diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 82cbf623dc..0cab50ab83 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 #Changelog for the fact-tools
 
+## Version 0.17.1 -- 29.11.2016
+
+* Fix a null pointer exception that was thrown in `FITSWriter.finish` in case no
+data item was ever written
+
 ## Version 0.17.0 -- 21.11.2016
 
 * Improvements on Single Pulse Extractor
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 932e7cf87a..17e6cc1b3d 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
   <groupId>de.sfb876</groupId>
   <artifactId>fact-tools</artifactId>
   <name>fact-tools</name>
-  <version>0.17.0</version>
+  <version>0.17.1</version>
   <url>http://sfb876.de/fact-tools/</url>
 
   <description>
diff --git a/src/main/java/fact/io/FITSWriter.java b/src/main/java/fact/io/FITSWriter.java
index 24801f3006..6da5de13c3 100644
--- a/src/main/java/fact/io/FITSWriter.java
+++ b/src/main/java/fact/io/FITSWriter.java
@@ -230,13 +230,16 @@ public void resetState() throws Exception {
 
     @Override
     public void finish() throws Exception {
-        FitsUtil.pad(bf, rowSize * numEventsWritten);
-        bf.close();
-        Fits fits = new Fits(url.getPath());
-        BinaryTableHDU bhdu = (BinaryTableHDU) fits.getHDU(1);
-        bhdu.getHeader().setNaxis(2, (int) numEventsWritten);
-        bhdu.getHeader().rewrite();
-
+        if (initialized) {
+            FitsUtil.pad(bf, rowSize * numEventsWritten);
+            bf.close();
+            Fits fits = new Fits(url.getPath());
+            BinaryTableHDU bhdu = (BinaryTableHDU) fits.getHDU(1);
+            bhdu.getHeader().setNaxis(2, (int) numEventsWritten);
+            bhdu.getHeader().rewrite();
+        } else {
+            bf.close();
+        }
     }
 
     public void setKeys(Keys keys) {
@@ -250,4 +253,8 @@ public void setUrl(URL url) {
     public void setExtname(String extname) {
         this.extname = extname;
     }
+
+    public long getNumEventsWritten() {
+        return numEventsWritten;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/test/java/fact/io/FITSWriterTest.java b/src/test/java/fact/io/FITSWriterTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..dfa565226d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/fact/io/FITSWriterTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+/**
+ *
+ */
+package fact.io;
+
+import junit.framework.Assert;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+import stream.Data;
+import stream.Keys;
+import stream.data.DataFactory;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.net.URL;
+
+
+/**
+ * @author maxnoe
+ */
+public class FITSWriterTest {
+    static Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(FITSWriterTest.class);
+
+	@Test
+	public void testFitsWriterNoItems() throws Exception {
+        FITSWriter fitsWriter = new FITSWriter();
+        File f = File.createTempFile("test_fits", ".fits");
+        log.info(f.getAbsolutePath());
+
+        URL url = new URL("file:" + f.getAbsolutePath());
+        fitsWriter.setUrl(url);
+        fitsWriter.init(null);
+        fitsWriter.finish();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testFitsWriter() throws Exception {
+        FITSWriter fitsWriter = new FITSWriter();
+        File f = File.createTempFile("test_fits", ".fits");
+        log.info(f.getAbsolutePath());
+
+        URL url = new URL("file:" + f.getAbsolutePath());
+        fitsWriter.setUrl(url);
+        fitsWriter.setKeys(new Keys("*"));
+
+        fitsWriter.init(null);
+
+        Data item = DataFactory.create();
+        item.put("EventNum", 1);
+        item.put("TriggerType", 4);
+        item.put("NROI", 300);
+        item.put("NPIX", 1440);
+        item.put("x", 0.0);
+        item.put("y", 5.0);
+        item.put("array", new double[]{1.0, 2.0, 3.0});
+
+        fitsWriter.process(item);
+        Assert.assertEquals(fitsWriter.getNumEventsWritten(), 1);
+        fitsWriter.finish();
+    }
+}