAU. 1988, Information Bulletin No. 61.


7. McNally, D., ed.  1988, Transactions of the IAU, Proceedings of the
   Twentieth General Assembly. (Dordrecht:Kluwer).


8. Wells, D. C. and Grosbol, P. 1990, "Floating Point Agreement for FITS."
   (available from the NOST FITS Support Office)


9. Cotton, W. D. and Tody, D. B. 1991 "Binary Table Extension to FITS: A 
   Proposal", preprint.  (access instructions available from the NOST FITS 
   Support Office).


10.  ANSI, 1978, "American National Standard for Information Processing:
     Programming Language FORTRAN," ANSI X3.9 - 1978 (ISO 1539). Published by
     American National Standards Institute, Inc., New York.


11.  ANSI, 1977 "American National Standard for Information Processing: Code
     for Information Interchange," ANSI X3.4 - 1977 (ISO 646). Published by
     American National Standards Institute, Inc., New York.


12.  IEEE, 1985, "American National Standard - IEEE Standard for Binary Float-
     ing Point Arithmetic". ANSI/IEEE 754-1985, Published by American National
     Standards Institute, Inc., New York.


13.  ANSI, 1976, "American National Standard for Information Processing: 
     Unrecorded Magnetic Tape," ANSI X3.40 - 1976, Published by American 
     National Standards Institute, Inc., New York.


14.  ANSI, 1978, "American National Standard for Information Processing:
     Magnetic Tape Labels and File Structure," ANSI X3.27 - 1978, Published by
     American National Standards Institute, Inc., New York.


15.  "Going AIPS," National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, VA,
     1990.


16.  Munoz, J. R., "IUE Data in FITS Format," ESA IUE Newsletter 32, 12-45.




Section  3



Definitions, Acronyms, and Symbols



  _               Used to designate an ASCII blank.

AIPS              Abbreviation of Astronomical Image Processing System.

ANSI              Abbreviation of American National Standards Institute.

Array             A sequence of data values, of zero or more dimensions.

Array value       The value of an element of an array in a FITS file, without
                  the application of the associated linear transformation.

ASCII             Abbreviation of American National Standard Code for 
                  Information Interchange.

ASCII blank       Hexadecimal 20.

ASCII character   Any member of the 7-bit ASCII character set.

ASCII text        ASCII characters hexadecimal 20-7E.

Basic FITS        The FITS structure consisting of the primary header followed
                  by a single primary data array.

Bit               A single binary digit.

Byte              A string of eight bits treated as a single entity.

Card image        A sequence of 80 bytes containing ASCII text, treated as a
                  logical record.

Conforming extension   An extension whose keywords and organization adhere to 
                  the requirements for conforming extensions defined in 
                  Section 4.4.1 of this standard.

Deprecate         To express earnest disapproval of. This term is used to
                  refer to obsolete structures that ought not to be used but 
                  remain valid.

Entry             A single value in a table.

Extension         A FITS HDU appearing after the primary HDU in a FITS file.


Extension name    The identifier used to distinguish a particular extension
                  HDU from others of the same type, appearing as the value of 
                  the EXTNAME keyword.

Extension type    An extension format.

Field             A set of zero or more table entries collectively described
                  by a single format.

File              A sequence of one or more records terminated by an
                  end-of-file indicator appropriate to the medium.

FITS              Abbreviation of Flexible Image Transport System.

FITS file         A file with a format that conforms to the specifications in
                  this document.

FITS logical record  A record of 23040 bits, corresponding to 2880 8-bit bytes
                  within a FITS file.


FITS structure    One of the components of a FITS file: the primary HDU, the
                  random groups records, an extension, or, collectively, the 
                  special records following the last extension.

Floating point    A number whose bit structure is composed of a mantissa and
                  exponent, whose ASCII representation contains an explicit 
                  decimal point and may include a power-of-ten exponent.

Group parameter value   The value of one of the parameters preceding a group
                  in the random groups structure, without the application of 
                  the associated linear transformation.

Header            A series of card images organized within one or more FITS
                  Logical Records which describes structures and/or data which 
                  follow it in the FITS file.

Header and Data Unit (HDU)     A data structure consisting of a Header and the
                  data the Header describes. Note that an HDU may consist 
                  entirely of a header with no data records.

IAU               Abbreviation of International Astronomical Union.

IUE               Abbreviation of International Ultraviolet Explorer.

IEEE              Abbreviation of Institute of Electrical and Electronic
                  Engineers.

IEEE NaN          Abbreviation of IEEE Not-a-Number value.

IEEE special values   (-0, 1, NaN).

Indexed keyword   A keyword that is of the form of a fixed root with an
                  appended integer count.

Keyword           The first eight bytes of a header card image.

Mandatory keyword   A keyword that must be used in all FITS files or a keyword
                  required in conjunction with particular FITS structures.

Matrix            A data array of two or more dimensions.

MIDAS             Abbreviation of ESO-MIDAS, the European Southern Observatory
                  Munich Image Data Analysis System.

NOAO              Abbreviation of National Optical Astronomy Observatories.

NOST              Abbreviation of NASA/OSSA Office of Standards and Technology.

NRAO              Abbreviation of National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

Physical value    The value in physical units represented by a member of an
                  array and possibly derived from the array value using the 
                  associated, but optional, linear transformation.

Picture element   A single location within an image array.

Pixel             Abbreviation of "picture element".

Primary data array   The data array contained in the Primary HDU.


Primary header    The first header in a FITS file, containing information on
                  the overall contents of the file as well as on the primary 
                  data array.

Record            A sequence of bits treated as a single logical entity.

Reference point   The point along a given coordinate axis, given in units of
                  pixel number, at which a value and increment are defined.

Reserved keyword  An optional keyword that may be used only in the manner
                  defined in this standard.

Special records   A series of 23040-bit (2880 8-bit byte) records, following
                  the primary HDU, whose internal structure does not otherwise
                  conform to that for the primary HDU or to that specified for 
                  a conforming extension in this standard.

Standard extension   A conforming extension whose header and data content are
                  specified explicitly in this standard.

Type name         The value of the XTENSION keyword used to identify the type
                  of the extension in the data following.

Valid value       A member of a data array or table corresponding to an actual
                  physical quantity.




Section  4



FITS  File  Organization



4.1    Overall


A FITS file shall be composed of the following FITS structures, in the order
listed:

   o Primary HDU

   o Random Groups structure (optional; allowed only if there is no primary 
     data array)

   o Conforming Extensions (optional)

   o Other special records (optional)

Each FITS structure shall consist of an integral number of FITS logical
records. The primary HDU shall start with the first record of the FITS file.
The first record of each subsequent FITS structure shall be the record
immediately following the last record of the preceding FITS structure. The
size of a FITS logical record shall be 23040 bits, corresponding to 2880 8-bit
bytes.



4.2    Individual FITS Structures


The primary HDU and every extension HDU shall consist of an integral number of
header records consisting of ASCII text, which may be followed by an integral
number of data records. The first record of data shall be the record
immediately following the last record of the header.



4.3    Primary Header and Data Array


The first component of a FITS file shall be the primary header. The primary
header may, but need not be, followed by a primary data array. The presence or
absence of a primary data array shall be indicated by the values of the NAXIS
or NAXISn keywords in the primary header (Section 5.2.1.1).



4.3.1    Primary Header


The header of a primary HDU shall consist of a series of card images in ASCII
text. All header records shall consist of 36 card images. Card images without
information shall be filled with ASCII blanks (hexadecimal 20).



4.3.2    Primary Data Array


In FITS format, the primary data array shall consist of a single data array of
0-999 dimensions. The data values shall be a byte stream with no embedded
fill or blank space. The first value shall be in the first position of the
first primary data array record. The first value of each subsequent row of the
array shall be in the position immediately following the last value of the
previous row. Arrays of more than one dimension shall consist of a sequence
such that the index along axis 1 varies most rapidly, that along axis 2 next
most rapidly, and those along subsequent axes progressively less rapidly, with
that along axis m, where m is the value of NAXIS, varying least rapidly; i.e.,
the elements of an array A(x1, x2, ..., xm ) shall be in the order shown in
Figure 4.1. The index count along each axis shall begin with 1 and increment
by 1 up to the value of the NAXISn keyword (Section 5.2.1.1), If the data
array does not fill the final record, the remainder of the record shall be
filled with zero values with the same data repre- sentation as the values in
the array. For IEEE floating point data, values of +0. shall be used to fill
the remainder of the record.



4.4    Extensions



4.4.1    Requirements for Conforming Extensions


All extensions, whether or not further described in this standard, shall
fulfill the following requirements to be in conformance with this FITS
standard.



4.4.1.1    Identity


Each extension type shall have a unique type name, specified in the header
according to the syntax codified in Section 5.2.1.2.  To preclude conflict,
extension type names must be registered with the IAU Commission 5 FITS Working
Group. The NOST shall maintain and provide a list of the registered
extensions.


                         A(1, 1, ..., 1),
                         A(2, 1, ..., 1),
                                 ...,
                    A(NAXIS1, 1, ..., 1),
                         A(1, 2, ..., 1),
                         A(2, 2, ..., 1),
                                 ...,
                    A(NAXIS1, 2, ..., 1),
                                 ...,
                    A(1, NAXIS2, ..., NAXISm),
                                 ...,
               A(NAXIS1, NAXIS2, ..., NAXISm)


Figure 4.1: Arrays of more than one dimension shall consist of a sequence such
            that the index along axis 1 varies most rapidly and those along 
            subsequent axes progressively less rapidly. Except for the 
            location of the first element, array structure is independent of 
            record structure.



4.4.1.2    Size Specification


The total number of bits in the data of each extension shall be specified in
the header for that extension, in the manner prescribed in Section 5.2.1.2.



4.4.1.3    Compatibility with Existing FITS Files


No extension shall be constructed that invalidates existing FITS files.



4.4.2    Standard Extensions


A standard extension shall be a conforming extension whose organization and
content are completely specified in this standard. Only one FITS format shall
be approved for each type of data organization. Each standard extension shall
have a unique type name.



4.4.3    Order of Extensions


An extension may follow the primary HDU (or random groups records if present)
or another conforming extension.  Standard extensions and other conforming
extensions may appear in any order in a FITS file.



4.5    Special Records


The first 8 bytes of special records must not contain the string "XTENSION".
It is recommended that they not contain the string "SIMPLE ". The records must
have the standard FITS 23040-bit record length. The contents of special
records are not otherwise specified by this standard.





Section  5

                

Headers



5.1    Card Images



5.1.1    Syntax


Header card images shall consist of a keyword, an optional value, and an
optional comment.  If a value is present, column 9 shall contain an equal sign
(hexadecimal 3D, "="), column 10 shall contain an ASCII blank (hexadecimal
20), and columns 11-80 shall be as specified in the remainder of Section 5.2.
If no value is present, columns 9-80 may contain any ASCII text. Except where
specifically stated otherwise in this standard, keywords may appear in any
order.



5.1.2    Components


5.1.2.1    Keyword (bytes 1-8)


The keyword shall be a left justified, 8-character, blank filled, ASCII string
with no embedded blanks. All digits (hexadecimal 30 to 39,"0123456789") and
upper case Latin alphabetic characters (hexadecimal 41 to 5A, "ABCDEFG HIJKLMN
OPQRST UVWXYZ") are permitted; no lower case characters shall be used.  The
underscore (hexadecimal 5F, "_") and hyphen (hexadecimal 2D, "-") are also
permitted. No other characters are permitted. For indexed keywords, the
counter shall not have leading zeroes.



5.1.2.2    Value Indicator (bytes 9-10)


This field shall contain an ASCII "= " for keywords with an associated value
field. If there is no associated value field, this field may contain any ASCII
text.



