Astronomical Image Processing System: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 06:28, 30 August 2016

Revision as of 07:28, 30 August 2016

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Before any data can be processed by AIPS, they must first be imported into the system's own data areas, usually in [[FITS]] format. The FITS standard was agreed in 1979 and its development is inseparable from that of AIPS. The data can henceforth be processed using a large number (>530) of individual programs, each of which performs a specific task e.g. producing an image from a calibrated data set. Together these allow a user to visualize, edit and calibrate a data set and subsequently make images or fit models. A number of analysis tasks are included (e.g. Gaussian fitting to images or spectra) as well as the possibility to make publication-quality plots.

Extensive help is available to AIPS users, with detailed information on each parameter and task viewable from the command line. There is also a [[user guide]], the AIPS Cookbook, which is built around examples (recipes) of how to run the various tasks. It is available on-line, as well as being packaged with AIPS in [[PDF]] and [[PostScript]] formats. A newsletter (AIPSLetter) is published biannually.

==Primatology==

Although briefly known as RANCID<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Greisen|first1=Eric|editor1-last=Heck|editor1-first=André|title=AIPS, the VLA, and the VLBA|journal=Information Handling in Astronomy - Historical Vistas|date=2003|page=285|publisher=Kluwer}}</ref>, the eventual choice of name has led to a preponderance of primate-based humour in and around AIPS. The Cookbook contains "additional recipes", genuineinstructions for preparing food-based concoctionsand drink which all featuringfeature bananas as an ingredient<ref>{{cite e.g.techreport banana|first=Eric|last=Greisen|title=The curriedCreation chickenof AIPS|work=AIPS Memo|issue=100|institution=NRAO|page=14|date=1998}}</ref>. The programmers guide is called Going AIPS, the cover of which features a gorilla clutching a [[Tektronix 4010|Tektronix 4012]] graphics terminal whilst standing upon two [[IBM 3420]] Magnetic Tape Units. Various cover designs of the Cookbook and icons also include images of primates.<ref>{{cite techreport |first=Eric|last=Greisen|title=The Creation of AIPS|work=AIPS Memo|issue=100|institution=NRAO|pages=11-13|date=1998}}</ref>

==References==