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Dissecting FITS files - The FITS extension & Astronomy

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FITS is a very common extension used in astronomy. It stands for Flexible Image Transport System. Literally any image or spectrum produced by any observatory or telescope in this world (or orbiting this world) will eventually be converted from RAW CCD format into a FITS file! I still don't know how it caught on or what the advantages of the FITS extension are over the other types like .txt or .asc (ASCII) but hey, it's the convention and i'd (and any one interested in pursuing Astronomy seriously) should learn how to go about using FITS files i.e accessing them, understanding the data structure in a FITS file and performing operations on them. Astronomical data is usually pictures in one color. Yes. Only one color.  Yes. Everything you know IS a lie. All of the colored pictures of nebulae, star forming regions, the galaxy and what not are actually false-color images where images of the same object observed at different wavelengths are clubbed together - stacked - to ...

The Information Age - Are We Capable? Mature? Aware?

Information. In the right hands it can cure diseases. It can bring down dictators. It can help save millions of lives in the nick of time. It can be used to explore unknown territories. It can be used for the good of mankind. And in this age and time, when information about everything and anything in the world is at our finger tips in an instant thanks to the world wide web, are we capable enough to handle this constant flow of information? Are we mature enough to use this knowledge for the better? Are we educated enough to be able to use this information for the good of mankind? Are we aware at all of this mountain of knowledge at our finger tips?! Thanks to the internet, students can watch lectures of courses offered by reputed universities online for free; the layman can watch news, listen to radio and read international news which he wouldn’t have known about if not for the internet; entrepreneurs and engineers discuss ideas which might one day change the world and work with peo...