5.1.2.3    Value/Comment


This field, when used, shall contain the value, if any, of the keyword,
followed by optional comments. Separation of the value and comments by a slash
(hexadecimal 2F, "/"), and a space between the value and the slash are
strongly recommended. The value shall be the ASCII representation of a string
or constant, in the format specified in Section 5.3.  The value field must be
written in a notation consistent with list-directed read operations in ANSI
FORTRAN-77 [10]. The comment may contain any ASCII text.



5.2    Keywords


5.2.1    Mandatory Keywords


Mandatory keywords are required as described in the remainder of this
subsection. They may be used only as described in this standard.



5.2.1.1    Principal


Principal mandatory keywords other than SIMPLE are required in all FITS
headers. The SIMPLE keyword is required in all primary headers. The card
images of any primary header must contain the keywords shown in Table 5.1 in
the order given.



                    1   SIMPLE
                    2   BITPIX
                    3   NAXIS
                    4   NAXISn, n = 1,:: :, NAXIS
                         ...
                       (other keywords)
                         ...
                   last  END



                Table 5.1: Principal mandatory keywords.


The total number of bits in the primary data array, exclusive of fill that is
needed after the data to complete the last record (Section 4.1), must be given
by the following expression:



              NBITS    =  |BITPIX  | x

                      (NAXIS1  x NAXIS2  x ... x NAXISm  );            (5.1)



where NBITS is non-negative and the number of bits excluding fill, m is the
value of NAXIS, and BITPIX and the NAXISn represent the values associated with
those keywords.



SIMPLE Keyword  The value field shall contain a logical constant with the
value T if the file conforms to this standard.  This keyword is mandatory only
for the primary header. A value of F signifies that the file does not conform
to this standard in some significant way.



BITPIX Keyword  The value field shall contain an integer.  The absolute value
is used in computing the sizes of data structures. It shall specify the number
of bits that represent a data value. The only valid values of BITPIX are given
in Table 5.2.



           Value           Data_Represented
         ________________________________________________________
             8     Character or unsigned binary integer
            16     16-bit twos complement binary integer
            32     32-bit twos complement binary integer
           -32     IEEE single precision floating point
           -64     IEEE double precision floating point
         ________________________________________________________



          Table 5.2: Interpretation of valid BITPIX value.



NAXIS Keyword  The value field shall contain a non-negative integer no greater
than 999, representing the number of axes in an ordinary data array. A value
of zero signifies that no data follow the header in the HDU.



NAXISn Keywords  The value field of this indexed keyword shall contain a non-
negative integer, representing the number of positions along axis n of an
ordinary data array. The NAXISn must be present for all values n = 1, ..., 
NAXIS. A value of zero for any of the NAXISn signifies that no data follow the
header in the HDU. If NAXIS is equal to 0, there should not be any NAXISn
keywords.



END Keyword  This keyword has no associated value.  Columns 9-80 shall be
filled with ASCII blanks.



5.2.1.2    Conforming Extensions


The use of extensions necessitates a single additional keyword in the primary
header of the FITS file.


EXTEND Keyword  If the FITS file may contain extensions, a card image with the
keyword EXTEND and the value field containing the logical value T must appear
in the primary header immediately after the last NAXISn card image, or, if
NAXIS=0, the NAXIS card image. The presence of this keyword with the value T
in the primary header does not require that extensions be present.


The card images of any extension header must use the keywords defined in Table
5.3 in the order specified. This organization is required for any conforming
extension, whether or not further specified in this standard.



                  1   XTENSION
                  2   BITPIX
                  3   NAXIS
                  4   NAXISn, n = 1,:: :, NAXIS
                         ...
                      (other keywords, including ...)
                      PCOUNT
                      GCOUNT
                        ...
                 last   END



          Table 5.3: Mandatory keywords in conforming extensions.


The total number of bits in the extension data array exclusive of fill that is
needed after the data to complete the last record (Section 4.1) such as that
for the primary data array (Section 4.3.2) must be given by the following
expression:



          NBITS    =  | BITPIX | x GCOUNT x

                   (PCOUNT + NAXIS1 x NAXIS2 x ... x NAXISm  );         (5.2)

where NBITS is non-negative and the number of bits excluding fill, m is the
value of NAXIS, and BITPIX, GCOUNT, PCOUNT, and the NAXISn represent the
values associated with those keywords.



XTENSION Keyword  The value field shall contain a character string giving the
name of the extension type. This keyword is mandatory for an extension header
and must not appear in the primary header. For an extension that is not a
standard extension, the type name must not be the same as that of a standard
extension. The IAU Commission 5 FITS Working Group may specify additional type
names that must be used only to identify specific types of extensions; the
full list shall be available from the NOST.


PCOUNT Keyword  The value field shall contain an integer that shall be used in
any way appropriate to define the data structure, consistent with equation 5.2.



GCOUNT Keyword  The value field shall contain an integer that shall be used in
any way appropriate to define the data structure, consistent with equation 5.2.



5.2.2    Other Reserved Keywords


These keywords are optional but may be used only as defined in this standard.
These keywords apply to any FITS structure except where specifically further
restricted.



5.2.2.1    Keywords Describing the History or Physical Construction of the HDU


DATE Keyword  The value field shall contain a character string giving the date
on which the HDU was created, in the form DD/MM/YY, where DD shall be the day
of the month, MM the month number, with January given by 01 and December by
12, and YY the last two digits of the year.  Specification of the date using
Universal Time is recommended. Copying of a FITS file does not require
changing any of the keyword values in the file's HDUs.



ORIGIN Keyword  The value field shall contain a character string identifying
the organization creating the FITS file.



BLOCKED Keyword  This keyword may be used only in the primary header. It shall
appear within the first 36 card images of the FITS file.  (Note: This keyword
thus cannot appear if NAXIS is greater than 31, or if NAXIS greater than 30
and the EXTEND keyword is present.) Its presence with the required logical
value of T advises that the physical block size of the FITS file on which it
appears may be an integral multiple of the logical record length, and not
necessarily equal to it. Physical block size and logical record length may be
equal even if this keyword is present or unequal if it is absent. It is
reserved primarily to prevent its use with other meanings. The issuance of
this standard deprecates the BLOCKED keyword.



5.2.2.2    Keywords Describing Observations


DATE-OBS Keyword  The value field shall contain a character string giving the
day on which the observations represented by the array were made, in the form
DD/MM/YY, where DD shall be the day of the month, MM the month number, with
January given by 01 and December by 12, and YY the last two digits of the
year. Specification of the date using Universal Time is recommended.


TELESCOP Keyword  The value field shall contain a character string identifying
the telescope used to acquire the data contained in the array.


INSTRUME Keyword  The value field shall contain a character string identifying
the instrument used to acquire the data contained in the array.


OBSERVER Keyword  The value field shall contain a character string identifying
who acquired the data associated with the header. This keyword is appropriate
when the data describe the results of observations.


OBJECT Keyword  The value field shall contain a character string giving the
name of the object observed.


EQUINOX Keyword  The value field shall contain a floating point number giving
the equinox in years for the celestial coordinate system in which positions
given in either the header or data are expressed.


EPOCH Keyword  The value field shall contain a floating point number giving
the equinox in years for the celestial coordinate system in which positions
given in either the header or data are expressed.  This document deprecates
the use of the EPOCH keyword and thus it shall not be used in FITS files
created after the adoption of this standard; rather, the EQUINOX keyword shall
be used.



5.2.2.3    Bibliographic Keywords


AUTHOR Keyword  The value field shall contain a character string identifying
who compiled the information in the data associated with the header.  This
keyword is appropriate when the data originate in a published paper or are
compiled from many sources.



REFERENC Keyword  The value field shall contain a character string citing a
reference where the data associated with the header are published.



5.2.2.4    Commentary Keywords


COMMENT Keyword  This keyword shall have no associated value; columns 9-80 may
contain any ASCII text. Any number of COMMENT card images may appear in a
header.


HISTORY Keyword  This keyword shall have no associated value; columns 9-80 may
contain any ASCII text.  The text should contain a history of steps and
procedures associated with the processing of the associated data.  Any number
of HISTORY card images may appear in a header.



Keyword Field is Blank  Columns 1-8 contain ASCII blanks. Columns 9-80 may
contain any ASCII text. Any number of card images with blank keyword fields
may appear in a header.



5.2.2.5    Array Keywords


These keywords are used to describe the contents of an array, either alone or
in a series of random groups. They are optional, but if they appear in the
header describing an array or groups, they must be used as defined in this
section of this standard. They shall not be used in headers describing other
structures unless the meaning is the same as that for a primary or groups
array.



BSCALE Keyword  This keyword shall be used, along with the BZERO keyword, when
the array pixel values are not the true physical values, to transform the
primary data array values to the true physical values they represent, using
equation 5.3. The value field shall contain a floating point number
representing the coefficient of the linear term in the scaling equation, the
ratio of physical value to array value at zero offset. The default value for
this keyword is 1.0.



BZERO Keyword  This keyword shall be used, along with the BSCALE keyword, when
the array pixel values are not the true physical values, to transform the
primary data array values to the true values. The value field shall contain a
floating point number representing the physical value corresponding to an
array value of zero. The default value for this keyword is 0.0. The
transformation equation is as follows:


             physical value    =   BZERO + BSCALE  x array value    (5.3)



BUNIT Keyword  The value field shall contain a character string, describing
the physical units in which the quantities in the array, after application
of BSCALE and BZERO, are expressed. Use of the units defined in the IAU Style
Manual [7] is recommended.



BLANK Keyword  This keyword shall be used only in headers with positive values
of BITPIX (i.e. in arrays with integer data). Columns 1-8 contain the string,
"BLANK  " (ASCII blanks in columns 6-8). The value field shall contain an
integer that specifies the representation of array values whose physical
values are undefined.


CTYPEn Keywords  The value field shall contain a character string, giving the
name of the coordinate represented by axis n. Where this coordinate represents
a physical quantity, units defined in the IAU Style Manual [7] are
recommended.


CRPIXn Keywords  The value field shall contain a floating point number,
identifying the location of a reference point along axis n, in units of the
axis index. This value is based upon a counter that runs from 1 to NAXISn with
an increment of 1 per pixel. The reference point value need not be that for
the center of a pixel nor lie within the actual data array. Use comments to
indicate the location of the index point relative to the pixel.



CRVALn Keywords  The value field shall contain a floating point number, giving
the value of the coordinate specified by the CTYPEn keyword at the reference
point CRPIXn.



CDELTn Keywords  The value field shall contain a floating point number, giving
the partial derivative of the coordinate specified by the CTYPEn keywords with
respect to the pixel index, evaluated at the reference point CRPIXn, in units
of the coordinate specified by the CTYPEn keyword.



CROTAn Keywords  This keyword is used to indicate a rotation from a standard
coordinate system described by the CTYPEn to a different coordinate system in
which the values in the array are actually expressed. Rules for such rotations
are not further specified in this standard; the rotation should be explained
in comments. The value field shall contain a floating point number, giving the
rotation angle in degrees between axis n and the direction implied by the
coordinate system defined by CTYPEn.



DATAMAX Keyword  The value field shall always contain a floating point number,
regardless of the value of BITPIX. This number shall give the maximum valid
physical value represented in the array, exclusive of any special values.


DATAMIN Keyword  The value field shall always contain a floating point number,
regardless of the value of BITPIX. This number shall give the minimum valid
physical value represented in the array, exclusive of any special values.



5.2.2.6    Extension Keywords


These keywords are used to describe an extension.



EXTNAME Keyword  The value field shall contain a character string, to be used
to distinguish among different extensions of the same type, i.e., with the
same value of XTENSION, in a FITS file.


EXTVER Keyword  The value field shall contain an integer, to be used to
distinguish among different extensions in a FITS file with the same type and
name, i.e., the same values for XTENSION and EXTNAME. The values need not
start with 1 for the first extension with a particular value of EXTNAME and
need not be in sequence for subsequent values. If the EXTVER keyword is
absent, the file should be treated as if the value were 1.



