VLBIFiles.jl

VLBIFiles.jl provides functions for reading and writing various data formats typically used in very long baseline interferometry (VLBI).

• Images, represented as KeyedArrays (from AxisKeys.jl)
  • fits files: ✅ read, ✅ write
• Visibilities, represented as (almost raw) KeyedArrays or as flat tables
  • uvfits files: ✅ read, ❌ write
  • fits-idi files: 🟡 read, ❌ write
• Source models, represented by InterferometricModels.jl
  • difmap model files: ✅ read, ✅ write
  • clean components within fits images: ✅ read, ❌ write

To read a file, use:

using VLBIFiles

# determine the file type automatically and read into its default representation
VLBI.load("filename")

# specify the resulting type manually:
VLBI.load(KeyedArray, "filename.fits")  # image as a KeyedArray
VLBI.load(VLBI.UVData, "filename.uvf")  # visibilities as a UVData object
VLBI.load(MultiComponentModel, "filename.mod")  # model from a difmap model file
VLBI.load(MultiComponentModel, "filename.fits")  # CLEAN model from a fits image

# read visibilities and return them as a "uv table"
# see VLBIData.jl for the data structure definition
VLBI.load("filename") |> uvtable

See the notebook for docs and more usage examples.

Note

This package was originally named VLBIData.jl. Then, in 2025, VLBIData.jl was refocused solely on data structure definitions and visibility calculations, and its file I/O functions were transferred to VLBIFiles.jl (this package). To maintain continuity, VLBIFiles.jl carries on the VLBIData versioning starting at v0.3.32.