Tech Note

FITS WCS Keywords Recognized by Mira Version 7

The FITS format supports World Coordinate System ("WCS") calibrations that relate column, row positions to standard coordinate systems or physical dimensions. The FITS WCS is supported by all Mira version 7 platforms. The FITS WCS standard evolved from a number of different calibration schemes developed at various research facilities and institutions around the world. These schemes use different keywords and interpretations to describe the image calibration. As a result, there are a large number of keywords that must be supported in order to support all "WCS enabled" images created during the last ~30 years. Mira supports all of the protocols described by the WCS Extension to the FITS Standard..

Mira recognizes all of the various WCS protocols through the keywords in the table below. Some keywords use a numeric suffix to constitute a series, such as 20 keywords within the AMDX1 — AMDX20 series, or a 6x6 matrix of keywords within the PC001001 — PC006006 series. These are listed using ... between the series limits.