[fitswcs] Re: fitswcs digest, Vol 1 #67 - 4 msgs

[Wayne Landsman]

Richard Hook wrote:

>Here at STScI we are also considering the possible adoption of this convention 
>for HST - although discussions are at a very early stage and this certainly 
>may not ultimately happen. This raises the question of the status and 
>evolution of this convenient, de facto, standard  within the FITS world. SIP 
>is already quite widely implemented in data handling tools (WCSTools/libwcs, 
>SAOImage, DS9, GAIA/Starlink AST, IDLAstro, and recently drizzle too, in 
>addition to Spitzer-specific software). 

I am currently reprocessing all the images obtained with the Ultraviolet Imaging 
Telescope (UIT) and plan to apply the SIP scheme in the reprocessed FITS 
headers.

I note that the latest draft of Paper IV diverges even more strongly from the 
SIP scheme (e.g. in the use "record value" keywords) in order to accomodate more 
general transformations.   I would hope that the SIP scheme could be 
"grandfathered in", similar to the way that the AIPS formalism of CROTA/CDELT is 
recognized as a valid WCS projection in Paper II.

Wayne Landsman                       landsman at mpb.gsfc.nasa.gov