EXTLEVEL Keyword  The value field shall contain an integer, specifying the
level in a hierarchy of extension levels of the extension header containing
it. The value shall be 1 for the highest level; levels with a higher value of
this keyword shall be subordinate to levels with a lower value. If the
EXTLEVEL keyword is absent, the file should be treated as if the value were 1.



5.2.3    Additional Keywords


5.2.3.1    Requirements


New keywords may be devised in addition to those described in this standard,
so long as they are consistent with the generalized rules for keywords and do
not conflict with mandatory or reserved keywords.



5.2.3.2    Restrictions


No keyword in the primary header shall specify the presence of a specific
extension in a FITS file; only the EXTEND keyword described in Section 5.2.1.2
shall be used to indicate the possible presence of extensions. No keyword in
either the primary or extension header shall explicitly refer to the physical
block size, other than the BLOCKED keyword of Section 5.2.2.1.



5.3    Value



5.3.1    General Format Requirements


The value field must be written in a notation consistent with the
list-directed read operations in ANSI FORTRAN-77 [10]. The structure shall be
determined by the type of the variable.  The fixed format is required for
values of mandatory keywords and recommended for values of all others. This
standard imposes no requirements on case sensitivity of character strings
other than those explicitly specified.


5.3.2    Fixed Format


5.3.2.1    Character String


If the value is a character string, column 11 shall contain a single quote
(hexadecimal code 27, "'"); the string shall follow, starting in column 12,
followed by a closing single quote (also hexadecimal code 27) that should not
occur before column 20 and must occur in or before column 80. Proper
interpretation of the FITS file should not require decoding any more than the
first eight characters of a character string. The character string shall be
composed only of ASCII text. A single quote is represented within a string as
two successive single quotes, e.g., O'HARA = 'O''HARA'. Leading blanks are
significant; trailing blanks are not.



5.3.2.2    Logical Variable


If the value is a logical constant, it shall appear as a T or F in column 30.



5.3.2.3    Integer


If the value is an integer, the ASCII representation shall appear right
justified in columns 11-30. For a complex integer, the imaginary part shall be
right justified in columns 31-50.



5.3.2.4    Real Floating Point Number


If the value is a real floating point number, the ASCII representation shall
appear in columns 11-30. Letters in the exponential form shall be upper case.
The value shall be right justified, and the decimal point must appear. Note:
The full precision of 64-bit values can not be expressed as a single value
using the fixed format.



5.3.2.5    Complex Floating Point Number


If the value is a complex floating point number, the ASCII representation of
the real part shall appear in the same manner as a real floating point number
(see above). The ASCII representation of the imaginary part shall appear in
columns 31 - 50. Letters in the exponential form shall be upper case.  The
value shall be right justified, and the decimal point must appear. Note: The
full precision of 64-bit values can not be expressed as a single value using
the fixed format.





Section  6



Data  Representation



Primary and extension data shall be represented in one of the formats
described in this section.  FITS data shall be interpreted to be a byte
stream.  Bytes are in order of decreasing significance. The byte that includes
the sign bit shall be first, and the byte that has the ones bit shall be last.



6.1    Characters


Each character shall be represented by one byte. A character shall be
represented by its 7-bit ASCII [11] code in the low order seven bits in the
byte. The high-order bit shall be zero.



6.2    Integers


6.2.1    Eight-bit


Eight-bit integers shall be unsigned binary integers, contained in one byte.



6.2.2    Sixteen-bit


Sixteen-bit integers shall be twos-complement signed binary integers,
contained in two bytes.



6.2.3    Thirty-two-bit


Thirty-two-bit integers shall be twos-complement signed binary integers,
contained in four bytes.



6.3    IEEE-754 Floating Point


Transmission of 32- and 64-bit floating point data within the FITS format
shall use the ANSI/IEEE-754 standard [12]. BITPIX = -32 and BITPIX = -64
signify 32- and 64- bit IEEE floating point numbers, respectively; the
absolute value of BITPIX is used for computing the sizes of data structures.
The full IEEE set of number forms is allowed for FITS interchange, including
all special values (e.g., the "Not-a-Number" cases). The order of the bytes
will be sign and exponent first, followed by the mantissa bytes in order of
decreasing significance. The BLANK keyword should not be used when BITPIX =
-32 or -64. Use of the BSCALE and BZERO keywords is not recommended.



6.3.1    Thirty-two-bit Floating Point


6.3.1.1    Structure


Table 6.1 describes the bit structure of 32-bit floating point standard
numeric values.



                      Bit Positions     Content
                     (first to last)
                     ________________________________
                           1             sign
                         2 - 9         exponent
                        10 - 32        mantissa
                     ________________________________



           Table 6.1: Content of 32-bit floating point bit positions.



6.3.1.2    Interpretation


Standard numeric values of IEEE 32-bit floating point numbers are interpreted
according to the following rule:



             value   =  (-1)sign x 2(exponent -127) x mantissa     (6.1)


The IEEE NaN (Not-a-Number) values shall be used to represent undefined
values. All IEEE special values are recognized.



6.3.2    Sixty-four-bit Floating Point


6.3.2.1    Structure


Table 6.2 describes the bit structure of 64-bit floating point standard
numeric values.


                      Bit Positions     Content
                     (first to last)
                     _______________________________
                           1             sign
                         2 - 12        exponent
                        13 - 64        mantissa
                     _______________________________



           Table 6.2: Content of 64-bit floating point bit positions.



6.3.2.2    Interpretation


Standard numeric values for IEEE 64-bit floating point numbers are interpreted
according to the following rule:



             value   =   (-1)sign x 2(exponent -1023) x mantissa       (6.2)


The IEEE NaN (Not-a-Number) values shall be used to represent undefined
values. All IEEE special values are recognized.




Section  7



Random  Groups  Structure



Although it is standard FITS, the random groups structure has been used almost
exclusively for applications in radio interferometry; outside this field, few
FITS readers can read data in random groups format. A proposed binary tables
extension will eventually be able to accommodate the structure described by
random groups.  While existing FITS files use the format, and it is therefore
included in this standard, its use for future applications is deprecated by
this document.



7.1    Keywords


7.1.1    Mandatory Keywords


If the random groups format records follow the primary header, the card images
of the primary header must use the keywords defined in Table 7.1 in the order
specified.

The total number of bits in the random groups records exclusive of the fill
described in Section 7.2 must be given by the following expression:



           NBITS   =  | BITPIX | x GCOUNT  x

                   (PCOUNT  + NAXIS2  x NAXIS3   x ... x NAXISm  );    (7.1)


where NBITS is non-negative and the number of bits excluding fill, m is the
value of NAXIS, and BITPIX, GCOUNT, PCOUNT, and the NAXISn represent the
values associated with those keywords.



7.1.1.1    SIMPLE Keyword


The card image containing this keyword is structured in the same way as if a
primary data array were present (Section 5.2.1).


               1   SIMPLE
               2   BITPIX
               3   NAXIS
               4   NAXIS1
               5   NAXISn, n=2, ..., value of NAXIS
                       ...
                  (other keywords, which must include ...)
                  GROUPS
                  PCOUNT
                  GCOUNT
                  ...
              last  END



   Table 7.1: Mandatory keywords in primary header preceding random groups.



7.1.1.2    BITPIX Keyword


The card image containing this keyword is structured as prescribed in Section
5.2.1.



7.1.1.3    NAXIS Keyword


The value field shall contain an integer ranging from 1 to 999, representing
one more than the number of axes in each data array.



7.1.1.4    NAXIS1 Keyword


The value field shall contain the integer 0, a signature of random groups
format indi- cating that there is no primary data array.



7.1.1.5    NAXISn Keywords (n=2, ..., value of NAXIS)


The value field shall contain an integer, representing the number of positions
along axis n-1 of the data array in each group.



7.1.1.6    GROUPS Keyword


The value field shall contain the logical constant T. The value T associated
with this keyword implies that random groups records are present.



7.1.1.7    PCOUNT Keyword


The value field shall contain an integer equal to the number of parameters
preceding each group.



7.1.1.8    GCOUNT Keyword


The value field shall contain an integer equal to the number of random groups
present.



7.1.1.9    END Keyword


The card image containing this keyword is structured as described in Section
5.2.1.



7.1.2    Reserved Keywords


7.1.2.1    PTYPEn Keywords


The value field shall contain a character string giving the name of parameter
n. If the PTYPEn keywords for more than one value of n have the same
associated name in the value field, then the data value for the parameter of
that name is to be obtained by adding the derived data values of the
corresponding parameters. This rule provides a mechanism by which a random
parameter may have more precision than the accompanying data array members;
for example, by summing two 16-bit values with the first scaled relative to
the other such that the sum forms a number of up to 32-bit precision.



7.1.2.2    PSCALn Keywords


This keyword shall be used, along with the PZEROn keyword, when the nth FITS
group parameter value is not the true physical value, to transform the group
parameter value to the true physical values it represents, using equation 7.2.
The value field shall contain a floating point number representing the
coefficient of the linear term in equation 7.2, the scaling factor between
true values and group parameter values at zero offset. The default value for
this keyword is 1.0.



7.1.2.3    PZEROn Keywords


This keyword shall be used, along with the PSCALn keyword, when the nth FITS
group parameter value is not the true physical value, to transform the group
parameter value to the physical value. The value field shall contain a
floating point number, representing the true value corresponding to a group
parameter value of zero. The default value for this keyword is 0.0. The
transformation equation is as follows:



         physical value   =  PZEROn  + PSCALn  x group parameter value  (7.2)


7.2    Data Sequence


Random groups data shall consist of a set of groups. The number of groups
shall be specified by the GCOUNT keyword in the associated header record. 
Each group shall consist of the number of parameters specified by the PCOUNT
keyword followed by an array with the number of members GMEM given by the
following expression:



              GMEM  = (NAXIS2 x NAXIS3  x ... x NAXISm):        (7.3)


where GMEM is the number of members in the data array in a group, m is the
value of NAXIS, and the NAXISn represent the values associated with those
keywords. The first parameter of the first group shall appear in the first
location of the first data record. The first element of each array shall
immediately follow the last parameter associated with that group. The first
parameter of any subsequent group shall imme- diately follow the last member
of the array of the previous group. The arrays shall be organized internally
in the same way as an ordinary primary data array. If the groups data do not
fill the final record, the remainder of the record shall be filled with zero
val- ues in the same way as a primary data array (Section 4.3.2). If random
groups records are present, there shall be no primary data array.



7.3    Data Representation


Permissible data representations are those listed in Section 6. Parameters and
members of associated data arrays shall have the same representation. Should
more precision be required for an associated parameter than for a member of a
data array, the parameter shall be divided into two or more addends,
represented by the same value for the PTYPEn keyword.  The value shall be the
sum of the physical values, which may have been obtained from the group
parameter values using the PSCALn and PZEROn keywords.





Section  8



Standard  Extensions



8.1    ASCII Tables Extension


Data shall appear as an ASCII Tables extension if the primary header of the
FITS file has the keyword EXTEND set to T and the first keyword of that
extension header has XTENSION= 'TABLE  '.



8.1.1    Mandatory Keywords


The card images in the header of an ASCII Tables Extension must use the
keywords defined in Table 8.1 in the order specified.



XTENSION Keyword  The value field shall contain the character string 
'TABLE '.



BITPIX Keyword  The value field shall contain the integer 8, denoting that the
array contains ASCII characters.



NAXIS Keyword  The value field shall contain the integer 2, denoting that the
included data array is two-dimensional: rows and columns.



NAXIS1 Keyword  The value field shall contain a non-negative integer, giving
the number of ASCII characters in each row of the table.



NAXIS2 Keyword  The value field shall contain a non-negative integer, giving
the number of rows in the table.



PCOUNT Keyword  The value field shall contain the integer 0.


           1   XTENSION
           2   BITPIX
           3   NAXIS
           4   NAXIS1
           5   NAXIS2
           6   PCOUNT
           7   GCOUNT
           8   TFIELDS
                ...
              (other keywords, which must include ...)
              TBCOLn, n=1,2,...,k where k is the value of TFIELDS
              TFORMn, n=1,2,...,k where k is the value of TFIELDS
                 ...
          last   END



         Table 8.1: Mandatory keywords in ASCII tables extensions.



