[fitsbits] New draft FITS Standard: regional committee votes

[William Pence]

I am pleased to report that the 4 regional FITS committees have 
completed their review of the proposed new draft of the FITS Standard 
document.  All of the committees have formally endorsed the document 
with the following voting tallies:

Committee   Yes No Abstain Non-voting
----------  --- -- ------- ----------
N. America:  14  0   0       2
Japan:       11  0   0       0
Europe:      10  0   1       2
Australia/NZ  5  0   1       0


Some of the regional FITS committee members also submitted comments or 
suggestions for improving the draft document.  These comments will be 
considered by the IAU FITS Working Group when it conducts its own review 
of the document in the next few weeks.  At the end of this final review, 
the IAU FITS Working Group will then vote on whether to accept this 
draft as the new official FITS Standard document.

The current draft of this document may be viewed at 
http://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/fits_draft.html along with other supporting 
documents that describe all the proposed changes.  Although the formal 
public comment period on this draft has expired, it is still possible to 
send any last minute comments or suggestions regarding this draft to me, 
or to any of the other FITS Working Group members, for consideration 
during the final review.

Bill Pence
Chairman, IAU FITS Working Group
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____________________________________________________________________
Dr. William Pence                       William.Pence at nasa.gov
NASA/GSFC Code 662       HEASARC        +1-301-286-4599 (voice)
Greenbelt MD 20771                      +1-301-286-1684 (fax)