[wfc] WFC Call for Vote on HEALPix Proposal

[Arnold Rots]

Call for WGAS FITS Committee Vote on the HEALPix WCS Convention
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FITS WCS Paper II was written with the intention that new spherical
projection types might be added in future.  The HEALPix projection,
described in detail in "Mapping on the HEALPix grid" by
Mark Calabretta and Boud Roukema, is such a projection (see
http://www.atnf.csiro.au/~mcalabre).

Section 6 of the paper presents the HEALPix projection, 'HPX' in FITS,
in the same terms as those in WCS Paper II.  HPX was announced on
FITSBITS and FITSWCS and implemented in WCSLIB in early 2005 with the
formal 30-day comment period commencing in November.

It is now time for the members of the 4 regional FITS committees to vote
on whether to approve this HEALPix convention as part of the official
FITS standard.

I ask you, as members of the WGAS (North-American) FITS Committee to
cast your vote before the end of this month, i.e., before:
          2006-03-01T00:00:00 (UTC),
on the following proposition:

    Should the proposed conventions for representing the HEALPix
    projection in FITS files, given in Section 6 of the paper
    "Mapping on the HEALPix grid" by Mark Calabretta and Boud Roukema,
    be approved as an extension of the FITS World Coordinate System
    (WCS) standard?

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___  Yes, I agree with the proposition

___  No, I object to the proposition

___  Abstain


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Arnold H. Rots                                Chandra X-ray Science Center
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory                tel:  +1 617 496 7701
60 Garden Street, MS 67                              fax:  +1 617 495 7356
Cambridge, MA 02138                             arots at head.cfa.harvard.edu
USA                                     http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~arots/
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