GCOUNT Keyword  The value field shall contain the integer 1; the data records
contain a single table.



TFIELDS Keyword  The value field shall contain a non-negative integer
representing the number of fields in each row. The maximum permissible value
is 999.


TBCOLn Keywords  The value field of this indexed keyword shall contain an
integer specifying the column in which field n starts. The first column of a
row is numbered 1.


TFORMn Keywords  The value field of this indexed keyword shall contain a
character string describing the FORTRAN-77 [10] format in which field n is
coded. The formats in Table 8.2 are permitted for encoding.

Repetition of a format from one field to the next must be indicated by using
separate pairs of TBCOLn and TFORMn keywords for each field; format repetition
may not be indicated by prefixing the format by a number.


END Keyword  This keyword has no associated value.  Columns 9-80 shall contain
ASCII blanks.


            Field Value        Data Type
            __________________________________________________________
                 Aw       Character
                 Iw       Integer
               Fw.d       Single precision real
               Ew.d       Single precision real, exponential notation
               Dw.d       Double precision real, exponential notation
            __________________________________________________________



          Table 8.2: Valid TFORMn format values in TABLE extensions.



8.1.2    Other Reserved Keywords


In addition to the mandatory keywords defined in section 8.1.1, these keywords
may be used to describe the structure of an ASCII Tables data array. They are
optional, but if they appear within an ASCII Tables extension header, they
must be used as defined in this section of this standard.



TSCALn Keywords  This indexed keyword shall be used, along with the TZEROn
key- word, when the quantity in field n does not represent a true physical
quantity.  The value field shall contain a floating point number representing
the coefficient of the linear term in equation 8.1, which must be used to
compute the true physical value of the field. The default value for this
keyword is 1.0. This keyword may not be used for A-format fields.



TZEROn Keywords  This indexed keyword shall be used, along with the TSCALn
key- word, when the quantity in field n does not represent a true physical
quantity.  The value field shall contain a floating point number representing
the zero point for the true physical value of field n. The default value for
this keyword is 0.0. This keyword may not be used for A-format fields. The
transformation equation used to compute a true physical value from the
quantity in field n is


             physical value     =  TZEROn   + TSCALn   x field value


TNULLn Keywords  The value field for this indexed keyword shall contain the
character string that represents an undefined value for field n. The string is
implicitly blank filled to the width of the field.



TTYPEn Keywords  The value field for this indexed keyword shall contain a
character string, giving the name of field n. It is recommended that only
letters, digits, and underscore (hexadecimal code 5F, "__") be used in the
name. However, string comparisons with the values of TTYPEn keywords should
not be case sensitive. The use of identical names for different fields should
be avoided.



TUNITn Keywords  The value field shall contain a character string describing
the phys- ical units in which the quantity in field n, after any application
of TSCALn and TZEROn, is expressed. Use of the units defined in the IAU Style
Manual [7] is recommended.



8.1.3    Data Sequence


The table is constructed from a two-dimensional array of ASCII characters. The
row length and the number of rows shall be those specified, respectively, by
the NAXIS1 and NAXIS2 keywords of the associated header records. The number of
characters in a row and the number of rows in the table shall determine the
size of the character array. Every row in the array shall have the same number
of characters. The first character of the first row shall be at the start of
the record immediately following the last header record. The first character
of subsequent rows shall follow immediately the character at the end of the
previous row, independent of the record structure. The positions in the last
data record after the last character of the last row of the data array shall
be filled with ASCII blanks.



8.1.4    Fields


Each row in the array shall consist of a sequence of fields, with one entry in
each field. For every field, the FORTRAN-77 format of the information
contained, location in the row of the beginning of the field and (optionally)
the field name, shall be specified in keywords of the associated header
records. A separate format keyword must be provided for each field. The
location and format of fields shall be the same for every row. Fields may
overlap.



8.1.5    Entries


All data in an ASCII tables extension record shall be ASCII text in FORTRAN
format. The only possible formats shall be those specified in Table 8.2.  If
values of -0 and +0 must be distinguished, then the sign character should
appear in a separate field in character format. TNULLn keywords may be used to
specify a character string that represents an undefined value in each field.
The characters representing an undefined value may differ from field to field
but must be the same within a field. Blanks within the fields are not to be
interpreted as zeroes; zeroes must be given explicitly.


8.2    Other Standard Extensions


At the effective date of this standard there are no other standard extensions.



Section  9



Restrictions on Changes


Any structure that is a valid FITS structure shall remain a valid FITS
structure at all future times. Use of certain valid FITS structures may be
deprecated by this or future FITS standard documents.




Appendix  A



Draft Proposal for Binary Table



Extension



(This Appendix is not part of the NOST FITS Standard but is included for
informa- tional purposes only.)

This appendix contains a draft proposal for a Binary Table extension, type
name "BINTABLE", developed by W. D. Cotton (NRAO) and D. Tody (NOAO), dated
September 20, 1991. With their permission, that proposal [9] is reproduced
nearly verbatim; the only changes are those required for stylistic consistency
with the rest of this document. The BINTABLE extension has been developed from
the earlier A3DTABLE extension implemented in AIPS by NRAO. It supports all
features of the earlier, more limited extension. Binary tables are being used
at a number of different installations and by NASA and NASA-supported
projects.  A limited subset, without the repeat count feature, has
successfully been exchanged between AIPS and MIDAS, and full interoperability
testing of the BINTABLE extension is in progress. However, much of the
existing FITS-reading software cannot yet decode the format. The extension is
now undergoing community review as part of the process leading to eventual
consideration by the IAU Commission 5 FITS Working Group. Because it is
becoming widely used, and because it illustrates an application of the rules
for conforming extensions, the text of the proposal is included as the
remainder of this Appendix.



A.1     Abstract



This paper describes the FITS binary tables which are a flexible and efficient
means of transmitting a wide variety of data structures. Table rows may be a
mixture of a number of numerical, logical and character data entries. In
addition, each entry is allowed to be a single dimensioned array. Numeric data
are kept in IEEE formats.



A.2     Introduction

                                                                 
The Flexible Image Transport System (FITS) [1], [2] has been used for a number
of years both as a means of transporting data between computers and/or
processing systems and as an archival format for a variety of astronomical
data. The success of this system has resulted in the introduction of
enhancements. In particular, considerable use has been made of the records
following the "main" data file.  Grosbol et al.  [4] introduced a generalized
header format for extension "files" following the "main" data file, but in the
same physical file. Harten et al. [5] defined an ASCII table structure which
could convey information that could be conveniently printed as a table. This
paper generalizes the ASCII tables and defines an efficient means for
conveying a wide variety of data structures as "extension" files.



A.3     Binary Tables


The binary tables are tables in the sense that they are organized into rows
and columns. They are multi-dimensional since an entry, or set of values
associated with a given row and column, can be an array of arbitrary size.
These values are represented in a standardized binary form. Each row in the
table contains an entry for each column. This entry may be one of a number of
different data types, 8 bit unsigned integers, 16 or 32 bit signed integers,
logical, character, bit, 32 or 64 bit floating point or complex values.  The
datatype and dimensionality are independently defined for each column but each
row must have the same structure. Additional information associated with the
table may be included in the table header as keyword/value pairs.

The binary tables come after the "main" data file, if any, in a FITS file and
follow the standards for generalized extension tables defined in [4].

The use of the binary tables requires the use of a single additional keyword
in the main header:


EXTEND (logical)  if true (ASCII 'T') indicates that there may be extension
files fol- lowing the data records and, if there are, that they conform to the
generalized extension file header standards.



A.4     Table Header


The table header begins at the first byte in the first record following the
last record of main data (if any) or following the last record of the previous
extension file. The format of the binary table header is such that a given
FITS reader can decide if it wants (or understands) it and can skip the table
if not.


A table header consists of one or more 2880 8-bit byte logical records each
containing 36 80-byte "card images" in the form:


    keyword = value    / comment


where the keyword begins in column 1 and contains up to eight characters and
the value begins in column 10 or later. Keyword/value pairs in binary table
headers conform to standard FITS usage.

The number of columns in the table is given by the value associated with
keyword TFIELDS. The type, dimensionality, labels, units, blanking values, and
display formats for entries in column nnn may be defined by the values
associated with the keywords TFORMnnn, TTYPEnnn, TUNITnnn, TNULLnnn, and
TDISPnnn. Of these only TFORMnnn is required but the use of TTYPEnnn is
strongly recommended. An entry may be omitted from the table, but still
defined in the header, by using a zero element count in the TFORMnnn entry.

The required keywords XTENSION, BITPIX, NAXIS, NAXIS1, NAXIS2, PCOUNT, GCOUNT
and TFIELDS must be in order; other keywords follow these in an arbitrary
order. The required keywords in a binary table header record are:


XTENSION (character)  indicates the type of extension file, this must be the
first keyword in the header. This is 'BINTABLE' for the binary tables.


BITPIX (integer)  gives the number of bits per "pixel" value. For binary
tables this value is 8.


NAXIS (integer)  gives the number of "axes"; this value is 2 for binary
tables.


NAXIS1 (integer)  gives the number of 8 bit bytes in each "row". This should
correspond to the sum of the values defined in the TFORMnnn keywords.


NAXIS2 (integer)  gives the number of rows in the table.


PCOUNT (integer)  is used to tell the number of bytes following the regular
portion of the table. These bytes are allowed but no meaning is attached to
them in this document. PCOUNT should normally be 0 for binary tables (see
however Section A.9.2).


GCOUNT (integer)  gives the number of groups of data defined as for the random
group main data records. This is 1 for binary tables.


TFIELDS (integer)  gives the number of fields (columns) present in the table.


TFORMnnn1 (character)  gives the size and data type of field nnn. Allowed
values of nnn range from 1 to the value associated with TFIELDS. Allowed
values of TFORMnnn are of the form rL, rX, rI, rJ, rA, rE, rD, rB, rC, rM, or
rP (logical, bit, 16-bit integers, 32- bitntegers, characters, single
precision, double precision, unsigned bytes, complex pair of single precision
values, double complex pair of double precision values and variable length
array descriptor [64 bits]) where r=number of elements. If the element count
is absent, it is assumed to be 1. A value of zero is allowed. Note: additional
characters may follow the datatype code character but they are not defined in
this document.

The number of bytes determined from summing the TFORMnnn values should equal
NAXIS1 but NAXIS1 should be used as the definition of the actual length of the
row.


END  is always the last keyword in a header. The remainder of the FITS logical
(2880- byte) record following the END keyword is blank filled. 


The optional standard keywords are:

EXTNAME (character)  can be used to give a name to the extension file to
distinguish it from other similar files. The name may have a hierarchical
structure giving its relation to other files (e.g., "map1.cleancomp")


EXTVER (integer)  is a version number which can be used with EXTNAME to
identify a file.


EXTLEVEL (integer)  specifies the level of the extension file in a
hierarchical structure. The default value for EXTLEVEL should be 1.


TTYPEnnn (character)  gives the label for field nnn.



TUNITnnn (character)  gives the physical units of field nnn.


TSCALnnn (floating)  gives the scale factor for field nnn. True_value =
FITS_value * TSCAL + TZERO. Note: TSCALnnn and TZEROnnn are not defined for A,
L, P, or X format fields. Default value is 1.0.


TZEROnnn (floating)  gives the offset for field nnn. (See TSCALnnn.) Default
value is 0.0.


TNULLnnn (integer)  gives the undefined value for integer (B, I, and J) field
nnn. Section A.6 discusses the conventions for indicating invalid data of
other data types.


NOTE:  The "nnn" in keyword names indicates an integer index in the range 
1 - 999. The integer is left justified with no leading zeroes, e.g. TFORM1,
TFORM19, etc.


