DATE-OBS / DATE-LOC incorrect format in FITS headers

[Former user]

These values should be string and surrounded with single-quotes. Quotes are missing. Not all programs therefore recognize and handle the dates correctly. These are important for astrometry and photometry.

nasa fits validation run on 1 file:

File name: 2019-11-19_20-41-48_0001.fits Run Number 27090

          fitsverify 4.20 (CFITSIO V3.470)              
          --------------------------------

1 Header-Data Units in this file.

=================== HDU 1: Primary Array ===================

Error: Keyword #10, DATE-LOC: Bad numerical value "2019-11-19T20:41:48.288". Error: Keyword #11, DATE-OBS: Bad numerical value "2019-11-19T19:41:48.288". Error: Keyword #10, DATE-LOC: "2019-11-19T20:41:48.288" is not a string. Error: Keyword #11, DATE-OBS: "2019-11-19T19:41:48.288" is not a string.

1 | SIMPLE = T / C# FITS 2 | BITPIX = 16 / 3 | NAXIS = 2 / Dimensionality 4 | NAXIS1 = 1391 / 5 | NAXIS2 = 1039 / 6 | BZERO = 32768 / 7 | EXTEND = T / Extensions are permitted 8 | IMAGETYP= 'LIGHT' / Type of exposure 9 | EXPOSURE= 120 / [s] Exposure duration 10 | DATE-LOC= 2019-11-19T20:41:48.288 / Time of observation (local) 11 | DATE-OBS= 2019-11-19T19:41:48.288 / Time of observation (UTC) 12 | XBINNING= 1 / X axis binning factor 13 | YBINNING= 1 / Y axis binning factor 14 | XPIXSZ = 6.44999980926514 / [um] Pixel X axis size 15 | YPIXSZ = 6.44999980926514 / [um] Pixel Y axis size 16 | INSTRUME= 'ATIK-414ex' / Imaging instrument name 17 | SET-TEMP= -10.03 / [degC] CCD temperature setpoint 18 | CCD-TEMP= -10.35 / [degC] CCD temperature 19 | TELESCOP= 'C8' / Name of telescope 20 | FOCALLEN= 1278 / [mm] Focal length 21 | FOCRATIO= 6.3 / Focal ratio 22 | RA = 33.9173173925439 / [deg] RA of telescope 23 | DEC = 16.5272222222222 / [deg] Declination of telescope 24 | SITEELEV= 19 / [m] Observation site elevation 25 | SITELAT = 51.151 / [deg] Observation site latitude 26 | SITELONG= 4.48091666666667 / [deg] Observation site longitude 27 | FWHEEL = 'Starlight Xpress F' / Filter Wheel name 28 | FILTER = 'Lum' / Active filter name 29 | OBJECT = '(768) Struveana' / Name of the object of interest 30 | OBJCTRA = '00 00 00' / [H M S] RA of imaged object 31 | OBJCTDEC= '+00 00 00' / [D M S] Declination of imaged object 32 | FOCNAME = 'Pegasus Astro Focu' / Focusing equipment name 33 | FOCPOS = 131799 / [step] Focuser position 34 | FOCUSPOS= 131799 / [step] Focuser position 35 | FOCTEMP = -0.25 / [degC] Focuser temperature 36 | FOCUSTEM= -0.25 / [degC] Focuser temperature 37 | SWCREATE= 'N.I.N.A. 1.10.0.10' / Software that created this file 38 | END

38 header keywords

16-bit integer pixels, 2 axes (1391 x 1039),

++++++++++++++++++++++ Error Summary ++++++++++++++++++++++

HDU# Name (version) Type Warnings Errors 1 Primary Array 0 4

* Verification found 0 warning(s) and 4 error(s). *

[Dale Ghent]

Oh, thanks for reporting this. I didn’t know fitsverify even existed. I will look into this shortly and address it.

[Dale Ghent]

Fix is in pull request #379