[fitsbits] FITS status ? {External}

[Dirk Petry]

I agree with Walter. And I also marginally belong to (A).

Best,

Dirk

On 30.05.25 12:32, jaffe via fitsbits wrote:
>
> I belong to category A but only marginally.  I am worried that if 
> there is no rigor in the maintainance of the FITS standard, the 
> designers of newer instrument packages will, for their own 
> convenience, drift farther and farther from the actual standard. My 
> suggestion for B would be a directed contact with the software 
> managers of upcoming new ground or space based observatories to 
> convince them of the importance of maintaining a rigorous standard 
> including active participation from their groups.
>
> Walter
>
> On 2025-05-28 22:18, Seaman, Robert Lewis - (rseaman) via fitsbits wrote:
>> Hello FITS folks,
>>
>> I circulated a thread a couple of weeks ago about a proposed small
>> addition to the allowed values for ZCMPTYPE to include “JPEGXL”.
>> There are some other small details, but it isn’t much more
>> complicated than that, and incrementing the standard
>> (https://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/fits_standard.html) to version 4.01.
>> Support in astropy and CFITSIO is in the works.
>>
>> Since then, I’ve contacted the latest two IAU FITS WG chairs, who
>> are both now retired. The more basic logistical questions are A) who
>> remains engaged from the old days in FITS as a standard, and B) how to
>> navigate a transition to early (well, earlier) career astronomical
>> software professionals.
>>
>> Action items:
>>
>>      * Please respond to this ping if you fall under category A
>>     * Please make suggestions about how to do B
>>     * Please consider participating in either:
>>
>>      * the upcoming ADASSx Summer Workshop, August 1-5, 2025, following
>> the Rubin Community Workshop in Tucson
>> (https://catalina.lpl.arizona.edu/adassx-2025)
>>     * and/or the regular ADASS XXXV, November 9-13, Görlitz, Germany
>> (website soon)
>>     * and perhaps even submit FITS-related abstracts!
>>
>> FITS governance may need refreshing, but FITS as a day-to-day standard
>> in astronomy continues strong.
>>
>> Rob Seaman
>>
>> Catalina Sky Survey
>>
>> University of Arizona
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>
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-- 
Dr. Dirk Petry, ALMA Regional Centre,
ESO, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, 85748 Garching,
Germany, Phone: +49 89 3200-6511, Fax: -6358