FITS Liberator

Software program

The ESA/ESO/NASA FITS (Flexible Image Transport System) Liberator is a free software program for processing and editing astronomical data in the FITS format to reproduce images of the universe. Version 3 and later are standalone programs; earlier versions were plugins for Adobe Photoshop. FITS Liberator is free software released under the BSD 3 license. The engine behind the FITS Liberator is NASA's CFITSIO library. FITS has been a standard since 1982 and is recognised by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Archives in the FITS file format also include images of stars, nebulae and galaxies produced by space based and ground based telescopes from around the world. Although the first version of the software was a tool used mainly by professional astronomers, efforts have been made to bring high quality astronomical images to the homes of amateur astronomers, educators and students. The FITS Liberator has become the industry standard for professional imaging scientists at the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Southern Observatory (ESO), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). It uses images from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the Very Large Telescope (VLT), among others, to craft high definition colour astronomical images. The first and second versions of the FITS Liberator were released in July 2004 and August 2005 respectively, the version, v3.0.1, was released in February 2012.

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.

Version 3.0 of the FITS Liberator included the following new features:

FITS Liberator became a stand alone application, no longer requiring Adobe Photoshop. Processing medium sized images became upto 35% faster, thanks to significantly improved memory management. Processing large images also became faster, thanks to delayed application of stretch functions. FITS Liberator now saved TIFF files that opened in almost any image processing software.

For experienced users, there is a Quick Start Guide available at the FITS Liberator website. 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.