Reading a CDS fixed width table into a pandas dataframe

read_cds_table.py

import pandas as pd
from astropy import table

# use the astropy table reader method to read the file and convert
# to a `pandas.DataFrame`
df = table.Table.read('table1.txt', format='ascii.cds').to_pandas()
df.to_csv('table1.csv', index=False)

# when reading the files, remember to set the index column for
# matching and other things
df = pd.read_csv('table1.csv', index_col='Seq')  # index for that table