TDISPnnn (character)  gives the Fortran 90 format suggested for the display of
field nnn.  Each byte of bit and byte arrays will be considered to be a signed
integer for purposes of display.  The allowed forms are Aw, Lw, Iw.m, Bw.m
(Binary, integers only), Ow.m (Octal, integers only), Zw.m (Hexadecimal,
integers only) Fw.d, Ew.dEe, ENw.d, ESw.d, Gw.dEe, and Dw.dEe where w is the
width of the displayed value in characters, m is the minimum number of digits
possibly requiring leading zeroes, d is the number of digits to the right of
the decimal, and e is the number of digits in the exponent. All entries in a
field are displayed with a single, repeated format. If Fortran 90 formats are
not available to a reader which prints a table then equivalent FORTRAN 77
formats may be substituted. Any TSCALnnn and TZEROnnn values should be applied
before display of the value. Note that characters and logical values may be
null (zero byte) terminated.


TDIMnnn (character)  This keyword is reserved for use by the convention
described in Section A.9.1.


THEAP (integer)  This keyword is reserved for use by the convention described
in Section A.9.2.


AUTHOR (character)  gives the name of the author or creator of the table.


REFERENC (character)  gives the reference for the table.

Nonstandard keyword/value pairs adhering to the FITS keyword standards are al-
lowed although a reader may chose to ignore them.


A.5     Conventions for Multidimensional Arrays


There is commonly a need to use data structures more complex than the one
dimen- sional definition of the table entries defined for this table format. 
Multidimensional arrays, or more complex structures, may be implemented by
passing dimensions or other structural information as either column entries or
keywords in the header. Pass- ing the dimensionality as column entries has the
advantage that the array can have variable dimension (subject to a fixed
maximum size and storage usage). A convention is suggested in Section A.9.1.


A.6     Table Data Records


The binary table data records begin with the next logical record following the
last header record. If the intersection of a row and column is an array then
the elements of this array are contiguous and in order of increasing array
index. Within a row, columns are stored in order of increasing column number.
Rows are given in order of increasing row number.  All 2880-byte logical
records are completely filled with no extra bytes between columns or rows.
Columns and rows do not necessarily begin in the first byte of a 2880-byte
record. Note that this implies that a given word may not be aligned in the
record along word boundaries of its type; words may even span 2880-byte
records. The last 2880-byte record should be zero byte filled past the end of
the valid data.

If word alignment is ever considered important for efficiency considerations
then this may be accomplished by the proper design of the table. The simplest
way to accomplish this is to order the columns by data type (M, D, C, P, E, J,
I, B, L, A, X) and then add sufficient padding in the form of a dummy column
of type B with the number of elements such that the size of a row is either an
integral multiple of 2880 bytes or an integral number of rows is 2880 bytes.

The data types are defined in the following list (r is the number of elements
in the entry):


rL  A logical value consists of an ASCII "T" indicating true and "F"
indicating false. A null character (zero byte) indicates an invalid value.


rX  A bit array will start in the most significant bit of the byte and the
following bits in the order of decreasing significance in the byte. Bit
significance is in the same order as for integers. A bit array entry consists
of an integral number of bytes with trailing bits zero.

No explicit null value is defined for bit arrays but if the capability of
blanking bit arrays is needed it is recommended that one of the following
conventions be adopted: 1) designate a bit in the array as a validity bit, 2)
add an L type column to indicate validity of the array or 3) add a second bit
array which contains a validity bit for each of the bits in the original
array. Such conventions are beyond the scope of this general format design and
in general readers will not be expected to understand them.


rB  Unsigned 8-bit integer with bits in decreasing order of significance.
Signed values may be passed with appropriate values of TSCALnnn and TZEROnnn.


rI  A 16-bit twos complement integer with the bits in decreasing order of
significance. Unsigned values may be passed with appropriate values of
TSCALnnn and TZEROnnn.


rJ  A 32-bit twos complement integer with the bits in decreasing order of
significance. Unsigned values may be passed with appropriate values of
TSCALnnn and TZEROnnn.


rA  Character strings are represented by ASCII characters in their natural
order. A character string may be terminated before its explicit length by an
ASCII NULL char- acter. An ASCII NULL as the first character will indicate an
undefined string i.e. a NULL string. Legal characters are printable ASCII
characters in the range ' ' (hex 20) to '"' (hex 7E) inclusive and ASCII NULL
after the last valid character. Strings the full length of the field are not
NULL terminated.


rE  Single precision floating point values are in IEEE 32-bit precision format
in the order: sign bit, exponent and mantissa in decreasing order of
significance. The IEEE NaN (not a number) values are used to indicate an
invalid number; a value with all bits set is recognized as a NaN. All IEEE
special values are recognized.


rD  Double precision floating point values are in IEEE 64-bit precision format
in the order: sign bit, exponent and mantissa in decreasing order of
significance. The IEEE NaN values are used to indicate an invalid number; a
value with all bits set is recognized as a NaN. All IEEE special values are
recognized.                   


rC  A Complex value consists of a pair of IEEE 32-bit precision floating point
values with the first being the real and the second the imaginary part. If
either word contains a NaN value the complex value is invalid.


rM  Double precision complex values. These consist of a pair of IEEE 64-bit
precision floating point values with the first being the real and the second
the imaginary part. If either word contains a NaN value the complex value is
invalid.


rP  Variable length array descriptor. An element is equal in size to a pair of
32-bit integers (i.e., 64 bits).  The anticipated use of this data type is
described in Section A.9.2. Arrays of type P are not defined; the r field is
permitted, but values other than 0 or 1 are undefined. For purposes of
printing, an entry of type P should be considered equivalent to 2J.


A.7     Example Binary Table Header


The following is an example of a binary table header which has 19 columns
using a number of different data types and dimensions. Columns labeled
"IFLUX", "QFLUX", "UFLUX", "VFLUX", "FREQOFF", "LSRVEL" and "RESTFREQ" are
arrays of dimension 2.  Columns labeled "SOURCE" and "CALCODE" are character
strings of length 16 and 4 respectively.  The nonstandard keywords "NO_IF",
VELTYP", and "VELDEF" also appear at the end of the header. The first two
lines of numbers are only present to show card columns and are not part of the
table header.


         1         2         3         4         5         6         7         8
12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890
XTENSION= 'BINTABLE'          / Extension type
BITPIX  =                    8/ Binary data
NAXIS   =                    2/ Table is a matrix
NAXIS1  =                  168/ Width of table row in bytes
NAXIS2  =                    5/ Number of rows in table
PCOUNT  =                    0/ Random parameter count
GCOUNT  =                    1/ Group count
TFIELDS =                   19/ Number of columns in each row
EXTNAME = 'AIPS SU '          / AIPS source table
EXTVER  =                    1/ Version number of table
TFORM1  = '1I      '          / 16-bit integer
TTYPE1  = 'ID. NO.       '    / Type (label) of column  1
TUNIT1  = '        '          / Physical units of column  1
TFORM2  = '16A     '          / Character string
TTYPE2  = 'SOURCE        '    / Type (label) of column  2
TUNIT2  = '        '          / Physical units of column  2
TFORM3  = '1I      '          / 16-bit integer
TTYPE3  = 'QUAL          '    / Type (label) of column  3
TUNIT3  = '        '          / Physical units of column  3
TNULL3  =                32767/ Undefined value for column 3
TFORM4  = '4A      '          / Character string
TTYPE4  = 'CALCODE       '    / Type (label) of column  4
TUNIT4  = '        '          / Physical units of column  4
TFORM5  = '2E      '          / Single precision array
TTYPE5  = 'IFLUX         '    / Type (label) of column  5
TUNIT5  = 'JY      '          / Physical units of column  5
TFORM6  = '2E      '          / Single precision array
TTYPE6  = 'QFLUX         '    / Type (label) of column  6
TUNIT6  = 'JY      '          / Physical units of column  6
TFORM7  = '2E      '          / Single precision array
TTYPE7  = 'UFLUX         '    / Type (label) of column  7
TUNIT7  = 'JY      '          / Physical units of column  7
TFORM8  = '2E      '          / Single precision array
TTYPE8  = 'VFLUX         '    / Type (label) of column  8
TUNIT8  = 'JY      '          / Physical units of column  8
TFORM9  = '2D      '          / Double precision array.
TTYPE9  = 'FREQOFF       '    / Type (label) of column  9
TUNIT9  = 'HZ      '          / Physical units of column  9
TSCAL9  =                1.0D9/ Scaling factor of column 9
TZERO9  =                  0.0/ Offset of column 9
TFORM10 = '1D      '          / Double precision
TTYPE10 = 'BANDWIDTH      '   / Type (label) of column 10
TUNIT10 = 'HZ      '          / Physical units of column 10
TFORM11 = '1D      '          / Double precision
TTYPE11 = 'RAEPO         '    / Type (label) of column 11
TUNIT11 = 'DEGREES '          / Physical units of column 11
TFORM12 = '1D      '          / Double precision
TTYPE12 = 'DECEPO        '    / Type (label) of column 12
TUNIT12 = 'DEGREES '          / Physical units of column 12
TFORM13 = '1D      '          / Double precision
TTYPE13 = 'EPOCH         '    / Type (label) of column 13
TUNIT13 = 'YEARS   '          / Physical units of column 13
TFORM14 = '1D      '          / Double precision
TTYPE14 = 'RAAPP         '    / Type (label) of column 14
TUNIT14 = 'DEGREES '          / Physical units of column 14
TFORM15 = '1D      '          / Double precision
TTYPE15 = 'DECAPP        '    / Type (label) of column 15
TUNIT15 = 'DEGREES '          / Physical units of column 15
TFORM16 = '2D      '          / Double precision array
TTYPE16 = 'LSRVEL        '    / Type (label) of column 16
TUNIT16 = 'M/SEC   '          / Physical units of column 16
TFORM17 = '2D      '          / Double precision array
TTYPE17 = 'RESTFREQ       '   / Type (label) of column 17
TUNIT17 = 'HZ      '          / Physical units of column 17
TDISP17 = 'D17.10  '          / Display format of column 17
TFORM18 = '1D      '          / Double precision array
TTYPE18 = 'PMRA          '    / Type (label) of column 18
TUNIT18 = 'DEG/DAY '          / Physical units of column 18
TFORM19 = '1D      '          / Double precision array
TTYPE19 = 'PMDEC         '    / Type (label) of column 19
TUNIT19 = 'DEG/DAY '          / Physical units of column 19
NO_IF   =                    2
VELTYP  = 'LSR     '
VELDEF  = 'OPTICAL '
END



A.8     Acknowledgments by Authors of Draft Proposal



The authors would like to thank E. Greisen, D. Wells, P. Grosbol, B. Hanisch,
E. Mandel, E. Kemper, S. Voels, B. Schlesinger, W. Pence and many others for
invaluable discussions and suggestions.


A.9     Appendixes to Draft Proposal for Binary Tables Extension


A.9.1    "Multidimensional Array" Convention


It is anticipated that binary tables will need to contain data structures more
complex that those describable by the basic notation. Examples of these are
multidimensional arrays and nonrectangular data structures. Suitable
conventions may be defined to pass these structures using some combination of
keyword/value pairs and table entries to pass the parameters of these
structures.

One case, multidimensional arrays, is so common that it is prudent to describe
a simple convention. The "Multidimensional array" convention consists of the
following: any column with a dimensionality of 2 or larger will have an
associated character keyword TDIMnnn='(l,m,n,...)' where l, m, n,... are the
dimensions of the array. The data is ordered such that the array index of the
first dimension given (l) is the most rapidly varying and that of the last
dimension given is the least rapidly varying. The size implied by the TDIMnnn
keyword will equal the element count specified in the TFORMnnn key- word. The
adherence to this convention will be indicated by the presence of a TDIMnnn
keyword in the form described above.

