FITS Liberator

Image:Fits liberator v1.jpg

Version 1 of the ESA/ESO/NASA Photoshop FITS Liberator was completed in July 2004 by imaging scientists at the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Southern Observatory (ESO), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Version 1 allowed all types of FITS images to be opened and also some limited interaction with the images.

[[Image:Fits liberator v2.jpg|left|upright=1.6|thumb|Screenshot FITS Liberator Version two. The image is labeled: 1. The preview window 2. Histogram window 3. Tools 4. Statistics 5. Advanced tools for scaling and stretching 6. Histogram editor 7. Background brightness slider 8. Peak brightness slider

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The basic workflow is to open a FITS image, study it in the Preview window, adjust the black-and-white levels (6) to give a reasonable contrast and then set the input range for the scaling of the image by clicking the Auto Scaling Button (7). Test different values of the Scaled Peak level to scale the image to better fit with one of the possible Stretch functions (8).

Version 2 of the ESA/ESO/NASA Photoshop FITS Liberator image processing software made it easier and faster to create colour images from raw observations. Updates included:

• FITS images with up to 4 billion grey scales can be processed (32 bit support).
• FITS images with up to 500 million pixels or more can be processed (100 times larger than standard images from a digital camera).
• Re-designed workflow and user interface. The plug-in remembers previous settings.
• New options for advanced scaling and stretching.

A section of v2.0 was dedicated to metadata input and the user also was given access to a text version of the original FITS header.

Image:Fits v2.1.jpg

An updated version of the software containing new scaling and stretching tools allows more manipulation of astronomical images. An update in v2.1 allows users to embed descriptive information about the image and what it shows within the final image. Based on a new standard for Astronomy Visualization Metadata (AVM), this information is stored in the standard manner comparable to that used by digital cameras to record exposure information.

The ESA/ESO/NASA WFPC2 Mosaicator: This add-on tool works on Hubble WFPC2 images. It generates a WFPC2 mosaic file from one WFPC2 file containing four CCD images in individual planes.

The ESA/ESO/NASA FITS Concatenator: This Adobe Photoshop script combines the metadata from two or more individual exposures after the FITS Liberation process.

Version 3.0 of the FITS Liberator included the following new features:{{cite web|url=http://www.spacetelescope.org/announcements/ann1013/ |title=ESA/ESO/NASA FITS Liberator Version 3 Released | ESA/Hubble |website=Spacetelescope.org |date=2010-10-01 |accessdate=2016-02-24}}

• FITS Liberator became a stand-alone application, no longer requiring Adobe Photoshop.
• Processing medium-sized images became up to 35% faster due to improved memory management.
• Processing large images became faster, due to delayed application of stretch functions.
• FITS Liberator now saves TIFF files that opened in most image processing software.

File:Fitsliberator4.png

Version 4.0 of the FITS Liberator was released on 4 March 2021, and includes new features:{{Cite web |last=information@eso.org |title=Release of FITS Liberator 4 – FITS Liberator 4 provides vital revamp to popular astronomical image-processing tool for turning data into stunning images of the Universe |url=https://www.spacetelescope.org/announcements/ann2104/ |access-date=2024-02-24 |website=www.spacetelescope.org |language=en}}

• 64 bit operating systems are supported.
• Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux support.
• Command Line Interface for batch processing of FITS files.
• Full support for big images (even greater than available memory).
• Dark mode.
• Full screen mode.

For experienced users, there is a Quick Start Guide available at the FITS Liberator website.{{Cite web|title=QuickStart Guide for FITS Liberator 4|url=https://bitpointer.co/fl4binaries/Quickstart.pdf}}

For new users, a Full User Guide for the FITS Liberator 3, can be obtained from the European homepage of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.{{cite web|url=http://www.spacetelescope.org/static/projects/fits_liberator/v301files/userguide.pdf |title=User's Guide : The ESA/ESO/NASA FITS Liberator : v.3.0 |website=Spacetelescope.org |accessdate=2016-02-24}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.spacetelescope.org/projects/fits_liberator/index.html The ESA/ESO/NASA FITS Liberator v3.0.1] spacetelescope.org
• [https://noirlab.edu/fitsliberator The FITS Liberator 4 page at NOIRLab]
• [https://fitsliberator.bitpointer.co The FITS Liberator 4 page at BitPointer]
• [http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/software/fitsio/fitsio.html NASA's CFITSIO]

Category:Free graphics software

Category:Software using the BSD license