[fitsbits] Spectral FITS -- encoding extraction area

[Tom Jarrett]

Doug Tody wrote:
> Hi Tom -
> 
>> or something comparable.  I'd like to see just how it is done
>> with FITS (e.g., can you mix within one file a binary table and
>> a 2-D image array?  not sure I've seen this before ...)
> 
> 
> You certainly can.  This is a multi-extension FITS file.  One would use
> an image extension or the PDU for an image plane, and a binary table
> extension for the encoded pixel mask.  Hopefully someone reading this
> will have an actual example of such a file they can point to.
> 
> Note there is no real standard for compressed "images" like a pixel
> mask.  The paper I referred to earlier (White, Greenfield, Pence, Tody)
> was an attempt to define one.  Nonetheless you will find a fair amount
> of data around which includes pixel masks of some form or another.
> 
>     - Doug
> 

Ah yes, multi-ext FITS, of course.  My mind was focused on mixing spectral
data (say, 1-D table) with a spatial image.  I'd like to see example
of something like that.

Thanks Doug for setting me straight. -t