ALFA data is written in FITS format. We are using an extension to the basic FITS format which is called CIMAFITS.

As much as possible, our format follows the Astronomy conventions described by Mark Calabretta (ATNF) and Eric Greisen (NRAO) in the following documents:

• Representations of World Coordinates in FITS, Greisen, E. W., and Calabretta, M. R., Astronomy & Astrophysics, 395, 1061-1075, 2002.
• Representations of celestial coordinates in FITS Calabretta, M. R., and Greisen, E. W., Astronomy & Astrophysics, 395, 1077-1122, 2002.

Those documents are available from the NASA FITS WCS website. For the most recent version, please visit the author’s website at the Australia Telescope National Facility.

The detailed description of all keywords in the CIMAFITS file can be found at the CIMA Homepage.

WAPP spectral line data can be read by AIPS++ LiveData and Gridzilla

There is a C-library available with utilities for reading FITS files. It can be found at the NASA web site:

• NASA’s HEASARC Software: FITSIO

Information on reading FITS files in IDL can also be found at the NASA web site:

• NASA’s IDL Astronomy Library: FITSIO