Draft revisions to NOST FITS standard on units out for review

["Barry M. Schlesinger" <BSCHLESINGER@NSSDCA.GSFC.NASA.GOV>]

Apologies to those who have received this announcement already from
another mailing list, but we're trying to reach as wide a section of
the community as we can. 

	A draft for revisions to the NOST Standard, the Definition of
FITS, is now available for review and comment.  The revisions deal 
with the units for angular measure and celestial coordinates.  
	This draft is being distributed for comments by a new
Technical Panel appointed by the NASA/Science Office of
Standards and Technology (NOST).  Among the responsibilities of this 
panel is to rectify any errors or oversights in version 1.0 of the 
NOST Standard. The new Panel is chaired by Dr. Robert J. Hanisch
(Space Telescope Science Institute), who chaired the panel that
developed version 1.0 of the Definition of FITS. 
	The panel has considered the issue of requirements and
recommendations on units for FITS files in response to community
comments on the version 1.0 treatment of this area.  Draft revisions 
are being released to the community for review and comments.  The Technical
Panel will review these comments. The Panel will either revise the
draft revisions to incorporate the substance of a comment or state the
reasons for not doing so.  The Panel will respond to all comments. 
All comments must be received by 21 November 1994.  When the
commmunity review process is complete, the text finally adopted by the
Technical Panel will be incorporated in the NOST Definition of FITS,
producing version 1.1. Comments should be sent in writing to the NOST
Librarian, at the electronic and postal addresses at the end of this
announcement. 
	The draft text for units revisions is available by anonymous 
ftp from nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov/fits/units_revision.txt or by DECnet 
copy from NSSDCA::ANON_DIR:[FITS]UNITS_REVISION.TXT.  It is in flat 
ASCII text form, with an approximate length of two printed pages.  
Printed copies and electronic copies for those without ftp access can 
be obtained from the NOST librarian, who can be reached as follows:

Electronic mail --

Internet: nost@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov
DECnet: NSSDCA::NOST

Surface mail:	NASA/Science Office of Standards and Technology
		National Science Data Systems Standards Office
		Code 633 (Building 26, Room 115)
		Goddard Space Flight Center
		Greenbelt MD 20771

Telephone:  	+1-301-286-3575
		(if no one answers first, a voice mail system answers 
			after four rings)


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