'''[http://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/%|%FITS]''', or '''Flexible Image Transport System''', is the standard image format used by astronomers



** Reference **

   [http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/fits.html%|%FITS], HEARSARC:   

   [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FITS], Wikipedia:   



** Description **
   
A lot of professional astronomical software uses Tcl/Tk for its GUI, FITS as its graphics file format, and [GPL] as its license.



**  Tcl/Tk software for FITS files **

   [SAOTk]:   an extension of Tk for visualization/analysis/imaging of FITS data
   [ds9]:   application built around [SAOTk] and several other components

   [fitsTcl]:   an extension of Tcl for accessing FITS data

   [fv]:   FITS file editor built using [fitsTcl] and several other components

   [TclMagick]:   a Tcl wrapper for [http://imagemagick.net/script/index.php%|%ImageMagick] or [http://www.graphicsmagick.org/%|%GraphicsMagick], can be used to convert to and from FITS format (appears to create monochrome FITS files only).
[DS9] and [fv] are supplied as standalone binaries, but if the correct components are built and installed, each can be run as a Tcl script.  Because this is not the intended mode of operation, the non-standard bundled components are not always supplied as packages and may need to be loaded with [load].



** Other Software for FITS files **

   [http://netpbm.sourceforge.net/%|%Netpbm]:   can be used to convert to or from FITS

   [http://hea-www.harvard.edu/saord/funtools/%|%funtools]:   FITS Users Need Tools

   [http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/lheasoft/%|%HEASoft]:   A unified  FTOOLS and XANADU distribution, includes many tools 



** FITS File Repositories **

   [http://skyview.gsfc.nasa.gov/%|%SkyView]:   

   many others...:   



<<categories>> Graphics | Image Processing | Visualization