Autoflip of Images

Autoflip ensures that a newly loaded image containing FITS WCS information will be oriented so that "north is up", that is, so that increasing "cdelt1" is toward the left and increasing "cdelt2" is in the upward direction. This feature is turned on by default.

The autoflip mechanism can be turned on/off at startup using the command switch "-autoflip true|false" or the SAOTNG_AUTOFLIP environment variable. While SAOtng is running, autoflipping can be toggled from the Zoom menu. When turned off, the menu option is "Enable Auto-Flip". When turned on, the menu option is "Disable Auto-Flip". Auto-flip also can be set using the "zoom" XPA access point.

Auto-flip requires that WCS information be available in the newly loaded image header. If the CD1_1 or CDELT1 parameter (in that order) is positive, then the image is flipped in x. If the CD2_2 or CDELT2 parameter (in that order) is positive, then the image is flipped in y. If none of these parameters exist, then no auto-flipping is performed. Note that auto-flipping also is not performed if the current frame already has been flipped by the user.


Last Updated June 14, 1997