fits · shipping · also FITS

Flexible Image Transport System (FITS)

FITS is a scientific data format that stores images and other data in header/data units with metadata describing their representation.

Related Observatory article: Flexible Image Transport System (FITS) on hesela.com

Image interpretation: BSCALE and BZERO map stored values to physical values; preserving image payload bytes alone does not preserve that interpretation if the header changes. Astropy normally applies this scaling when image data is accessed. [3]

Integrity: the registered CHECKSUM and DATASUM convention checks an HDU and its data records respectively. It is optional, so a readable FITS file need not contain these checks. Verify the expected HDU inventory separately from the checks of units that remain. [1] [2] [4]

Relations

related

fits-checksum, checksum, file-storage, hdf5, parquet

Citations

1. NASA FITS registry: Checksum Keyword Convention (accessed 2026-10-18)
2. Astropy: verification using the FITS checksum keyword convention (accessed 2026-10-18)
3. Astropy: FITS image scaling with BSCALE and BZERO (accessed 2026-10-18)
4. FITS archive checks: reordered pixels can preserve both checksums (accessed 2026-10-18)

JSON: /data/terms/fits.json