Grid infrastructures can be beneficial to many applications, including astronomical and astrophysical ones. One of the main issues in Grid computing is data sharing and distribution. In the case of astronomical applications this is a crucial point, since astronomers process large amounts of data that come from observations and numerical simulations. The standard format for astronomical data is FITS. A standard library to manipulate FITS files is CFITSIO. We designed and implemented a set of drivers for the CFITSIO libraries that interact directly with the Grid file system through its different layers, from the GridFTP up to the file catalog. These drivers allow a direct access to astronomical data stored on the GRID. The GridFTP transfer protocol is common to every Grid infrastructure and to the EGEE Grid file system.
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