diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 80089386..5db7f232 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+1.19.0 (2024-10-16)
+-------------------
+- Added the ability to read fits files that are pre downloaded and are already in memory
+
 1.18.3 (2024-10-04)
 -------------------
 - Update exception handling for photometric calibrator to handle general base exceptions from the requests library
diff --git a/banzai/utils/fits_utils.py b/banzai/utils/fits_utils.py
index c6d57d77..7e64e510 100755
--- a/banzai/utils/fits_utils.py
+++ b/banzai/utils/fits_utils.py
@@ -142,7 +142,11 @@ def basename_search_in_archive(filename, dateobs, context, is_raw_frame=False):
 
 
 def open_fits_file(file_info, context, is_raw_frame=False):
-    if file_info.get('path') is not None and os.path.exists(file_info.get('path')):
+    if file_info.get('data_buffer') is not None:
+        filename = file_info.get('filename')
+        frame_id = None
+        buffer = file_info.get('data_buffer')
+    elif file_info.get('path') is not None and os.path.exists(file_info.get('path')):
         buffer = open(file_info.get('path'), 'rb')
         filename = os.path.basename(file_info.get('path'))
         frame_id = None