[fitsbits] Start of the OIFITS Public Comment Period

This is to announce the start of the 30-day Public Comment Period on
the OIFITS convention for optical interferometry data that has been
submitted for inclusion in the 'Registry of FITS Conventions'
which is maintained by the IAU FITS Working Group. This is the 8th
in a growing series of conventions submitted for inclusion in the Registry.

A document describing this convention and a sample FITS file that uses
it are available for public review and comment from the FITS registry
web page at

http://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/fits_registry.html

OIFITS is a standard for exchanging calibrated, time-averaged data from
astronomical optical interferometers, based on the FITS Standard. OIFITS
may be used to combine data from multiple interferometer arrays for
joint analysis and/or image reconstruction. OIFITS-format files can be
prepared from the raw interferometer data without using information
about the detailed structure of the target object (i.e. without doing
any astrophysical interpretation), yet once the data is in the format,
it can be analysed without knowing the details of the instrument.
Calibrated data from different interferometers can be treated in the
same way (provided there are no residual systematic errors).

Comments may be posted here on the FITSBITS mail exploder or the
sci.astro.fits newsgroup. Minor typographical issues may be sent
directly to the authors of the convention.

Bill Pence
(on behalf of the IAU FITS Working Group)
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__________________________________________________ __________________
Dr. William Pence
NASA/GSFC Code 662 HEASARC +1-301-286-4599 (voice)
Greenbelt MD 20771 +1-301-286-1684 (fax)