[Aavso-photometry] FITS Keyword List

[Brian D. Warner]

David,

The problem with that is that, in some cases, there are not only
many variations of the keyword used for the same value but different
ways the value is written. 

The configuration list would become enormous as it were to include 
not only the myriad of keywords to be translated but ways to read 
the data.

I agree, adoption of a solid convention or standard is the way to go.
I think you'll find most vendors perfectly willing to work under that
premise, just as long as the convention isn't a fast-moving target nor 
dictated by the desires of any one vendor or group. 

There are already several ways that software needs to write out data 
to comply with the requirements of different groups, if the software
is to generate a "camera-ready" report. The more general approach of
dumping everything to a text file and letting the end user write his
own parsing routines is much simpler and efficient, but that is never
going to be acceptable, and probably shouldn't be.


Clear Skies,
Brian D. Warner
Palmer Divide Observatory/Space Science Institute
http://www.MinorPlanetObserver.com

Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link (CALL)
http://www.MinorPlanetObserver.com/astlc/default.htm