The FITS file format is the standard data format used in astronomy, endorsed by both NASA and
the International Astronomical Union (IAU). For more information about the FITS
standard, go to the FITS Web site, https://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/.
The FITS file format is designed to store scientific data sets
consisting of multidimensional arrays (1-D spectra, 2-D images, or
3-D data cubes) and two-dimensional tables containing rows and columns
of data. A data file in FITS format can contain multiple components,
each marked by an ASCII text header followed by binary data. The first
component in a FITS file is known as the primary,
which can be followed by any number of other components, called extensions, in
FITS terminology. For a complete list of extensions, see fitsread.
To get information about the contents of a Flexible Image Transport
System (FITS) file, use the fitsinfo function.
The fitsinfo function returns a structure containing
the information about the file and detailed information about the
data in the file.
To import data into the MATLAB® workspace from a Flexible
Image Transport System (FITS) file, use the fitsread function.
Using this function, you can import the primary data in the file or
you can import the data in any of the extensions in the file, such
as the Image extension, as shown in this example.
Determine which extensions the FITS file
contains, using the fitsinfo function.
info = fitsinfo('tst0012.fits')
info =
Filename: 'matlabroot\tst0012.fits'
FileModDate: '12-Mar-2001 19:37:46'
FileSize: 109440
Contents: {'Primary' 'Binary Table' 'Unknown' 'Image' 'ASCII Table'}
PrimaryData: [1x1 struct]
BinaryTable: [1x1 struct]
Unknown: [1x1 struct]
Image: [1x1 struct]
AsciiTable: [1x1 struct]The info structure shows that the file contains
several extensions including the Binary Table, ASCII
Table, and Image extensions.
Read data from the file.
To read the Primary data in the file, specify
the filename as the only argument:
pdata = fitsread('tst0012.fits');To read any of the extensions in the file, you must specify
the name of the extension as an optional parameter. This example reads
the Binary Table extension from the FITS file:
bindata = fitsread('tst0012.fits','binarytable');