Representations of Spectral Coordinates in FITS

Greisen & Calabretta (2002) describe a generalized method for specifying the coordinates of FITS data samples. Following that general method, Calabretta & Greisen (2002) describe detailed conventions for dening celestial coordinates as they are projected onto a two-dimensional plane. The present paper extends the discussion to the spectral coordinates of wavelength, frequency, and velocity. World coordinate functions are dened for spectral axes sampled linearly in wavelength, frequency, or velocity, linearly in the logarithm of wavelength or frequency, as projected by ideal dispersing elements, and as specied by a lookup table.