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Format of data description

Another important thing needs a special discussed agreement is the standard format of output. We have used the FITSgif TABLE format (Wells et al., 1981; Geisen & Harten, 1981) to describe data obtained from the CATS. The simplified FITS table format, which we used, consists of the header extension with keywords (not longer than 8 characters) and their values, describing the data, and data themself. Here is an example of the output header of CATS data. Our format differs from the canonic FITS by the absence of compulsary spaces between the keyword, the sign '=' and the value of the keyword.

SIMPLE=T            /
BITPIX=8            / character information
NAXIS=0             / no image data array present
EXTEND=T            / may be standard extensions
OBJECT=CATS SEARCH  / CATS search result
ORIGIN=SAO RAS
DATE=01/01/1997     / date of file creation
END

XTENSION=TABLE      / F-file table extension
BITPIX=8            / 8-bits per "pixel"
NAXIS=2             / simple 2-D matrix
NAXIS1=93           / No. of characters per row
NAXIS2=1000         / the number of lines (sources)
TFIELDS=10          / there are 16 fields per row
EXTNAME=CATS        / object name: CATS result

TTYPE1=NAME         / name of source in catalog
TBCOL1=1            / start in column 1
TFORM1=A16          / 16 character

TTYPE2=RAH          / right ascension hours
TBCOL2=18           / start in column 18
TFORM2=I2           / 2 digit integer
TUNIT2=HR           / units are hours
TNULL2=00           / null value

TTYPE3=RAM          / right ascension hours
TBCOL3=21           / start in column 21
TFORM3=I2           / 2 digit integer
TUNIT3=MIN          / minutes of time
TNULL3=00           / null value

TTYPE4=RAS          / right ascension minutes
TBCOL4=24           / start in column 24
TFORM4=E6.2         / xx.xxx SP floating point
TUNIT4=S            / seconds of time
TNULL4=00.000       / null value

TTYPE5=ERAS         / error of right ascension sec
TBCOL5=31           / start in column 31
TFORM5=A6           / xx.xxx SP float. point or 'n'
TUNIT5=S            / seconds of time
TNULL5=n            / null value

TTYPE6=DECDSIGN     / declination sign
TBCOL6=39           / start in column 39
TFORM6=A1           / charachter field
TNULL6=' '          / null value

TTYPE6=DECD         / declination degrees
TBCOL6=40           / start in column 40
TFORM6=I2           / 2 digit integer
TUNIT6=DEG          / degrees
TNULL6=00           / null value

TTYPE7=DECM         / declination minutes
TBCOL7=43           / start in column 43
TFORM7=I2           / 2 digit integer
TUNIT7=ARCMIN       / minutes (angle)
TNULL7=00           / null value

TTYPE8=DECS         / declination seconds
TBCOL8=46           / start in column 46
TFORM8=E5.2         / xx.xx SP floating point
TUNIT8=ARCSEC       / seconds (angle)
TNULL8=00.00        / null value

TTYPE9=EDECS        / error of declination seconds
TBCOL9=52           / start in column 52
TFORM9=A5           / xx.xx SP float. point or '?'
TUNIT9=ARCSEC       / seconds (angle)
TNULL9=n            / null value

TTYPE10=FREQ        / frequency
TBCOL10=58          / start in column 58
TFORM10=A7          / xxxxxx float. point or 'n'
TUNIT10=MHZ         / MegaHertz
TNULL10=n           / null value

TTYPE11=FLUXD       / flux density
TBCOL11=66          / start in column 66
TFORM11=A9          / xxxxxx SP float.point or 'n'
TUNIT11=JY          / Jansky
TNULL11=n           / null value

TTYPE12=EFLUXD      / error of flux density
TBCOL12=76          / start in column 76
TFORM12=A5          / xxxxx SP float point or 'n'
TUNIT12=JY          / Jansky
TNULL12=n           / null value

TTYPE15=CATALOG     / reference: catalog name
TBCOL15=82          / start in column 82
TFORM15=A5          / xxxxx,xxx character field
TNULL15=n           / null value

TTYPE16=REFERENCE   / reference: No in database
TBCOL16=89          / start in column 89
TFORM16=A3          / xxx character field

COMMENT  Any comments
HISTORY  History of data operation
HISTORY
END
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........ Table of rows of ASCII data ...........
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Vladimir Chernenkov
Tue Jun 17 12:02:11 MSD 1997