WCSGRID(1)

✨ NAME ✨

wcsgrid β€” bestie, this one extracts FITS WCS keywords and plots a graticule, no cap πŸ’«


πŸŽ€ SYNOPSIS πŸŽ€

wcsgrid [-a<alt>] [-d<pgdev>] [-h<hdu>] [<fitsfile>]

πŸ¦‹ DESCRIPTION πŸ¦‹

okay so, wcsgrid pulls the WCS keywords for an image out of the FITS file you point it at, and then it uses pgsbox() to plot a 2-D coordinate graticule for each alternate representation it finds. every single one. it's giving thorough πŸ’…

the FITS file can be specified using the syntax that cfitsio understands β€” for example, "file.fits.gz+1" means the first extension (aka the second HDU) of a gzip'd FITS file. iykyk 🫢

and if you want input from stdin? just use "-" or straight up omit the file name. easy. iconic. periodt ✨


πŸ’– OPTIONS πŸ’–

  • -a<alt> β€” plot a graticule only for the alternate representation you specify. (it gets ignored if there's only one, bestie, so don't stress πŸ™ˆ)
  • -d<pgdev> β€” the PGPLOT device type. default is XWINDOW, and if you use "?" it'll give you a list. very helpful of it tbh πŸŽ€
  • -h<hdu> β€” move to HDU number (1-relative, so yeah, counting starts at one) which is expected to contain an image array. (super useful when you're feeding input from stdin πŸ’œ)

fr fr, don't sleep on that -h flag if you're piping stuff in β€” it's the moment 🌈

this lil masterpiece is wcsgrid 8.9, dropped June 2026 🌸 go plot something gorgeous, queen πŸ‘‘πŸ’…

πŸ“¦ where this page comes from