[fitsbits] ANNOUNCEMENT: NOST_100-2.0 adopted as the FITS standard

[Don Wells]

I am *very* pleased to report that the IAU FITS Working Group [IAU-FWG]
has voted unanimously, 17-0, to adopt the appended resolution. An
IAU-FWG vote on a FITS standard resolution is effective immediately;
therefore:

    The NOST_100-2.0 document (with the agreed interpretation and
    modification) has been adopted as the new official FITS standard of
    the International Astronomical Union as of 2000-10-12.

Adoption of NOST_100-2.0 as the FITS standard is a major event in the
history of the Flexible Image Transport System [FITS] as the standard
data interchange and archiving format of the worldwide astronomical
community. It concludes a process which has been underway for more than
a decade, and which has involved essentially the whole FITS
community. I believe that the comprehensive and exhaustive character of
this process demonstrates that the adoption of NOST_100-2.0 as the FITS
standard truly represents the consensus of the worldwide astronomical
community.

Please circulate this announcement widely.

Don Wells [Chair, IAU-FWG]

  Donald C. Wells      Scientist - GBT Project        dwells at nrao.edu
                    http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~dwells
  National Radio Astronomy Observatory                +1-804-296-0277
  520 Edgemont Road,   Charlottesville, Virginia       22903-2475 USA

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	 Resolution adopting NOST_100-2.0 as the FITS standard
		   
The IAU FITS Working Group [IAU-FWG] adopts the ``Definition of the
Flexible Image Transport System (FITS)'' [NOST_100-2.0] which is
available at

    http://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/

as the new official FITS standard of the International Astronomical
Union [IAU], superseding Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. 44, 363--370 (1981)
and the other FITS papers listed in Section 2 of NOST_100-2.0, with
the following interpretation and modification of its text:

(1) Use of the word `deprecated' in the first paragraph of Section 7
    ``Random Groups Structure'' is understood to mean that binary
    table extensions should be used in new astronomical application
    areas instead of the random groups format where either is
    appropriate and where there is no historical precedent for random
    groups.  Existing applications of the random groups structure
    (almost exclusively interferometry) may continue to use random
    groups as needed indefinitely.

(2) It is noted that the following sentence in B.2, ``The size implied
    by the TDIMn keyword will equal the element count specified in the
    TFORMn keyword.''  is not valid in the case of variable length
    array columns. This sentence should be replaced with wording
    similar to the following: ``The total number of elements in the
    array equals the product of the dimensions specified in the TDIMn
    keyword.  This size must be equal to the repeat count on the
    TFORMn keyword, or, in the case of columns which have a 'P' TFORMn
    datatype, equal to the array length specified in the variable
    length array descriptor (see Appendix B.1). In the special case
    where the variable length array descriptor has a size of zero,
    then the TDIMn keyword is not applicable.''

The Chair of IAU-FWG is authorized to arrange for publication of
NOST_100-2.0 in an astronomical journal, prefaced with a paper which
contains the interpretation and modification specified in this
resolution.  This publication will be regarded as the official version
of the FITS standards, superseding the NASA NOST_100-2.0 publication,
when it becomes available.

The IAU-FWG directs the next FITS Technical Panel to incorporate the
interpretation and modification specified above into the FITS
standard.

On behalf of the worldwide astronomical community, the IAU-FWG thanks
the members of the successive FITS TPs chaired by Bob Hanisch (see the
preface of NOST_100-2.0 for the list) which have produced NOST_100-2.0
by a sustained effort during a period of nearly a decade. The IAU-FWG
also thanks the NASA Office of Space Science, and specifically the
NASA Office of Standards and Technology [NOST], for sponsoring this
project.