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<p class="MsoNormal">Howdy, Friends of FITS,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Registration is open for ADASS XXXIII (click through from <a href="https://adass2023.lpl.arizona.edu">
https://adass2023.lpl.arizona.edu</a>).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The deadline for proposing Birds-of-a-Feather (BoF) sessions is fast approaching on September 1. Are there volunteers to organize this year’s FITS BoF? As LOC chair, I’ll have to beg off from submitting the abstract.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This FAQ answer for a popular astrophotography package may serve as a conversation starter for the agenda:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span class="apple-converted-space"><i> </i></span><i><span style="color:black">4.6 Why has the FITS format been deprecated in PixInsight?<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><i><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:.5in;line-height:15.0pt">
<i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">FITS is an obsolete, inefficient and poorly defined format. It is a source of endless interoperability problems. In our opinion, the blind adoption of the FITS format may be the worst mistake made by the astronomy
community.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:12.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.5in;line-height:15.0pt">
<i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">We have created the XISF format because we need a contemporary, really extensible, efficient, interoperable and well defined file format. For more information, see the</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"> </span></i></span><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"><a href="http://pixinsight.com/xisf/" target="_blank"><span style="color:#3333FF">XISF
resources page</span></a></span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"> </span></i></span><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">on our website and the</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"> </span></i></span><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"><a href="http://pixinsight.com/doc/docs/XISF-1.0-spec/XISF-1.0-spec.html" target="_blank"><span style="color:#3333FF">XISF
Version 1.0 Specification</span></a></span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black"> </span></i></span><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">document.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><i><o:p> </o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Perhaps a focus on practical issues like:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc">
<li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">How to encourage broader and more efficient library support for FITS<o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">Developing translation tools such as XISF <-> FITS<o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">A schema mapping FITS header keywords to binary table extensions<o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">Evaluating additional algorithms for FITS tile compression<o:p></o:p></li></ul>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If some would prefer an astronomical data format BoF broader than FITS, I might suggest two separate abstracts with the notion of scheduling these as back-to-back sessions. Which is to say that I reject the premises of the FAQ above, but
even if I didn’t, FITS requires ongoing maintenance whatever new formats come along.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Rob<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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