DS9 Reference Manual
Table of Contents

Preferences

Allows the user to customize the appearance and behavior of the GUI . Please note: some preferences take affect immediately, while others require DS9 to be restarted. Use Save Preferences to store changes. Preferences are stored in the file ~/.ds9.prf or .ds9.prf for windows. DO NOT EDIT this file, since it will be deleted or overwritten by DS9.

File Menu
Edit Menu
Frame Menu
Bin Menu
Zoom Menu
Scale Menu
Color Menu
Region Menu
WCS Menu
Analysis Menu

View
Info Panel
Default Font
Mosaics
Panner
Magnifier
Truecolor Colorbar
Dialog Box
Pan
Print Coordinates
Examine
URL
Misc

Save Preferences
Clear Preferences

File Menu

Configure default Page Setup.

Edit Menu

Set the default mouse mode.

Frame Menu

  • Tile

  • Configure the tiling pattern to be used while in Tile mode.
  • Blink Interval

  • Set the blink interval while blinking between frames.
    Sets the size of the display frame, within DS9.
  • Auto Size

  • Sets the frame size to be as big as possible, given the current window size.
  • 256x256

  • Sets the frame size to be 256x256, centered in the window.
  • 512x512

  • Sets the frame size to be 512x512, centered in the window.
  • 1024x1024

  • Sets the frame size to be 1024x1024, centered in the window.

    Bin Menu

    Set the default bin function, factor, and buffer size.

    Zoom Menu

    Set the default Zoom factor, Orientation, and Rotation, along with WCS Alignment.

    Scale Menu

    Set the default scale, limits, and to use DATASEC if available.

    Color Menu

    Set the default Colormap.

    Region Menu

    Specify default region parameters such as radius and width and height.

    WCS Menu

    Specify default wcs parameters. The default wcs, sky frame, and sky format will be used as default settings for the information panel, panner wcs compass, wcs alignment, grid.

    Analysis Menu

  • Horizontal Graph
  • Grid

  • Show/Hide the grid on the Horizontal graph.
  • Linear

  • Configure the graph for linear data.
  • Log

  • Configure the graph for log data. IMPORTANT: your data min value must be >=1 for it to display properly.
  • Vertical Graph
  • Grid

  • Show/Hide the grid on the Vertical graph.
  • Linear

  • Configure the graph for linear data.
  • Log

  • Configure the graph for log data. IMPORTANT: your data min value must be >=1 for it to display properly.
  • DSS Server

  • Configure the default DSS server. Used by the Analysis Menu item DSS Server Dialog.
  • Name Server

  • Configure the default Name server. Used by both the Analysis Menu Items Name Server Dialog and DSS Server Dialog.
  • Preload Analysis File (up to 4)

  • The name of an Analysis File to be preloaded at startup
  • Analysis Command Log. List final command line before execution.
  • Analysis Plot

  • Default settings for all Analysis Plots

    View

    Show/Hide display components
  • Information Panel
  • Buttons
  • Panner
  • Magnifier
  • Colorbar
  • Info Panel

    Controls what information is displayed in the Information Control Panel.
  • Filename

  • Show/Hide base name of the current FITS image.
  • Object

  • Show/Hide the contents of the FITS keyword OBJECT, if present.
  • Min Max

  • Show/Hide the min and max values for the current FITS image.
  • Frame Info

  • Show/Hide the frame number, zoom, and angle of the current frame.
  • WCS

  • Show/Hide WCS coordinate values, for the current FITS image, if present.
  • Detector (optional)

  • Show/Hide Detector coordinate values, for the current FITS image. Requires the DTV/DTM keywords be present in the header. See NOAO IRAF Mosaic Data Structures for more information.
  • Amplifier (optional)

  • Show/Hide Amplifier coordinate values, for the current FITS image. Requires the ATV/ATM keywords be present in the header. See NOAO IRAF Mosaic Data Structures for more information.
  • Physical

  • Show/Hide Physical or CCD coordinate values, for the current FITS image. Requires the LTV/LTM keywords be present in the header. See NOAO IRAF Mosaic Data Structures for more information.
  • Image

  • Show/Hide Image or Logical coordinate values, for the current FITS image.

