GeoFITS

Interoperability from acquisition to visualization in Planetary Science.

Chiara Marmo et al.

(in the VESPA EUROPLANET 2020 collaboration)

What does FITS mean?

  • Stands for 'Flexible Image Transport System'
  • The standard data format used in astronomy
  • Endorsed by NASA, IAU and IVOA
  • Header keywords provide descriptive information about the data
  • Band SeQuential (BSQ) storage format

Does FITS fit Planetary Science?

  • Compatible with PDS (version 3 and 4) archiving constraints
  • Efficient projection (World Coordinate System) description (but for 3D systems)
  • Ready for multi-digital objects
  • Community driven processing libraries (e.g. astropy)

GeoFITS

FITS extension convention for planetary surfaces

Keyword Value PDS4
WGCCRECS string spheroid_name
A_RADIUS real semi_major_radius
B_RADIUS real semi_major_radius
C_RADIUS real polar_radius

GeoFITS

FITS developments for planetary surfaces
(see Marmo et al., 2016, 47th LPSC, #1870):

  1. FITS translation in GDAL Virtual header (GEOPS)
  2. GDAL FITS driver enhancement (USGS)
  3. SIAP protocol in QGIS (Jacobs University)

Multi Extension FITS

An easy way to store inhomogeneous digital information with relative metadata in the same file

  • multi-detector imagery (e.g. HiRISE)
  • multiple digital objects (e.g. OMEGA and CRISM)

HiRISE

Mosaic MEF scheme Mosaic MEF view

HiRISE


>> hdulist.info()
	
Filename: ESP_011265_1560_RED.fits
No.    Name         Type      Cards   Dimensions   Format
0    PRIMARY     PrimaryHDU       4   ()              
1                ImageHDU        17   (2048, 100000)   uint8   
2                ImageHDU        17   (2048, 100000)   uint8   
3                ImageHDU        17   (2048, 100000)   uint8   
4                ImageHDU        17   (2048, 100000)   uint8   
5                ImageHDU        17   (2048, 100000)   uint8   
6                ImageHDU        17   (2048, 100000)   uint8   
7                ImageHDU        17   (2048, 100000)   uint8   
8                ImageHDU        17   (2048, 100000)   uint8   
9                ImageHDU        17   (2048, 100000)   uint8   
10 		 ImageHDU        17   (2048, 100000)   uint8

OMEGA

generic MEF scheme

from OMEGA Experiment Archive Interface
Control Document (IAS)

OMEGA


>> hdulist.info()
	
Filename: orb0413_1.IR1.fits
No.    Name         Type      Cards   Dimensions   Format
0    PRIMARY     PrimaryHDU      23   (128, 1784, 128)   int16   
1    WCS-TAB     BinTableHDU     17   1R x 2C      [228352D, 228352D]   
2    INCIDENCE   ImageHDU         8   (128, 1784)   float64   
3    EMISSION    ImageHDU         8   (128, 1784)   float64   
4    PHASE-ANGLE ImageHDU         8   (128, 1784)   float64

Multi Extension FITS conversion

Some example scripts are available at
https://github.com/cmarmo/convertofits

Do you have exotic formats worth converting to FITS?

Let me know!

Thanks for listening!