[fitsbits] Proposed Changes to the FITS Standard

[Steve Allen]

On Fri 2007-08-17T16:38:27 +0200, LC's NoSpam Newsreading account hath writ:
> However it is always possible to add a COMMENT which claims conformance
> with the latest (e.g. 3.0) standard.

For the sake of the problem that triggered us to overcome the starting
friction and actually write the FITS MIME document I would like to
go much farther than a comment.

I would like to see the IAUFWG establish a registry (in the sense of
the IANA) wherein all the documented FITS conventions have unique
names, and I would like to see a series of keywords which can be
placed in the PHDU to assert that "this FITS file employs these named
conventions".

When we get that far we may have solved Bill Joye's problem with
the ds9 viewer, which is to answer the questions:
	I've just been given a FITS file.
	What might I do with it?
	How might I best present its content to the user?

FITS MIME could only go as far as representing to the internet
community that we have a file format and a robust process for
taking care of it.  The rest of this work is only beginning.

--
Steve Allen                 <sla at ucolick.org>                WGS-84 (GPS)
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