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20.4 Headers, Keywords, and Relationship to Phase II
As with previous HST instruments, the FITS header keywords in STIS data files store important information characterizing the observations and telemetry received during the observations and describe the post-observation processing of your dataset. Each keyword follows FITS conventions and is no longer than eight characters. Values of keywords can be integer, real (floating-point), or character string. Many are HST and STIS specific. Knowledge of the keywords and where to find them is an important first step in understanding your data. By examining your file headers, using either infostis, catfits, imhead, or hedit, you will find detailed information about your data including:
- Target name, coordinates, proposal id, and other proposal level information.
- Observation and exposure timing information such as observation start and duration.
- Instrument configuration information such as detector, grating, central wavelength setting, and filter.
- Readout definition parameters such as binning, gain, subarray parameters.
- Exposure-specific information such as more detailed timing, world coordinate system information, fine guidance sensor identification.
- Calibration information such as the calibration switches and reference files used by the pipeline and parameters derived from the calibration, such as image statistics, wavelength shifts.
The easiest way to quickly identify the observational parameters of a given dataset is to run the task infostis (see Figure 20.3 below) which prints selected header information for STIS FITS images. Wildcard characters or a file list may be used for input (e.g., *.fits or @fitslist).
Figure 20.3: Using infostis to Display Header Keywords
cl> infostis o3xi03a1m_raw.fits
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
S T I S
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rootname: O3XI03A1M Detector: CCD
Proposal ID: 7071 Obs Type: IMAGING
Exposure ID: 3.031 Obs Mode: ACQ
Lamp: NONE
Target Name: GD153-1 Aperture: F28X50LP
Right Ascension: 12:57:02.3 Filter: Long_Pass
Declination: +22:01:53.2 Opt Element: MIRVIS
Equinox: 2000.0 CCD amp: D
Gain: 4
Axis 1 binning: 1 CR-split: 1
Axis 2 binning: 1
Subarray: yes
Total Exp. Time: 0.3 sec
Number of imsets: 3
STIS takes CCD and MAMA spectroscopic and imaging data, as well as acquisitions and acq/peakups. The keywords relevant for one of these data types will not necessarily be relevant to another. Accordingly, you will find that the header on your particular file contains a unique combination of keywords appropriate for your type of observation. Long definitions for the keywords can also be accessed from the following Web page, which provides detailed explanations of the contents and algorithm for populating the keywords. This site also provides sample headers for different STIS file types:
http://archive.stsci.edu/keyword
Keywords that deal with a particular topic, such as the instrument configuration, are grouped together logically throughout the headers. Table 20.5 lists a useful subset of these groups of keywords, indicates the name of the grouping, and where applicable, shows their relationship to the corresponding information from the Phase II proposal.
Table 20.6 summarizes the possible calibration switch keywords, and indicates whether they are present for a particular observation; it also indicates the reference file keyword corresponding to the particular calibration step. A calibration switch keyword is populated with one of OMIT, COMPLETE, or PERFORM. Similarly, Table 20.7 summarizes the reference file group of keywords that identify the files used by the pipeline during calibration (see Chapter 21 for a detailed description of pipeline processing).
Selected Keywords and Relationship to Phase II
Keyword
|
Phase II Equivalent
|
Description
|
---|
NEXTEND
|
|
Number of image extensions in the file.
|
Target Information (Primary Header)
|
TARGNAME
|
Target Name
|
Name of target.
|
RA_TARG
DEC_TARG
|
RA
Position
DEC
|
Right ascension of the target (deg) (J2000).
Declination of the target (deg) (J2000).
|
Proposal Information (Primary Header)
|
PROPOSID
|
|
4 digit proposal number
|
LINENUM
|
|
Indicates the visit and exposure number from the phase II proposal; format vv-nnnn, visit number, exposure num..
|
Summary Exposure Information (Primary Header)
|
TDATEOBS
|
|
UT date of start of first exposure in file (a character string)
|
TTIMEOBS
|
|
UT start time of first exposure in file (a character string); primary header.
|
TEXPSTRT
|
|
Start time (MJD) of 1st exposure in file (a real number).
|
TEXPEND
|
|
End time (MJD) of last exposure in the file (a real number); primary header.
|
TEXPTIME
|
Time_per_Exposure
|
Total exposure time (a real number); summed for an association; primary header.
|
Science Instrument Configuration (Primary Header)
|
OBSTYPE
|
|
Observation type (IMAGING or SPECTROSCOPIC).
|
OBSMODE
|
Opmode
|
Operating mode (ACQ,ACQ/PEAK,ACCUM,TIME-TAG).
|
DETECTOR
|
Config
|
Detector in use: NUV-MAMA, FUV-MAMA, or CCD.
|
OPT_ELEM
|
Sp_Element
|
Optical element in use (grating name or mirror).
|
MIRROR
|
Sp_Element
|
Mirror element used for imaging observations.
|
CENWAVE
|
Centra_Wavelength
|
Central wavelength for grating settings.
|
APERTURE
|
Aperture
|
Aperture name.
|
FILTER
|
Derirved from Aperture
|
Filter in use.
|
APER_FOV
|
|
Aperture field of view.
|
WAVEMIN
|
|
Minimum wavelength of the data.
|
WAVEMAX
|
|
Maximum wavelength of the data.
|
PLATESC
|
|
Plate scale (arcsec/pixel).
|
SCLAMP
|
|
Lamp status, NONE or name of lamp which is on.
|
LAMPSET
|
|
Spectral cal lamp current value (milliamps).
|
NRPTEXP
|
Number_of_Iterations
|
Number of repeat exposures in set: default 1.
|
SUBARRAY
|
|
Data from a subarray (T) or full frame (F).
|
CRSPLIT
|
CR-SPLIT (optional parameter)
|
Number of cosmic ray split exposures.
|
Readout Definition Parameters
|
SIZAXIS1
|
SIZEAXIS1
|
Subarray axis 1 size in unbinned detector pixel.
|
SIZAXIS2
|
SIZEAXIS2
|
Subarray axis 2 size in unbinned detector pixel.
|
BINAXIS1
|
BINAXIS1
|
Axis 1 data bin size in unbinned detector pixel.
|
BINAXIS2
|
BINAXIS2
|
Axis 2 data bin size in unbinned detector pixel.
|
CCDAMP
|
|
CCD amplifier read out (A,B,C,D).
|
CCDGAIN
|
GAIN (optional parameter)
|
Commanded gain of CCD.
|
CCDOFFST
|
|
Commanded CCD bias offset.
|
ATODGAIN
|
|
Calibrated CCD amplifier gain value.
|
Exposure Information (Extension header only)
|
DATE-OBS
|
|
UT date of start of observation (dd/mm/yy); extension header.
|
TIME-OBS
|
|
UT time of start of observation (hh:mm:ss); extension header.
|
PA_APER
|
|
Position angle of slit.
|
ORIENTAT
|
|
Position angle of detector.
|
CRPIX et al.
|
|
|
DGESTAR
|
|
FGS ID(F1,F2,F3) concat. w/ dom. gd. star id.
|
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Last updated: 07/01/98 10:18:16