---
name: "mFitExec"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "montage"
version: "6.1+dfsg-1+b1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/mFitExec"
---

# mFitExec(1)

Re-project and mosaic your images, with background rectification

## NAME

mFitExec - Re-project and mosaic your images, with background rectification

## SYNOPSIS

mFitExec \[-d\] \[-s *statusfile*\] diffs.tbl fits.tbl diffdir

## DESCRIPTION

Runs **mFitplane** on all the difference images identified by **mOverlaps**and generated by **mDiff**or **mDiffExec.** **mFitExec** creates a table of image-to-image difference parameters.

## OPTIONS

- \-d

  Turns on debugging

- \-s *statusfile*

  Writes output message to *statusfile* instead of to stdout

## ARGUMENTS

- diffs.tbl

  Overlap table generated by **mOverlaps**, the last column of which contains the filenames of the difference images generated by **mDiffExec**.

- fits.tbl

  Output table of difference parameters.

- diffdir

  Directory containing difference images.

## RESULT

Generates a table, **fits.tbl**, containing all the information generated by running **mFitplane** on each difference image.  *nimages* is the number of images for which this calculation was successfully performed, *nfaied* is the number that generated an error condition for **mFitplane**, *nwarning* is the number that generated a warning, and *nmissing* is the number of files that could not be found in the specified **diffdir**.

## MESSAGES

- OK

  \[struct stat="OK", count=*n*, failed=*nfailed*, warning=*nwarning*, missing=*nmissing*\]

- ERROR

  Cannot open status file: *statusfile*

- ERROR

  Can't open output file.

- ERROR

  Invalid diffs metadata file: *filename*

- ERROR

  Need columns: cntr1 cntr2 plus minus diff

- ERROR

  *svc library error*

## EXAMPLES

First, diffs.tbl is generated for a collection of reprojected images using **mOverlap**.  Next, **mDiffExec** is run on those images to create output images in the subdirectory diffdir.  At this point, we are ready to run **mFitExec**:

- $ mFitExec diffs.tbl fits.tbl diff

  \[struct stat="OK", count=42, failed=0, warning=0, missing=0\]

Output file: fits.tbl.

## BUGS

The drizzle algorithm has been implemented but has not been tested in this release.

If a header template contains carriage returns (i.e., created/modified on a Windows machine), the cfitsio library will be unable to read it properly, resulting in the error: \[struct stat="ERROR", status=207, msg="illegal character in keyword"\]

It is best for the background correction algorithms if the area described in the header template completely encloses all of the input images in their entirety. If parts of input images are "chopped off" by the header template, the background correction will be affected. We recommend you use an expanded header for the reprojection and background modeling steps, returning to the originally desired header size for the final coaddition. The default background matching assumes that there are no non-linear background variations in the individual images (and therefore in the overlap differences). If there is any uncertainty in this regard, it is safer to turn on the "level only" background matching (the "-l" flag in mBgModel.

## COPYRIGHT

2001-2015 California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California

If your research uses Montage, please include the following acknowledgement: "This research made use of Montage. It is funded by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number ACI-1440620, and was previously funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Earth Science Technology Office, Computation Technologies Project, under Cooperative Agreement Number NCC5-626 between NASA and the California Institute of Technology."

The Montage distribution includes an adaptation of the MOPEX algorithm developed at the Spitzer Science Center.