XMM-Newton Data Analysis - Getting Header and Data Information

There is no XMMSAS task that can be used for reading header and data information. To get the header and data information of a FITS file you can use the two FTOOLS tasks fdump or flist or the GUI fv. Also you can use e.g. MIDAS or IRAF to read the header and table information of the FITS files.

fdump:

fdump events.fits
Name of optional output file[STDOUT] 
Names of columns[-] 
Lists of rows[-]

flist events.fits
Name of optional output file[STDOUT] 
Names of columns[] 
Lists of rows[-]

After this, first the header information will scroll on the screen and then the data columns of the FITS file. You can also write the information into an output file.

fv:

The more comfortable way goes via the graphical user interface (GUI) fv:

fv events.fits

This will start the following windows:

fv window manager

fv file summary

Choose the information you would like: header, or columns or even make a plot
Click on e.g. the Header button.

fv header information window

In the header information window you can scroll through the header by using the scroll bar to the right.
In order to close the window, use the pull down menu under File and use the left mouse button to Close.

fv table selection window

In the table selection window you can choose columns of the table that will be shown. The default is all columns. If you are only interested in a few columns, first click on Clear all and then select the columns you want, e.g TIME, PHA, PI
Then click on Display table which will now list the column information if the same window:

fv table information window

Last change: 2002-04-22 16:05 by D. Grupe