Long FITS header keywords do not conform to pure FITS standard

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Quick Summary:
chimera.controllers.scheduler.observer:Observer adds a header keyword to
newly created FITS images that is longer than eight characters ("EPOCH -
OUTDATED").

Background:
As mentioned in the PyFITS manual, FITS headers are normally limited to 8
characters. While there are unofficial extensions implemented by PyFITS
that allow for longer headers, this presumes that any application which my
need to read the created FITS files understands this methodology.
Admittedly EPOCH and EQUINOX serve the same purpose, but in the spirit of
interoperability, unless it is known for sure that no program uses the
EPOCH header, it should be left in with out modification, as such
modification makes it useless anyway.

Proposed Diff for integration into trunk:

Index:
/home/isaac/workspace/chimera/src/chimera/controllers/scheduler/observer.py
===================================================================

---
/home/isaac/workspace/chimera/src/chimera/controllers/scheduler/observer.py (rev
ision
235)
+++
/home/isaac/workspace/chimera/src/chimera/controllers/scheduler/observer.py (wor
king
copy)
@@ -172,7 +172,9 @@
                   ("DEC", target.obj.dec or "-99 99 99", "declination of the
observed object"),
                   ("EXPTIME", float(target.exptime) or -1, "exposure time in
seconds"),
                   ("EQUINOX", 2000.0, "equinox of celestial coordinate system"),
-                  ("EPOCH - OUTDATED", 2000.0, "equinox of celestial coordinate
system"),
+                   #("EPOCH - OUTDATED", 2000.0, "equinox of celestial
coordinate system"),
+                   #Valid FITS headers must have length <=8! 
+                   ("EPOCH", 2000.0, "equinox of celestial coordinate
system (outdated)"),
                   ("FILTER", target.filtername or "unknown", "name of filter used
during the observation"),
                   ("CREATOR", _chimera_description_, ""),
                   ("SECPIX", 0.0, "plate scale")]

Original issue reported on code.google.com by laughing...@gmail.com on 28 May 2008 at 11:39

[GoogleCodeExporter]

observer.py is not used anymore, it's on scheduler just for historical reasons. 
Will
die very soon. Look at new util/imagesave.py to see the new way used to save 
headers
fo FITS files.

Original comment by ph.silva on 30 May 2008 at 7:56

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Closing as Fixed as new imagesave.py respects FITS standards.

Original comment by ph.silva on 30 May 2008 at 7:58

• Changed state: Fixed

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Original comment by ph.silva on 5 Jun 2008 at 7:21

• Added labels: Component-Misc