A character string is represented in a binary table by a one-dimensional
character array, as described in section A.6. For example, a FORTRAN
CHARACTER*20 variable could be represented in a binary table as a character
array declared as TFORMn = '20A '. Arrays of character strings, i.e.,
multidimensional character arrays, may be represented using the TDIMnnn
notation. If a column is an array of strings then each string may be null
terminated. For example, if TFORMn='20A' and TDIMn='(5,4)' then the entry
consists of 4 strings of up to 5 characters each of which may be null
terminated.


This convention is optional and will not preclude other conventions. This
convention is not part of the proposed binary table definition.



A.9.2    "Variable Length Array" Facility


One of the most attractive features of binary tables is that any field of the
table can be an array. In the standard case this is a fixed size array, i.e.,
a fixed amount of storage is allocated in each record for the array data 
whether it is used or not. This is fine so long as the arrays are small or a
fixed amount of array data will be stored in each record, but if the stored
array length varies for different records, it is necessary to impose a fixed
upper limit on the size of the array that can be stored. If this upper limit
is made too large excessive wasted space can result and the binary table
mechanism becomes seriously inefficient. If the limit is set too low then it
may become impossible to store certain types of data in the table.

The "variable length array" construct presented here was devised to deal with
this problem. Variable length arrays are implemented in such a way that, even
if a table contains such arrays, a simple reader program which does not
understand variable length arrays will still be able to read the main table
(in other words a table containing variable length arrays conforms to the
basic binary table standard). The implementation chosen is such that the
records in the main table remain fixed in size even if the table contains a
variable length array field, allowing efficient random access to the main
table.

Variable length arrays are logically equivalent to regular static arrays, the
only differences being 1) the length of the stored array can differ for
different records, and 2) the array data is not stored directly in the table
records. Since a field of any datatype can be a static array, a field of any
datatype can also be a variable length array (excluding type P, the variable
length array descriptor itself, which is not a datatype so much as a storage
class specifier). Conventions such as TDIMnnn apply equally to both to
variable length and static arrays.

A variable length array is declared in the table header with a special field
datatype specifier of the form

    rPt(maxelem)

where the "P" indicates the amount of space occupied by the array descriptor
in the data record (64 bits), the element count "r" should be 0, 1, or absent,
t is a character denoting the datatype of the array data (L, X, B, I, J, etc.,
but not P), and maxelem is a quantity guaranteed to be equal to or greater
than the maximum number of elements of type t actually stored in a table
record. There is no built-in upper limit on the size of a stored array;
maxelem merely reflects the size of the largest array actually stored in the
table, and is provided to avoid the need to preview the table when, for
example, reading a table containing variable length elements into a database
that supports only fixed size arrays.

   For example,


    TFORM8  = 'PB(1800)'        / Variable length byte array


indicates that field 8 of the table is a variable length array of type byte,
with a maximum stored array length not to exceed 1800 array elements (bytes in
this case).

The data for the variable length arrays in a table is not stored in the actual
data records; it is stored in a special data area, the heap, following the
last fixed size data record. What is stored in the data record is an array
descriptor. This consists of two 32 bit integer values: the number of elements
(array length) of the stored array, followed by the zero-indexed byte offset
of the first element of the array, measured from the start of the heap area.
Storage for the array is contiguous. The array descriptor for field N as it
would appear embedded in a data record is illustrated symbolically below.


    field N-1  ;  - nelem  offset "  ;  field N+1


If the stored array length is zero there is no array data, and the offset
value is undefined (it should be set to zero). The storage referenced by an
array descriptor must lie entirely within the heap area; negative offsets are
not permitted.

A binary table containing variable length arrays consists of three main
segments, as follows:


    table header
    record storage area (data records)
    heap area (variable array data)


The table header consists of one or more 2880 byte FITS logical records with
the last record indicated by the keyword END somewhere in the record. The
record storage area begins with the next 2880 byte logical record following
the last header record and is NAXIS1*NAXIS2 bytes in length. The zero indexed
byte offset of the heap measured from the start of the record storage area is
given by the THEAP keyword in the header. If this keyword is missing the heap
is assumed to begin with the byte immediately following the last data record,
otherwise there may be a gap between the last stored record and the start of
the heap. If there is no gap the value of the heap offset is NAXIS1*NAXIS2.
The total length in bytes of the area following the last stored record (gap
plus heap) is given by the PCOUNT keyword in the table header.

For example, suppose we have a table containing 5 168 byte records, with a
heap area 2880 bytes long, beginning at an offset of 2880, thereby aligning
the record storage and heap areas on FITS record boundaries (this alignment is
not necessarily recommended but is useful for our example). The data portion
of the table consists of 2 2880 byte FITS records, 840 bytes of which are used
by the 5 table records, hence PCOUNT is 2*2880-840, or 4920 bytes.


    NAXIS1  =                168 / Width of table row in bytes
    NAXIS2  =                  5 / Number of rows in table
    PCOUNT  =               4920 / Random parameter count
      ...
    THEAP   =               2880 / Byte offset of heap area



While the above description is sufficient to define the required features of
the variable length array implementation, some hints regarding usage of the
variable length array facility may also be useful.

Programs which read binary tables should take care to not assume more about
the physical layout of the table than is required by the specification. For
example, there are no requirements on the alignment of data within the heap.
If efficient runtime access is a concern one may want to design the table so
that data arrays are aligned to the size of an array element. In another case
one might want to minimize storage and forgo any efforts at alignment (by
careful design it is often possible to achieve both goals). Variable array
data may be stored in the heap in any order, i.e., the data for record N+1 is
not necessarily stored at a larger offset than that for record N. There may be
gaps in the heap where no data is stored. Pointer aliasing is permitted, i.e.,
the array descriptors for two or more arrays may point to the same storage
location (this could be used to save storage if two or more arrays are
identical).

Byte arrays are a special case because they can be used to store a "typeless"
data sequence. Since FITS is a machine independent storage format, some form
of machine specific data conversion (byte swapping, floating point format
conversion) is implied when accessing stored data with types such as integer
and floating, but byte arrays are copied to and from external storage without
any form of conversion.

An important feature of variable length arrays is that it is possible that the
stored array length may be zero.  This makes it possible to have a column of
the table for which, typically, no data is present in each stored record. 
When data is present the stored array can be as large as necessary.  This can
be useful when storing complex objects as records in a table.

Accessing a binary table stored on a random access storage medium is
straightforward. Since the data records in the main table are fixed in size
they may be randomly accessed given the record number, by computing the
offset. Once the record has been read in, any variable length array data may
be directly accessed using the element count and offset given by the array
descriptor stored in the data record.

Reading a binary table stored on a sequential access storage medium requires
that a table of array descriptors be built up as the main table records are
read in. Once all the table records have been read, the array descriptors are
sorted by the offset of the array data in the heap. As the heap data is read,
arrays are extracted sequentially from the heap and stored in the affected
records using the back pointers to the record and field from the table of
array descriptors. Since array aliasing is permitted, it may be necessary to
store a given array in more than one field or record.

Variable length arrays are more complicated than regular static arrays and
imply an extra data access per array to fetch all the data for a record. For
this reason, it is recommended that regular static arrays be used instead of
variable length arrays unless efficiency or other considerations require the
use of a variable array.


This facility is still undergoing trials and is not currently part of the main
binary table definition.




Appendix  B



Implementation  on  Physical Media



(This Appendix is not part of the NOST FITS Standard, but is included as a
guide to recommended practices)



B.1     Block Size


The block size (physical record length) for transport of data should, where
possible, equal the logical record length or an integer blocking factor times
this record length. Standard values of the blocking factor may be specified
for each medium; if not otherwise specified, the expected value is unity.



B.1.1    Nine-Track, Half-Inch Magnetic Tape


For nine-track half-inch magnetic tapes conforming to the ANSI X3.40-1983
specifications [13], there should be from one to ten logical records per
physical block. The BLOCKED keyword (section 5.2.2.1) may be used to warn that
there may be more than one logical record per physical block. The last
physical block of a FITS file should be truncated to the minimum number of
FITS logical records required to hold the remaining data, in accordance with
ANSI X3.27-1978 specifications [14]. With the issuance of this standard, the
BLOCKED keyword is deprecated by this document.



B.1.2    Other Media


For media where the physical block size cannot be equal to or an integral
multiple of the FITS logical record length of 23040-bits (2880 8-bit bytes),
records should be written over multiple blocks as a byte stream.  Conventions
regarding the relation between physical block size and logical record length
of FITS files have not been otherwise established for other media.



B.2     Physical Properties of Media


The arrangement of digital bits and other physical properties of any medium
should be in conformance with the relevant national and/or international
standard for that medium.



B.3     Labeling


B.3.1    Tape


Tapes may be either ANSI standard labeled or unlabeled. Unlabeled tapes are
preferred.



B.3.2    Other Media


Conventions regarding labels for physical media containing FITS files have not
been established for other media.



B.4     FITS File Boundaries


B.4.1    Magnetic Reel Tape


Individual FITS files are terminated by a tape-mark.



B.4.2    Other Media


For media where the physical record size cannot be equal to or an integral
multiple of the standard FITS logical record length, a record of fewer than
23040 bits (2880 8-bit bytes) immediately following the end of the primary
header, data, or an extension should be treated as an end-of-file. Otherwise,
individual FITS files should be terminated by a delimiter appropriate to the
medium, analogous to the tape end-of-file mark. If more than one FITS file
appears on a physical structure, the appropriate end-of-file indicator should
immediately precede the start of the primary headers of all files after the
first.



B.5     Multiple Physical Volumes


Storage of a single FITS file on more than one unlabeled tape or on multiple
units of any other medium is not universally supported in FITS. One possible
way to handle multivolume unlabeled tape was suggested in [1].




Appendix  C



Differences  from  IAU-endorsed Publications



(This Appendix is not part of the NOST FITS Standard but is included for
informational purposes only.)

Note: In this discussion, the term the FITS papers refers to [1], [2], [4],
and [5], collectively, and the term Floating Point Agreement (FPA) refers to
[8].


1. Section 3 - Definitions, Acronyms, and Symbols


Array value     - This precise definition is not used in the original FITS
                  papers.

ASCII text      - This permissible subset of the ASCII character set, used in
                  many contexts, is not precisely defined in the FITS papers.

Basic FITS      - This definition includes the possibility of floating point
                  data arrays, while the terminology in the FITS papers refers  
                  to FITS as described in [1], where only integer arrays were 
                  possible.

Conforming Extension   - This terminology is not used in the FITS papers.

Deprecate       - The concept of deprecation does not appear in the FITS FITS
                  papers.

FITS structure  - This terminology is not used in the FITS papers in the
                  precise way that it is in this standard.

Header and Data Unit  - This terminology is not used in the FITS papers.

Indexed keyword - This terminology is not used in the original FITS papers.

Physical value  - This precise definition is not used in the original FITS
                  papers.

Reference point - This term replaces the reference pixel of the FITS
                  papers. The new terminology is consistent with the fact that 
                  the array need not represent a digital image and that the 
                  reference point (or pixel) need not lie within the array.

Reserved keyword - The FITS papers describe optional keywords but do not
                  say explicitly that they are reserved.

Standard Extension  - This precise definition is new. The term standard
                  extension is used in some contexts in the FITS papers to 
                  refer to what this standard defines as a standard extension 
                  and in others to refer to what this standard defines as a 
                  conforming extension.


  2.  Section 4.3.2 Primary Data Array

Fill format     - This specification is new. The FITS papers and the FPA do
                  not precisely specify the format of data fill for the 
                  primary data array.


  3.  Section 4.4.1.1 Identity (of conforming extensions)

The FITS papers specify that creators of new extension types should check with
the FITS standards committee. This standard identifies the committee specifi-
cally, introduces the role of the NOST as its agent, and mandates
registration.


  4.  Section 5.1.2.1 Keyword (as header component)

The specification of permissible keyword characters is new. The FITS papers do
not precisely define the permissible characters for keywords.


