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The 1988 IAU (International Astronomical Union) General Assembly meeting in Baltimore, USA, adopted the following resolution: 

RESOLUTION B1: Extensions to FITS
      The XXth General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union,
      considering
             the present situation of the transfer of catalogue and table data
             in digital form among astronomical institutes; and
      noting
             that significant improvements in portability can be made;
      recommends
             that all astronomical computer facilities recognise and support
             the rules for general extensions to the Flexible Image Transport
             System (FITS) including the extension to the exchange of catalogue
             and table data as described in Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement
             Series 73, pp 359-364 and pp 365-372 (1988).

The first paper by Grosbol et al. defines the general principles for adding new extensions to FITS. The second paper by Harten et al. defines the format for the FITS ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) table extension.

Reference: Transactions of the International Astronomical Union (1988), Vol. XXB, pp 51-52.