FITScope: Your FITS Image Viewer for macOS 🌌

Welcome to FITScope, a dedicated FITS image viewer designed for macOS users. Whether you are an astronomer, astrophotographer, or simply an enthusiast of space imagery, FITScope provides an intuitive interface for exploring FITS files. This README will guide you through the features, installation process, and usage of FITScope.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Features
• Installation
• Usage
• Contributing
• License
• Contact

Introduction

FITS (Flexible Image Transport System) is a digital file format widely used in astronomy to store images and data. FITScope allows users to easily view and manipulate these files on macOS. With a clean and user-friendly interface, FITScope is perfect for both professionals and hobbyists alike.

To get started, download the latest release of FITScope from our Releases page. You will need to download and execute the file to install the application.

Features

• User-Friendly Interface: Navigate through your FITS files with ease.
• Multiple FITS File Support: Open and view multiple FITS files simultaneously.
• Zoom and Pan: Easily zoom in and out of images and pan across them.
• Histogram Display: View the histogram of the image data for better analysis.
• Color Mapping: Apply different color maps to enhance the visualization of data.
• Metadata Viewer: Access important metadata associated with each FITS file.
• Cross-Platform Compatibility: While optimized for macOS, FITScope is built with portability in mind.

Installation

To install FITScope, follow these steps:

1. Download the latest release: Visit our Releases page to find the latest version.
2. Run the installer: Once downloaded, execute the installer file and follow the on-screen instructions.
3. Launch the application: After installation, you can find FITScope in your Applications folder.

Usage

Using FITScope is straightforward. Here’s how to get started:

1. Open FITScope: Locate the application in your Applications folder and double-click to launch.
2. Load a FITS file: Click on File in the menu bar, then select Open. Navigate to the FITS file you wish to view and click Open.
3. Explore the image: Use the zoom and pan tools to navigate through the image. You can also switch between different color maps to find the best representation for your data.
4. View metadata: To see the metadata, select View from the menu and then Show Metadata. This will display important information about the FITS file.

Contributing

We welcome contributions from the community! If you would like to help improve FITScope, please follow these steps:

1. Fork the repository: Click on the fork button at the top right of this page.
2. Create a branch: Use git checkout -b feature-branch to create a new branch for your feature.
3. Make your changes: Implement your feature or fix.
4. Commit your changes: Use git commit -m "Description of your changes" to commit your work.
5. Push to your fork: Use git push origin feature-branch to push your changes.
6. Create a pull request: Navigate to the original repository and submit a pull request.

Your contributions are valuable and help enhance the experience for all users.

License

FITScope is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for more details.

Contact

For questions or feedback, please reach out to us:

• Email: support@fitscope.com
• GitHub: FITScope GitHub Repository

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the open-source community for their invaluable contributions. Special thanks to the developers of the libraries we use to build FITScope.

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Thank you for choosing FITScope! We hope you enjoy exploring the universe through your FITS files. For updates and new releases, keep an eye on our Releases page.