  5.  Section 5.2.1.1 Principal (mandatory keywords)


(a)  NAXIS keyword    - The requirement that the NAXIS keyword may not be
                        negative is not explicitly specified in the FITS papers.

(b)  NAXISn keyword   - The requirement that the NAXISn keyword may not be
                        negative is not explicitly specified in the FITS papers.


  6.  Section 5.2.1.2 Conforming Extensions


(a)  NBITS            - The requirement that NBITS may not be negative is not
                        explicitly specified in the FITS papers.

(b)  XTENSION keyword - That this keyword may not appear in the primary header
                        is only implied by the FITS papers; the prohibition is 
                        explicit in this standard. The FITS papers name a FITS 
                        standards committee as the keeper of the list of 
                        accepted extension type names. This standard 
                        specifically identifies the committee and introduces 
                        the role of the NOST as its agent.


  7.  Section 5.2.2 Other Reserved Keywords

That the optional keywords defined in the FITS papers are to be reserved with
the meanings and usage defined in those papers, as in the standard, is not
explicitly stated in them.


  8.  Section 5.2.2.1 Keywords Describing the History...

(a)  DATE Keyword     - The recommendation for use of Universal Time is not in
                        the FITS papers.

(b)  BLOCKED keyword  - The FITS papers require the BLOCKED keyword to appear
                        in the first record of the primary header even though 
                        it cannot when the value of NAXIS exceeds the values 
                        described in the text. They do not address this
                        contradiction.  Deprecation of the BLOCKED keyword is 
                        new with this standard.


  9. Section 5.2.2.2 Keywords Describing Observations


(a)  DATE-OBS Keyword - The recommendation for use of Universal Time is not in
                        the FITS papers.

(b)  EQUINOX and EPOCH keywords - This standard replaces the EPOCH keyword
                        with the more appropriately named EQUINOX keyword and 
                        deprecates the EPOCH name.


 10.  Section 5.2.2.4 Commentary keywords

Keyword field is blank - Reference [1] contains the text "BLANK" to represent
                         a blank keyword field. The standard clarifies the 
                         intention.


 11.  Section 5.2.2.5 Array keywords


(a)  BUNIT Keyword     - The FITS papers recommend the use of SI units and
                         identify other units standard in astronomy. This 
                         standard makes the recommendation more specific by 
                         referring to the IAU Style Manual [7].

(b)  CTYPEn Keywords   - This standard extends the recommendations on units to
                         coordinate axes.

(c)  CRPIXn Keywords   - This standard explicitly notes the ambiguity in the
                         location of the index number relative to an image
                         pixel.

(d)  CDELTn Keywords   - The definition in the standard differs from that in
                         the FITS papers in that it provides for the case 
                         where the spacing between index points varies over 
                         the grid. For the case of constant spacing, it is
                         identical to the specification in the FITS papers.

(e)  DATAMAX and DATAMIN Keywords - The standard clarifies that the value
                         refers to the physical value represented by the array, 
                         after any scaling, not the array value before scaling. 
                         The standard also notes that special values are not 
                         to be considered when determining the values of 
                         DATAMAX and DATAMIN, an issue not specifically 
                         addressed by the FITS papers or the FPA.


 12.  Section 5.3.2.1 Character String (fixed format) 

The standard explicitly describes how single quotes are to be coded into
keyword values, a rule only implied by the FORTRAN-77 list-directed read
requirements of the FITS papers.


 13.  Section 5.3.2.4 Real Floating Point Number (fixed format)

The standard explicitly notes that the full precision of 64-bit values cannot
be expressed as a single value using the fixed format.


 14.  Section 5.3.2.4 Complex Floating Point Number (fixed format)

The standard explicitly notes that the full precision of 64-bit values cannot
be expressed as a single value using the fixed format.


 15.  Section 7 Random Groups Structure

The standard deprecates the Random Groups structure.


 16.  Section 7.1.2 Reserved keywords (random groups)

That the optional keywords defined in the FITS papers are to be reserved with
the meanings and usage defined in those papers, as in the standard, is not
explicitly stated in them.


 17.  Section 7.1.2.2 

PSCALn Keywords    - The default value is explicitly specified in the standard,
                     whereas in the FITS papers it is assumed by analogy with 
                     the BSCALE keyword.


 18.  Section 7.1.2.3 

PZEROn Keywords    - The default value is explicitly specified in the standard,
                     whereas in the FITS papers it is assumed by analogy with 
                     the BZERO keyword.


 19.  Section 8.1 ASCII Tables Extension

The name ASCII Tables is given to the Tables extension discussed in the FITS
papers to distinguish it from binary tables.


 20.  Section 8.1.1 Mandatory Keywords (ASCII tables)



(a)  NAXIS1 keyword     - The requirement that the NAXIS1 keyword may not be
                          negative in an ASCII table header is not explicitly 
                          specified in the FITS papers.

(b)  NAXIS2 keyword     - The requirement that the NAXIS2 keyword may not be
                          negative in an ASCII table header is not explicitly  
                          specified in the FITS papers.

(c)  TFIELDS keyword    - The requirement that the TFIELDS keyword may not be
                          negative is not explicitly specified in the FITS 
                          papers.


 21.  Section 8.1.2 Other Reserved Keywords (ASCII tables)

That the optional keywords defined in the FITS papers are to be reserved with
the meanings and usage defined in those papers, as in the standard, is not
explicitly stated in them.


(a)  TUNIT Keyword      - The FITS papers do not explicitly recommend the use
                          of any particular units for this keyword, although 
                          the reference to the BUNIT keyword may be considered 
                          an implicit extension of the recommendation for that
                          keyword. This standard makes the recommendation more 
                          specific for the TUNIT keyword by referring to the 
                          IAU Style Manual [7].

(b)  TSCALn Keyword     - The prohibition against use in A-format fields is
                          stronger than the statement in the FITS papers that 
                          the keyword "is not relevant".

(c)  TZEROn Keywords    - The prohibition against use in A-format fields is
                          stronger than the statement in the FITS papers that  
                          the keyword "is not relevant".


 22.  Section 9 Restrictions on Changes

The concept of deprecation is not provided for in the FITS papers.


 23.  Appendix B Implementation on Physical Media

Material in the FITS papers specifying the expression of FITS on specific
physical media is not part of this Standard.




Appendix  D



Summary  of  Keywords


(This Appendix is not part of the NOST FITS Standard, but is included for
convenient reference).



  Principal    Conforming     ASCII Table     Random Groups  Proposed Binary
    HDU         Extension      Extension        Extension    Table_Extension
_______________________________________________________________________________
    SIMPLE      XTENSION       XTENSION (1)      SIMPLE          XTENSION (2)
    BITPIX      BITPIX         BITPIX = 8        BITPIX          BITPIX = 8
    NAXIS       NAXIS          NAXIS = 2         NAXIS           NAXIS = 2
    NAXISn      NAXISn         NAXIS1            NAXIS1 = 0      NAXIS1
    EXTEND (3)  PCOUNT         NAXIS2            NAXISn          NAXIS2
    END         GCOUNT         PCOUNT = 0        GROUPS          PCOUNT = 0
                END            GCOUNT = 1        PCOUNT          GCOUNT = 1
                               TFIELDS           GCOUNT          TFIELDS
                               TBCOLn            END             TFORMn
                               TFORMn                            END
                               END

_______________________________________________________________________________
1 XTENSION= 'TABLE  ' for the ASCII Table extension.
2 XTENSION= 'BINTABLE' for the proposed binary table extension.
3 Required only if extensions are present.


Table D.1: Mandatory FITS keywords for the structures described in this
           document.




Principal    HDU      Conforming   ASCII Table  Random Groups   Binary Table
 General     Array    Extension     Extension     Extension      Extension
_______________________________________________________________________________
 DATE        BSCALE    EXTNAME       TSCALn        PTYPEn         TTYPEn
 ORIGIN      BZERO     EXTVER        TZEROn        PSCALn         TUNITn
 BLOCKED     BUNIT     EXTLEVEL      TNULLn        PZEROn         TNULLn
 AUTHOR      BLANK                   TTYPEn                       TSCALn
 REFERENC    CTYPEn                  TUNITn                       TZEROn
 COMMENT     CRPIXn                                               TDISPn
 HISTORY     CROTAn                                               TDIMn
             CRVALn                                               THEAP
 DATE-OBS    CDELTn
 TELESCOP    DATAMAX
 INSTRUME    DATAMIN
 OBSERVER
 OBJECT
 EQUINOX
 EPOCH

_______________________________________________________________________________


Table D.2: Reserved FITS keywords for the structures described in this document.
           Note that the EPOCH and BLOCKED keywords are deprecated by this
           document.



       Production  Bibliographic  Commentary    Observation     Array         
      ____________________________________________________________________
         DATE        AUTHOR        COMMENT        DATE-OBS      BSCALE
         ORIGIN      REFERENC      HISTORY        TELESCOP      BZERO
         BLOCKED                                  INSTRUME      BUNIT
                                                  OBSERVER      BLANK
                                                  OBJECT        CTYPEn
                                                  EQUINOX       CRPIXn
                                                  EPOCH         CROTAn
                                                                CRVALn
                                                                CDELTn
                                                                DATAMAX
                                                                DATAMIN

      ____________________________________________________________________


Table D.3: General Reserved FITS keywords described in this document. 
           Note that the EPOCH and BLOCKED keywords are deprecated by this 
           document.




Appendix  E


ASCII  Text



(This appendix is not part of the NOST FITS standard; the material in it is
taken from the ANSI standard for ASCII [11] and is included here for
informational purposes.)

In the table below the first column is the decimal and the second column the
hexadecimal value for the character in the third column. The characters
hexadecimal 20 to 7E (decimal 32 to 126) constitute the subset referred to in
this document as ASCII text.



    _______________________________________________________________________
    |  ASCII Control  ||                 ASCII Text                       |
    | dec hex    char || dec hex  char | dec hex char  | dec  hex  char   | 
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    |  0   00    NUL  || 32   20   SP  | 64   40   @   |  96   60    `    |
    |  1   01    SOH  || 33   21   !   | 65   41   A   |  97   61    a    |
    |  2   02    STX  || 34   22   "   | 66   42   B   |  98   62    b    |
    |  3   03    ETX  || 35   23   #   | 67   43   C   |  99   63    c    |
    |  4   04    EOT  || 36   24   $   | 68   44   D   | 100   64    d    |
    |  5   05    ENQ  || 37   25   %   | 69   45   E   | 101   65    e    |
    |  6   06    ACK  || 38   26   &   | 70   46   F   | 102   66    f    |
    |  7   07    BEL  || 39   27   '   | 71   47   G   | 103   67    g    |
    |  8   08    BS   || 40   28   (   | 72   48   H   | 104   68    h    |
    |  9   09    HT   || 41   29   )   | 73   49   I   | 105   69    i    |
    | 10   0A    LF   || 42   2A   *   | 74   4A   J   | 106   6A    j    |
    | 11   0B    VT   || 43   2B   +   | 75   4B   K   | 107   6B    k    |
    | 12   0C    FF   || 44   2C   ,   | 76   4C   L   | 108   6C    l    |
    | 13   0D    CR   || 45   2D   -   | 77   4D   M   | 109   6D    m    |
    | 14   0E    SO   || 46   2E   .   | 78   4E   N   | 110   6E    n    |
    | 15   0F    SI   || 47   2F   /   | 79   4F   O   | 111   6F    o    |
    | 16   10    DLE  || 48   30   0   | 80   50   P   | 112   70    p    |
    | 17   11    DC1  || 49   31   1   | 81   51   Q   | 113   71    q    |
    | 18   12    DC2  || 50   32   2   | 82   52   R   | 114   72    r    |
    | 19   13    DC3  || 51   33   3   | 83   53   S   | 115   73    s    |
    | 20   14    DC4  || 52   34   4   | 84   54   T   | 116   74    t    |
    | 21   15    NAK  || 53   35   5   | 85   55   U   | 117   75    u    |
    | 22   16    SYN  || 54   36   6   | 86   56   V   | 118   76    v    |
    | 23   17    ETB  || 55   37   7   | 87   57   W   | 119   77    w    |
    | 24   18    CAN  || 56   38   8   | 88   58   X   | 120   78    x    |
    | 25   19    EM   || 57   39   9   | 89   59   Y   | 121   79    y    |
    | 26   1A    SUB  || 58   3A   :   | 90   5A   Z   | 122   7A    z    |
    | 27   1B    ESC  || 59   3B   ;   | 91   5B   [   | 123   7B    -    |
    | 28   1C    FS   || 60   3C   <   | 92   5C   "   | 124   7C    _    |
    | 29   1D    GS   || 61   3D   =   | 93   5D   ]   | 125   7D    "    |
    | 30   1E    RS   || 62   3E   >   | 94   5E   ^   | 126   7E    "    |
    | 31   1F    US   || 63   3F   ?   | 95   5F   _   | 127   7F    DEL  |  
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------



                   Table E.1: ASCII character set




Appendix  F



IEEE  Special  Formats



(The material in this Appendix is not part of this standard; it is taken from
the IEEE- 754 floating point standard [12] for informational purposes).

