[fitsbits] Interpretation of repeat count in binary tables

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On Tue, 1 Apr 2008, William Pence wrote:

> No it is not contrary to the standard. Projects are free to invent their own 
> local conventions for storing the data in whatever structure is most 
> convenient for them.

definitely agreed !

> If, however, the intention is to pack 3  1024 x 12288 
> element 2-D arrays into a binary table, then a more explicit way to do this 
> would be as follows:

> NAXIS1  =            150994944 / width of table (1024*12288*3*4)
> NAXIS2  =                    1 / table has only 1 row
> ...
> TFIELDS = 3

however a far less contrived way would be not to use a binary table, but 
either a sequence of 3 image extensions with NAXIS=2 NAXIS1=1024 
NAXIS2=12288, or a traditional FITS image with a datacube (NAXIS=3, and 
NAXIS1,NAXIS2,NAXIS3=1013,12288,3 or whatever permutation thereof.

After all a 2-d array *is* an image, and is very easily displayed using 
an image display program

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