    Default Font

    Select the default font for menus and buttons. Please note that you must save the preferences and restart ds9 for the default font changes to take affect.

    Mosaics

    Configure default behavior for loading mosaics
  • Auto Detect- first attempt to load as IRAF, then WCS, and finally HST WFPC2.
  • Force IRAF- attempt to load only as IRAF mosaic.
  • Force WCS- attempt to load only as WCS mosaic.
  • Force HST WFPC2 - attempt to load only as HST WFPC2.
  • Fast Mosaic Render - enable optimized mosaic render. Only valid for IRAF mosaics. May give incorrect results if the display areas of the mosaic segments overlap.
  • Panner

  • Orientation Compass

  • Show/Hide the image orientation compass.
  • WCS Compass

  • Show/Hide/Set coordinate system for the WCS compass.
  • WCS Compass Tangent Point

  • Display the WCS compass at the tangent point or the center of the panner.

    Magnifier

  • Graphics

  • Show/Hide regions  and crosshair in the magnifier window. This is not available for the 'Fast' display algorithm.
  • Cursor

  • Show/Hide the cursor in the center of the magnifier window. This cursor displays the size and orientation of one pixel, given the current zoom, angle and orientation of the frame.
  • Display Algorithm

  • Two algorithms are available for the magnifier.
  • Fast

  • This algorithm is a fast method, best for slow machines and images that are not rotated.
  • More Accurate

  • This algorithm renders the image for the magnifier in the most accurate manner as possible. This is the default algorithm. This method is best for non factor of 2 zooms and orientations of angle other than zero.
  • Magnification

  • Current magnification factor of the image rendered into the magnifier.

    Truecolor Colorbar

    To optimize adjusting the colorbar contrast and bias on slower truecolor machines, the user may select a subsection of the image to be manipulated.

    Dialog Box

  • Motif

  • All Standard Dialog boxes will be in Motif style.
  • Windows

  • All Standard Dialog boxes will be in Microsoft Windows style.
  • Blue Plate Special

  • Custom dialog box which allows filename wild card characters.

    Pan

    Configure the interactive pan method.
  • Click to Center

  • Center image at click point. Same method as SAOimage.
  • Drag to Center

  • Click, drag, and release to pan the image in the current frame
  • Pan then Zoom

  • Pan to center, next 2 clicks zoom at center, click 4 resets zoom to 1. This behavior emulates the middle button mouse behavior of XIMTOOL.

    Print Coordinates

    Specify which coordinates are printed when the 'C' key is pressed. The format of WCS coordinates are also specified. Also, the value of the closest pixel may also printed.

    Examine

    Configure the Examine function. While in examine mode, the user may indicate that all new examine operations go to one frame, or create a new frame each time. Also, the user may indicate the scale factor to be used in the examine frame. If the base frame is an image, the zoom factor is changed, if the base frame is a FITS Binary Table, the block factor is changed.

    URL

  • Show FTP Log

  • Show/Hide the FTP log window when using FTP to access an FITS image.
  • Show HTTP Log

  • Show/Hide the HTTP log window when using HTTP to access an FITS image.

    Misc

  • Use Cursors: change the mouse cursor over regions to indicate edit options
  • Autoload Regions: When loading a FITS Image or Bin Table from a file,  scan for FITS Regions Table and load if present.
  • Show Amplifier/Detector in Menus: Enable / Disable Amplifier and Detector coordinate system menu options. Does not take affect til next startup.
  • Initialize XPA: Enable/Disable XPA access at startup. Does not take affect til next startup.
  • Save Preferences

    Saves the current values of all preference items in the preference file.

    Clear Preferences

    Clears all current preferences. Actually deletes the preferences file, if present. The next time DS9 is started, default settings are used.