Three Tools to Aid Visualisation of FITS Files for Astronomy

TL;DR

This paper introduces three innovative tools for astronomical visualization of FITS files, enabling real-time interaction, enhanced dynamic range imaging, and flexible data manipulation across 2D and 3D datasets.

Contribution

The paper presents three new visualization tools—FITS3D, FITS2D, and an R package for high dynamic range compression—that improve interactive analysis and visualization of astronomical FITS data.

Findings

FITS3D enables real-time comparison of spectral data cubes.

FITS2D supports interactive masking and annotations on 2D images.

The R package effectively compresses dynamic range in FITS images.

Abstract

Increasingly there is a need to develop astronomical visualisation and manipulations tools which allow viewers to interact with displayed data directly, in real time and across a range of platforms. In addition, increases in dynamic range available for astronomical images with next generation telescopes have led to a desire to develop enhanced visualisations capable of presenting information across a wide range of intensities. This paper describes three new tools for astronomical visualisation and image manipulation that are the result of a collaboration between software engineers and radio astronomers. The first tool, FITS3D, is a fast, interactive 3D data cube viewer designed to allow real-time interactive comparisons of multiple spectral line data cubes simultaneously. It features region specific selection manipulation including smoothing. The second tool, FITS2D, aids the visualisation and manipulation of 2D fits images. The tool supports the interactive creation of free-form masks which allow the user to extract any (potentially non-contiguous) subset of a fits image. It also supports annotations which can be placed without affecting the underlying data. The final tool is an R package for applying high dynamic range compression techniques to 2D fits images. This allows the full range of pixel brightness to be imaged in a single image, simultaneously showing the detail in bright sources while preserving the distinction of faint sources. Here we will present these three tools and demonstrate their capability using images from a range of astronomical images.