[fitsbits] Windows FITS viewer / data extraction

[William Pence]

On Sun, Dec 17, 2000 at 09:56:56AM -0000, George Dishman wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm a Fits newbie looking for some basic advice. Do you have a
> faq - I couldn't find one on rtfm?
> 
> I am trying to get the data from the FIRAS site at:
> 
>   http://space.gsfc.nasa.gov/astro/cobe/firas_products.html#spectral
> 
> Specifically, the file
> 
>   http://borneo.gsfc.nasa.gov/cobe1/firas/destriped_spectra/FIRAS_DESTRIPED_SKY_SPECTRA_HRES.FITS
> 
> I have installed the viewer from
> 
>   http://www.cv.nrao.edu/fits/os-support/ms-windows/fitsview/
> 
> but it just gives a string of errors. Is there a better viewer
> available for Win98/Win2k or are these files just not correctly
> formatted?


These files can be viewed with the 'fv' FITS file viewer and editor
which is available at http://fv.gsfc.nasa.gov

The data in these file are contained in a binary table extension
instead of as a simple 2D image; the table extension contains 5
columns, including GAL_LON, GAL_LAT, and WEIGHT.  You can use fv
to plot GAL_LAT vs. GAL_LON (using the 'plot' tool under the fv
table 'tools' menu). Similarly you can generate a 2D image of
GAL_LAT vs. GAT_LON using the 'histogram' tool.

-Bill Pence
 HEASARC/NASA/GSFC