Re: schedules and ephemeris in FITS

[corcoran@barnegat.gsfc.nasa.gov (Mike Corcoran)]

> From heafits@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov Tue Mar 15 14:11:05 1994
> Date: Tue, 15 Mar 94 14:06 EST
> Sender: server@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov (listserv server)
> Reply-To: heafits@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov
> Originator: heafits@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov
> Sender: heafits@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov
> From: "Eric C. Olson" <ericco@cea.Berkeley.EDU>
> To: corcoran@ndadsb.gsfc.nasa.gov
> Subject: schedules and ephemeris in FITS
> X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0 -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas
> Content-Length: 1697
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I'm interested in improving communications between EUVE Guest
> Investigators and CEA on spacecraft scheduling issues.  In particular,
> I'm interested in finding out about FITS binary table formats that
> have been defined (or used) to transmit data about ephemeris.  Also,
> has anyone worked on representing scheduling information -- ie, when a
> target is visible, when star trackers are operable, etc.
> 
> For the ephemeris, I'm looking for a relative simple file containing
> say 3 columns: time, ra, dec (including appropriate header information
> about coordinate systems, units, etc).  It would be nice to have a 4th
> column with the radial distance.  For example, in scheduling Moon
> observations, EUVE must account for the relative position of the Moon
> to the spacecraft.  Has anybody come across this type of FITS table?
>

Haven't really thought to much about a FITS file for scheduling info,
but ROSAT includes most of the emphemeris info you want in a trend data
file.  The format of the file is given in the following header (the
meaning of the columns are explained in the comment fields). (I've only
included the fields which seem like they might be relevant to you).

I don't know if you are aware but the Office of Guest Investigator
Programs at GSFC has a working group to deal with format issues for
FITS files used for high energy data.  (you probably have seen our
posts here from time to time).  Some of the prior recommendations of
this working group can be downloaded anonyomously from
legacy.gsfc.nasa.gov in the directory documents/fits/ofwg_recomm.

Hope this is of some use.

Mike Corcoran
HEASARC
Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771
corcoran@barnegat.gsfc.nasa.gov
HEASRC::CORCORAN



XTENSION= 'BINTABLE'           /
BITPIX  =                    8 /
NAXIS   =                    2 /Binary table
NAXIS1  =                  126 /Number of bytes per row
NAXIS2  =                 1340 /Number of rows
PCOUNT  =                    0 /Random parameter count
GCOUNT  =                    1 /Group count
TFIELDS =                   30 /Number of columns
EXTNAME = 'Trend   '           /Contains trend data on 60 sec sample interval
TFORM1  = '1D      '           /Real*8 (double precision)
TTYPE1  = 'TIME    '           /Corrected spacecraft time of measurement
TUNIT1  = 's       '           /Units of column 1
TFORM2  = '1D      '           /Real*8 (double precision)
TTYPE2  = 'second  '           /UT sec since beginning of DATE-OBS
TUNIT2  = 's       '           /Units of column 2
TFORM3  = '1D      '           /Real*8 (double precision)
TTYPE3  = 'MJD     '           /Modified Julian Date (JD-2400000.5)
TUNIT3  = 'd       '           /Units of column 3
TFORM4  = '1E      '           /Real*4 (floating point)
TTYPE4  = 'RASAT   '           /Satellite RA
TUNIT4  = 'deg     '           /Units of column 4
TFORM5  = '1E      '           /Real*4 (floating point)
TTYPE5  = 'DECSAT  '           /Satellite Dec
TUNIT5  = 'deg     '           /Units of column 5
TFORM6  = '1E      '           /Real*4 (floating point)
TTYPE6  = 'ALT_SAT '           /Satellite Altitude
TUNIT6  = 'km      '           /Units of column 6
TFORM7  = '1E      '           /Real*4 (floating point)
TTYPE7  = 'RASUN   '           /RA of Sun
TUNIT7  = 'deg     '           /Units of column 9
TFORM8  = '1E      '           /Real*4 (floating point)
TTYPE8  = 'DECSUN  '           /Dec of Sun
TUNIT8  = 'deg     '           /Units of column 10
TFORM9  = '1E      '           /Real*4 (floating point)
TTYPE9  = 'RAMOON  '           /RA of Moon
TUNIT9  = 'deg     '           /Units of column 11
TFORM10 = '1E      '           /Real*4 (floating point)
TTYPE10 = 'DECMOON '           /Dec of Moon
TUNIT10 = 'deg     '           /Units of column 12
TFORM11 = '1E      '           /Real*4 (floating point)
TTYPE11 = 'RAB     '           /RA of local B-field
TUNIT11 = 'deg     '           /Units of column 13
TFORM12 = '1E      '           /Real*4 (floating point)
TTYPE12 = 'DECB    '           /Dec of local B-field
TUNIT12 = 'deg     '           /Units of column 14
TFORM13 = '1E      '           /Real*4 (floating point)
TTYPE13 = 'LVAL    '           /MacIlwain L parameter
TUNIT13 = '        '           /Units of column 15
TFORM14 = '1E      '           /Real*4 (floating point)
TTYPE14 = 'ZENANG  '           /Orbit position-look direction (zenith) angle
TUNIT14 = 'deg     '           /Units of column 16
TFORM15 = '1E      '           /Real*4 (floating point)
TTYPE15 = 'SESANG  '           /Sun-Earth-Satellite angle
TUNIT15 = 'deg     '           /Units of column 17
TFORM16 = '1E      '           /Real*4 (floating point)
TTYPE16 = 'VELANG  '           /Velocity vector-look direction (ram) angle
TUNIT16 = 'deg     '           /Units of column 18
TFORM17 = '1E      '           /Real*4 (floating point)
TTYPE17 = 'MAGANG  '           /Magnetic field-look direction angle
TUNIT17 = 'deg     '           /Units of column 19
TFORM18 = '1E      '           /Real*4 (floating point)
TTYPE18 = 'SUNLOOK '           /Look direction-Sun angle
TUNIT18 = 'deg     '           /Units of column 20
TFORM19 = '1E      '           /Real*4 (floating point)
TTYPE19 = 'MOONLOOK'           /Look direction-Moon angle
TUNIT19 = 'deg     '           /Units of column 21
END