The table below displays the hexadecimal contents, most significant byte
first, of the double and single precision IEEE special values. bytes are used.

 

          IEEE special value     Double Precision     Single Precision         
       _________________________________________________________________
                NaN (1)          7FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF          FFFFFFFF
                -0               8000000000000000          80000000
                +0               0000000000000000          00000000
                +1               7FF0000000000000          7F800000
                -1               FFF0000000000000          FF800000
                underflow        7FEFFFFFFFFFFFFF          7F7FFFFF
                overflow         0010000000000000          00800000
       _________________________________________________________________
        1 Referred to as the quiet NaN, as opposed to the signaling NaN



              Table F.1: IEEE special floating point formats





Appendix  G


Reserved Extension Type Names



(This Appendix is not part of the NOST FITS Standard, but is included for
informational purposes)



   Type Name     Status  Reference   Sponsor           Comments  
______________________________________________________________________________
   'A3DTABLE'       L      [15]       NRAO      Prototype binary table design
                                                supported in AIPS; superseded
                                                by BINTABLE, which supports
                                                all A3DTABLE features.

   'BINTABLE'       D       [9]       IAU       Draft Proposal for
                                      NRAO      binary table design.
                                      NOAO

   'DUMP '          R      none       none      Intended for binary dumps.

   'FILEMARK'       R      none       NRAO      Intended for structure to
                                                represent equivalent of
                                                tape mark on other media.

   'IMAGE '        R      [16]        IUE       For including multidimensional
                                                matrices in extensions.

   'TABLE '        S       [5]        IAU       ASCII Tables.

_______________________________________________________________________________



               Table G.1: Reserved Extension Type Names



 Code                               Significance
_______________________________________________________________________________
 D     Draft extension proposal for discussion by regional FITS committees.
 L     Local FITS extension.
 P     Proposed FITS extension approved by regional FITS committees but not by
       IAU FITS Working Group.
 R     Reserved type name for which a full draft proposal has not been
       submitted.

 S     Standard extension approved by IAU FITS Working Group and endorsed by
       the IAU.
_______________________________________________________________________________



                      Table G.2: Status Codes




Appendix  H


NOST  Publications



Document           Title                   Date             Status
_______________________________________________________________________________
NOST 100-0.1 FITS Standard                December, 1990 Draft Standard
NOST 100-0.2 FITS Implementation Standard June, 1991     Revised Draft Standard
NOST 100-0.3 FITS Implementation Standard December, 1991 Revised Draft Standard
_______________________________________________________________________________

                    Table H.1: NOST Publications




Index



', 22                                              
/, 14                                              
=, 13                                              
                                                   
A3DTABLE, 68                                       
A3DTABLE, extension, 39                            
AIPS, 5, 39, 68                                    
ANSI, 5                                            
ANSI, ASCII, 4                                     
ANSI, FORTRAN, 3, 14, 21, 43                       
ANSI, IEEE, 4, 24                                  
ANSI, tapes, 4, 54                                 
ANSI, X3.27-1978, 53                               
ANSI, X3.27-1978, 4                                
ANSI, X3.40-1983, 53                               
ANSI, X3.40-1976, 4                                
array value, 5, 7, 19, 55, 57                      
array, multidimensional, 10, 11                    
ASCII Tables, 3                                    
ASCII tables, vii, 1, 2, 31, 40, 58, 67            
ASCII, ANSI, 4                                     
ASCII, character, 5, 23, 31, 34, 45, 63            
ASCII, characters, 2                               
ASCII, text, vii, 2, 5, 9, 10, 13, 14, 18,        
           19, 22, 34, 55, 63                      
AUTHOR, 18, 43                                     
                                                   
Basic FITS, vii, 1, 5, 55                          
binary tables, 1-3, 27, 39, 61                     
BINTABLE, 41, 68                                   
BINTABLE, extension, 39, 61, 67                    
bit array, 44                                      
BITPIX, 15, 16, 19, 20, 24, 27, 28, 31, 41
BLANK, 19, 24, 57                                 
BLOCKED, 17, 21, 53, 57, 62                       
BSCALE, 19, 24, 58                                
BUNIT, 19, 57, 59                                 
byte order, 23, 24                                
BZERO, 19, 24, 58                                 
                                                  
case sensitivity, 21                              
CDELTn, 20, 57                                    
character string, 21, 22, 45, 48, 57              
COMMENT, 18                                       
complex, 42                                       
complex, floating point, 22, 45, 58               
complex, integer, 22                              
conforming extension, 2, 5, 8-11, 15, 39, 55, 56  
CROTAn, 20                                        
CRPIXn, 20, 57                                    
CRVALn, 20                                        
CTYPEn, 20, 57                                    
                                                  
data, invalid, 42                                 
DATAMAX, 20, 57                                   
DATAMIN, 20, 57                                   
DATE, 17, 57                                      
DATE-OBS, 17, 57                                  
deprecate, 2, 6, 17, 18, 27, 37, 53, 55, 57, 58 
DUMP, 68                                          
                                                  
END, 15, 29, 32, 42                               
EPOCH, 18, 57, 62                                 
EQUINOX, 18, 57                                   
ESA, IUE Newsletter, 4                            
                                                   
EXTEND, 16, 17, 21, 31, 40                         
extension, vii, 1, 2, 6, 8-11, 20, 21, 23, 39, 40, 54, 56, 67 
extension, conforming, 2, 5, 8-11, 15, 39, 55, 56 
extension, name, 6                                 
extension, registration, 10, 56                    
extension, standard, 11, 16, 56                    
extension,standard, 8, 11, 31                      
EXTLEVEL, 21, 42                                   
EXTNAME, 6, 20, 42                                 
EXTVER, 21, 42                                     
                                                   
FILEMARK, 68                                       
fill, 10, 13, 30, 33, 34, 56                       
FITS, structure, 2, 5-7, 9, 11, 17, 37, 55         
FITS, Working Group, vii, 1, 10, 16, 39            
floating point, 6, 10, 22, 45, 65                  
floating point, 64 bit, 24, 58                     
floating point, complex, 22, 45                    
floating  point, FITS  agreement, vii, 3, 55 
floating point, format, 65                         
format, 32                                         
format, data, vii, 23                              
format, extension, 6                               
format, fixed, 21                                  
format, keywords, 21                               
format, standard, 1                                
format,fixed, 58                                   
FORTRAN, ANSI manual, 3                            
FORTRAN-77, format, 32, 34                         
FORTRAN-77, list-directed read, 14, 21, 58 
                                                   
GCOUNT, 16, 17, 27, 29, 30, 32, 41                 
Going AIPS, 4                                      
group parameter value, 6, 29, 30                   
GROUPS, 28                                         
                                                   
HDU, 6, 15, 17                                     
HDU, extension, 9                                  
HDU, primary, 8-10                                   
HDU,extension, 6                                     
HDU,primary, 6, 7, 9, 11                             
HISTORY, 19                                          
                                                     
i, 42                                                
IAU, vii, 1-3, 6, 55, 68                             
IAU, 1988 General Assembly, vii                      
IAU, Commission 5, vii, 1, 10, 16, 39                
IAU, Style Manual, 3, 19, 34, 57, 59                 
IAU,Style Manual, 20                                 
IEEE, 7, 39                                          
IEEE, ANSI, 4                                        
IEEE, floating point, 24, 25                         
IEEE, floating point +0.0, 10                        
IEEE, NaN, 7, 24, 25, 45                             
IEEE, special format, 65                             
IEEE, special values, 2, 7, 20, 24, 25, 45, 57 
IMAGE, 68                                            
INSTRUME, 18                                         
integer value, 22, 44                                
integer value, 16 bit, 23                            
integer value, 32 bit, 23                            
integer value, 8 bit, 23                             
interferometry, 27                                   
IUE, 6, 68                                           
IUE, FITS, 4                                         

keyword, indexed, 7, 13, 55                          
keyword, required, 1, 2, 7, 14-16, 27, 31, 56, 58 
keyword, reserved, 1, 2, 7, 17, 29, 33, 56, 58, 59  
keyword, valid characters, 13                        

logical, 42                                          
logical value, 22, 44                                
                                                     
MIDAS, 7, 39                                         
multidimensional entries, 43, 48                     
                                                     
NAXIS, 10, 15-17, 27, 28, 30, 31, 41, 56, 57 
NAXIS1, 28, 31, 34, 41, 42, 50, 58                  
NAXIS2, 31, 34, 41, 50, 58                          
NAXISn, 10, 15, 16, 20, 27, 28, 30                  
NBITS, 15, 16, 27, 56                               
NOAO, 7, 68                                         
NOST, 7, 10, 16, 56                                 
NRAO, 7, 39, 68                                     
                                                    
OBJECT, 18                                          
OBSERVER, 18                                        
ORIGIN, 17                                          
                                                    
parameter, vii, 29, 30                              
PCOUNT, 16, 17, 27, 29-31, 41, 50                   
physical value, 7, 19, 20, 29, 30, 33, 55, 57 
primary  data  array, 5, 7, 9, 10, 16, 19, 27, 28, 30, 56
primary header, 2, 5, 7, 9, 14-16, 21, 27, 54, 57
PSCALn, 29, 30, 58                                  
PTYPEn, 29, 30                                      
PZEROn, 29, 30, 58                                  
                                                    
quote, 22                                           
                                                   
random groups, vii, 1-3, 6, 9, 11, 19, 27, 58 
random groups, array, vii, 30                      
REFERENC, 18, 43                                   
reference point, 7, 20, 55                         
registration, extension, 10                        
                                                   
scaling, data, 19, 29, 30, 33, 57                  
sign, bit, 23, 24                                  
sign, character, 34                                
SIMPLE, 27                                         
SIMPLE, in primary header, 14, 15                  
SIMPLE, in special records, 12                     
special records, 6, 8, 9, 12                       
standard extension, 8, 11, 16, 31, 56        
                                             
TABLE, 31, 68                                
TABLE, extension, 31, 61                     
tape, 9-track half-inch, vii, 53             
TBCOLn, 32                                   
TDIMnnn, 43, 48, 49                          
TDISPnnn, 41, 43                             
TELESCOP, 18                                 
TFIELDS, 32, 41, 58                          
TFORMn, 32, 41, 48                           
THEAP, 43, 50                                
TNULLn, 33, 34, 41, 42                       
TSCALn, 33, 34, 42-44, 59                    
TTYPEn, 33, 41, 42                           
TUNIT, 59                                    
TUNITn, 34, 41, 42                           
TZEROn, 33, 34, 42-44, 59                    
                                             
units, 19, 20, 34, 57                        
Universal Time, 17, 57                       

value undefined, 34                          
value, invalid, 44                           
value, null, 44                              
value, undefined, 33, 42                     
                                             
XTENSION, 8, 12, 16, 20, 31, 41, 56