[fitsbits] FITS 'keyword dictionaries'

[Tom Kuiper]

On 04/02/2014 02:10 PM, Erik Bray wrote:
> I wasn't intending to broadcast this to the broader community yet, so I won't go
> into too much detail here.  I just decided to go ahead and bring it up since it
> was relevant to your search for related efforts.  The documentation for the
> current prototype can be read here:
>
> http://embray.github.io/PyFITS/schema/users_guide/users_schema.html
>
> A prototypical example of a schema can be seen here:
>
> https://github.com/embray/PyFITS/blob/standard-keywords/lib/pyfits/hdu/base.py#L71
Hi Erik and Joe,

I'd just like to register interest in this discussion, in case it 
continues off-line.

My interest is in using FITS headers to record faithfully the equipment 
configuration used during an observing session.  True, FITS was designed 
as a data transport format, but a conscientious analyst wants to know 
pretty much everything about how the data were gathered.  For the 
purpose that I have in mind, current usage is pretty inadequate.  
Consider, for example, the paucity of information conveyed by TELESCOP 
and INSTRUME.

In moving ahead I will invent new keywords, which most FITS readers will 
hopefully ignore but which a custom Python program could extract.  I 
want to be sure that I stay close to the generally accepted meanings of 
the existing keywords.   In "generally accepted" lies the problem, so 
I'll be interested in what you come up with.

Best regards,

Tom

-- 
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