FITS file handling
FITS files are the standard format for astronomical images. The standard has developed since 1976. Revisions are approved by the IAU (International Astronomical Union). An example:
The FITS file image of the Orion Nebula open in MaxIm DL, a general purpose application for scripting and image processing, showing image metadata in the FITS header. Superstacker called Maxim DL for FITS file handling.
The FITS file format is complex, but libraries are available in C++, C#, FORTRAN, Java, Python and other languages (but not in FORTH, as far as is widely documented).