Instrument configuration and run-specific information

Information specific to a particular instrument is not so easy to categorize. There is some information connected with individual passbands that can naturally be stored in tabular form: the codes used for filters, and the names of the bands, for example. But each particular type of detector has a different set of characteristics, which in turn require different sets of supplementary data. Furthermore, there are distinct modes of operation peculiar to each type: we need dead-time information about photomultipliers only when they are used as pulse-generators, not in DC photometry or charge integration.

• Storage format
• General instrumental information
• Passbands
  • Columns BAND and NBAND
  • Column FILTCODE_ n
  • Column NDVALUE
  • Column NDETUSED
  • Columns REDLEAK, RLTYPE, and MAKER
• Instrument descriptors
  • Filter descriptors
  • Descriptor NFILTCAR
  • Character descriptor FILTCAT
  • Character descriptor FILTSTAT
• Detectors
  • Columns NDET and DETNAME
  • Column DETCODE
  • Column DET
  • Photomultipliers: DET= PMT
  • Column COOLING
  • Silicon photodiodes and CCDs: DET= SILICON
  • Other detectors: DET= OTHER
• Telescope optics
• Sample instrument files
  • A simple photometer
  • A modern single-channel photometer
  • A modern two-channel photometer
  • CCD photometry