[fitsbits] NAN test?

[William Pence]

Bringfried Stecklum wrote:
> Is there a small command line tool which checks whether a FITS file
> contains NANs? I know this can be done using IDL (and certainly other
> high-level languages). The background is that I want to avoid
> compressing those files with CFITSIO imcopy since it does not treat NANs
> properly.

The first version of a pair of new FITS image compression utility programs 
(called fpack and funpack) has just been released.  These are intended to 
replace the more basic functionality of the imcopy task; they do correctly 
support null pixels in the images, as well as providing many other new 
features.  These utilities were written by Rob Seaman (NOAO), and they make 
use of the image compression support that is built into the CFITSIO library. 
  There was a general discussion about the need for these utilities here on 
the FITSBITS newsgroup back in July 2006 (see 
http://listmgr.cv.nrao.edu/pipermail/fitsbits/2006-July/thread.html).

A link to this first release of fpack/funpack is available in the "What's 
New" section of the CFITSIO website at http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/fitsio/.
Further improvements (and a dedicated web page) are planned in the next few 
weeks.

Bill Pence
Rob Seaman
-- 
____________________________________________________________________
Dr. William Pence                       pence at milkyway.gsfc.nasa.gov
NASA/GSFC Code 662       HEASARC        +1-301-286-4599 (voice)
Greenbelt MD 20771                      +1-301-286-1684 (fax)