The FITS Image Format

In order to make it easier for astronomers to use lots of different telescopes, they decided to create a particular kind of computer file which all telescopes could use.

They called this kind of file a FITS file which stands for the Flexible Image Transport System.

As well as storing the actual images, the files also have other information in them, such as the date and time of the observation, the name and location of the telescope, the weather at the time of the observation and so on.

There are now large archives of FITS files bringing together observations from many telescopes and allowing astronomers to make use of millions of images.