<p>The header of a FITS file is ASCII, and points you to further information. Calling <code>head -n 1 example.fits</code> directs you to "'Astronomy and Astrophysics', volume 376, page 359; bibcode: 2001A&amp;A...376..359H".</p>

<p>A software to view FITS images is <a href="http://ds9.si.edu/site/Home.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ds9</a> (yes, that makes it hard to google...). Alternatively, there's <a href="http://archive.eso.org/cms/tools-documentation/skycat.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">skycat</a>.
Both can be used to view and do basic analysis on FITS images.</p>

<p>For FITS binary tables, it is probably best to write your own analysis software. For a quick look, <a href="https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftools/fv/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">fv</a> might do the job.</p>

<p><strong>Accessing the data yourself</strong></p>

<p>If you want to write your own software for analysis, take a look at either <a href="https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/fitsio/fitsio.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">cfitsio</a>, a C library for reading and writing FITS files, or <a href="http://www.stsci.edu/institute/software_hardware/pyfits" rel="nofollow noreferrer">pyfits</a>, a python module which does the same and which seems to have merged with the <a href="http://www.astropy.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">astropy</a> software package. The cfitsio page in the link above has links to documentation on both the cfitsio library and the FITS standard in general.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-12T14:53:51.923Z
I just installed Astropy.. Should I go with it?
Akshay Vilas Patil
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-12T15:14:10.537Z
Why not? Unless, of course, you prefer C. For a quick look, ds9 is, of course, even simpler. But as this is a CS project, you'll be coding eventually anyway.
Alex
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-18T15:12:59.383Z
I'm working with "astropy.io" library using "jupytar notebook", and it works fine for me now. Thanks for your suggestion which gives me some how to right direction.
Akshay Vilas Patil
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-12T14:42:44.427Z
2017-08-15T14:56:33.843Z
2017-08-15T14:56:33.843Z
Alex
<p>You should go to the site <a href="https://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/</a> where you can read about the FITS data format. This site also has utilities for examining and viewing the data. Most of your concerns about this data should be answered by the documentation on this web site.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-12T14:09:10.407Z
2017-08-12T14:09:10.407Z
Natsfan
<p>I want to do project on astronomical dataset. Regarding that project, I try SDSS who give public dataset but it is quite complicated for me. I gone through public dataset and downloaded some .FITS file one is ~3.2mb and other one is ~3 GB but I don't know how to deal with this file and generate images or other files from .FITS files. </p>

<p>Please help me, this is my Master's project in computer science. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-13T08:44:13.367Z
The more specific you can be in your question asking in stackexchange, the better received the question. Once you have made some progress and can describe a more specific problem, you can consider asking a new question here. In that case you should add sufficient specific details. The question "I'm trying to open an unspecified, unnamed file and I can't; this is my research, what should I do?" is not ideal in SE. It's a very clear and understandable question for sure, but SE has certain requirements. You can [take the tour](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/tour) or look at other questions.
uhoh
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-13T08:51:12.673Z
One problem here is that you haven't described what you have tried so far. "I don't know how to deal with this file..." is not ideal. It would be much better if you had described what you've tried so far. For example, there is a Wikipedia page called [FITS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FITS) which straight-off inks to https://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/ Asking a question here before even going to Wikipedia is not ideal. It happens sometimes, but next time make sure you've addressed "What have you tried so far?" so that nobody has to ask it. Welcome to stackexchange!
uhoh
<astrophysics><data-analysis><software><sky-survey>
Stuck with SDSS data
Akshay Vilas Patil
# Stuck with SDSS data

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-08-12)

I want to do project on astronomical dataset. Regarding that project, I try SDSS who give public dataset but it is quite complicated for me. I gone through public dataset and downloaded some .FITS file one is ~3.2mb and other one is ~3 GB but I don't know how to deal with this file and generate images or other files from .FITS files.

Please help me, this is my Master's project in computer science.

**Tags:** astrophysics, data-analysis, software, sky-survey

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: The more specific you can be in your question asking in stackexchange, the better received the question. Once you have made some progress and can describe a more specific problem, you can consider asking a new question here. In that case you should add sufficient specific details. The question "I'm trying to open an unspecified, unnamed file and I can't; this is my research, what should I do?" is not ideal in SE. It's a very clear and understandable question for sure, but SE has certain requirements. You can [take the tour](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/tour) or look at other questions.  
> **username_1**: One problem here is that you haven't described what you have tried so far. "I don't know how to deal with this file..." is not ideal. It would be much better if you had described what you've tried so far. For example, there is a Wikipedia page called [FITS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FITS) which straight-off inks to https://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/ Asking a question here before even going to Wikipedia is not ideal. It happens sometimes, but next time make sure you've addressed "What have you tried so far?" so that nobody has to ask it. Welcome to stackexchange!  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2017-08-12. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

The header of a FITS file is ASCII, and points you to further information. Calling `head -n 1 example.fits` directs you to "'Astronomy and Astrophysics', volume 376, page 359; bibcode: 2001A&A...376..359H".

A software to view FITS images is [ds9](http://ds9.si.edu/site/Home.html) (yes, that makes it hard to google...). Alternatively, there's [skycat](http://archive.eso.org/cms/tools-documentation/skycat.html).
Both can be used to view and do basic analysis on FITS images.

For FITS binary tables, it is probably best to write your own analysis software. For a quick look, [fv](https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ftools/fv/) might do the job.

**Accessing the data yourself**

If you want to write your own software for analysis, take a look at either [cfitsio](https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/fitsio/fitsio.html), a C library for reading and writing FITS files, or [pyfits](http://www.stsci.edu/institute/software_hardware/pyfits), a python module which does the same and which seems to have merged with the [astropy](http://www.astropy.org/) software package. The cfitsio page in the link above has links to documentation on both the cfitsio library and the FITS standard in general.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I just installed Astropy.. Should I go with it?  
> **username_2**: Why not? Unless, of course, you prefer C. For a quick look, ds9 is, of course, even simpler. But as this is a CS project, you'll be coding eventually anyway.  
> **username_0**: I'm working with "astropy.io" library using "jupytar notebook", and it works fine for me now. Thanks for your suggestion which gives me some how to right direction.  

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### Answer by username_3 on 2017-08-12. Score: 3

You should go to the site <https://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/> where you can read about the FITS data format. This site also has utilities for examining and viewing the data. Most of your concerns about this data should be answered by the documentation on this web site.


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