File extension FITS
| File type | Flexible Image Transport System Format |
| Developer | N/A |
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How to open FITS files
If you cannot open the FITS file on your computer - there may be several reasons. The first and most important reason (the most common) is the lack of a suitable software that supports FITS among those that are installed on your device.
A very simple way to solve this problem is to find and download the appropriate application. The first part of the task has already been done – the software supporting the FITS file can be found in the table. Now just download and install the appropriate application.
Program(s) that can open the .FITS file
More information about FITS file
FITS (Flexible Image Transport System) is a bitmap image file format specified by International Astronomical Union (IAU). FITS files can store data in binary or text format.
FITS file applications
FITS files are manily used in astronomy for exchanging, archiving, and analysing scientific data. FITS file extension is commonly used for saving iamge frames captured with telescopes. NASA and IAU use FITS format extensively.
FITS is much more than a image format
FITS is more that a image format such as JPG or GIF. FITS files can be used to store scientific data formatted as N-dimensional arrays (e.g. 2D images) or tables with rows and columns. FITS also offers such features as saving data long with origin metadata.
FITS file structure
FITS offers a unique advantage – is stores image metadata in human-readable ASCII format in file’s header. Each FITS files contains at least one header in ASCII format of length up to to 80 characters with keyword/value data pairs. Header is followed by data block called HDU (Header-Data Unit). A file that contains a single HDU is called a SIF (Single Image FITS) file, and if it contains more tha one HDU, a MEF (Multi-Extension FITS) file.
Possible problems with the FITS format files
The inability to open and operate the FITS file does not necessarily mean that you do not have an appropriate software installed on your computer. There may be other problems that also block our ability to operate the Flexible Image Transport System Format file. Below is a list of possible problems.
- Corruption of a FITS file which is being opened
- Incorrect links to the FITS file in registry entries.
- Accidental deletion of the description of the FITS from the Windows registry
- Incomplete installation of an application that supports the FITS format
- The FITS file which is being opened is infected with an undesirable malware.
- The computer does not have enough hardware resources to cope with the opening of the FITS file.
- Drivers of equipment used by the computer to open a FITS file are out of date.
If you are sure that all of these reasons do not exist in your case (or have already been eliminated), the FITS file should operate with your programs without any problem. If the problem with the FITS file has not been solved, it may be due to the fact that in this case there is also another rare problem with the FITS file. In this case, the only you can do is to ask for assistance of a professional staff.
This extension
can be converted to:
How to associate the file with an installed software?
If you want to associate a file with a new program (e.g. my-file.FITS) you have two ways to do it. The first and the easiest one is to right-click on the selected FITS file. From the drop-down menu select "Choose default program", then click "Browse" and find the desired program. The whole operation must be confirmed by clicking OK. The second and more difficult to do is associate the FITS file extension to the corresponding software in the Windows Registry.
Is there one way to open unknown files?
Many files contain only simple text data. It is possible that while opening unknown files (e.g. FITS) with a simple text editor like Windows Notepad will allow us to see some of the data encoded in the file. This method allows you to preview the contents of many files, but probably not in such a structure as a program dedicated to support them.