2.5 Paper Products

Paper products typically summarize the set of exposures that constitute a visit in the Phase II proposal. The set of exposures can be either individual datasets or associations. Paper products are produced by accessing the appropriate keywords in the dataset headers or in the association tables.

After the data from an observation have been received and processed through the STScI pipeline, PDF files (paper products) can be generated which summarize the data obtained The paper products are generated using the stsdas.hst_calib.paperprod task pp_dads. Here we briefly describe the NICMOS paper products.

A given page of the NICMOS paper products falls into one of two categories: visit-level page or exposure-level page. The content of the pages is as follows:

Visit-Level Pages

•	Cover Page: contains the proposal ID, the visit number, the PI’s last name, and the proposal title.

•	Explanatory Notes: a set of notes explaining the information contained in the paper products.

•	Target List: a table listing the targets of the observations being summarized.

•	Observation Summary: a table summarizing the proposal information for each exposure in the present set, including processing and data quality flags.

•	Optional Parameters: a table listing the optional parameters, other than the pattern related parameters, used in the observations.

•	Observing Pattern Strategy: a table listing the observing pattern used for each exposure in the set.

Exposure-level Pages

•	Final Calibrated Image: a grey-scale plot of the calibrated science image (a mosaic if the observation was dithered).

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Observation Parameters: several useful parameters are listed on the right hand side of a subset of the paper product pages. Observation root name, the date and time of the observation, the target name and position, the instrument configuration, FOM offset, and pattern, dither and chop information is given.

•	Spacecraft Performance: known problems with guide star acquisition, spacecraft guidance, recenterings, and telemetry drop-outs are listed, as are detected problems with the instrument’s operation (e.g., Take Data flag NOT on throughout observation).

•	Pipeline Processing Summary: any problems encountered in the routine pipeline processing of the data are listed.

•	Calibration Data Quality Summary: possible problems with the calibration reference files is summarized; for example, any dummy reference files used in the calibration would be identified.

•	Thumbnail plots: the individual exposures for dithered, chopped, and NUMITER > 1 observations are given.

•	Observing Pattern: a schematic (cartoon) of the observing pattern is shown.

•	Dither, Chip Mosaics: plots of the mosaiced calibrated image (on-target) and average mosaiced background image (off-target) are included.

•	Data Quality Summary: a summary of the spacecraft performance, pipeline processing status, and calibration data quality for each exposure.

•	Calibration Reference File Summary: a summary of the calibration processing switches and reference files used to process each exposure.