ESO official data interface specifications are defined and maintained by the ESO Data Interface Control Board (DICB).
The DICB Terms of Reference are given in appendix A of the Data Interface Control Document.
The detailed data interface specifications are described in context dependent data dictionaries. There exists a dictionary for each instrument, telescope, etc.
The format of the ESO Data Dictionaries is described in chapter 8 of the Data Interface Control Document.

Released Dictionaries

Released dictionaries can be obtained upon request. Please contact dicb at eso.org.

Data Interface Specification

Data Interface Control Document v.5 (ESO document designation: GEN-SPE-ESO-19400-0794) is the official version of the document, released on 8 July 2011. To obtain older versions of the DIC Document or (if available) drafts of the new versions, please contact dicb at eso.org.

Useful links

• FITS Support Office at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• FITS documentation
• Online FITSfile verifier
• IAU FITS Working Group

The ESO Data Interface Control Board is composed of members from the Instrumentation Division, Software Development Division, Data Management Division, Archive Facility and La Silla Paranal Observatory.