Data Output

ASAP can save scantables in a variety of formats, suitable for reading into other packages. The formats are:

ASAP

This is the internal format used for ASAP. It is the only format that allows the user to restore the data, fits etc. without loosing any information. As mentioned before, the ASAP scantable is an AIPS++ Table (a memory-based table). This function just converts it to a disk-based Table. You can the access that Table with the AIPS++ Table browser or any other AIPS++ tool.

SDFITS

The Single Dish FITS format. This format was designed to for interchange between packages, but few packages actually can read it.

FITS

This uses simple ``image'' fits to save the data, each row being written to a separate fits file. This format is suitable for importing the data into CLASS.

ASCII

A simple text based format suitable for the user to processing using Perl or, Python, gnuplot etc.

MS2

Saves the data in an aips++ MeasurementSet V2 format. You can also access this with the Table browser and other AIPS++ tools.

The default output format can be set in the users .asaprc file. Typical usages are:

  ASAP> scans.save('myscans') # Save in default format
  ASAP> scans.save('myscans', 'FITS') # Save as FITS for exporting into CLASS

  ASAP> scans.save('myscans', stokes=True) # Convert raw polarisations into Stokes
  ASAP> scans.save('myscans', overwrite=True) # Overwrite an existing file