Tables available for pysynphot/Synphot
(The Exposure Time Calculators use a dedicated installation of these files, which is updated on the ETC release schedule and may not be the same as the files listed here.)
There are five basic types of files (FITS tables) we use with the STSDAS software package Synphot and its successor pysynphot.
- component throughput tables (usually "_syn"): each such table gives the transmission curve for an individual element or "component" in the optical path of HST+SI. For the most up-to-date files in use by pysynphot please check here .
- thermal emissivity files:("_th.fits") each table lists the thermal emission curves for WFC3 and NICMOS.
- Master tables (For the most up-to-date files in use by pysynphot please check here ):
- - master component lookup table ("_tmc"): contains the full directory path and name of each component throughput table to be used.
- - observatory configuration or "master graph" table ("_tmg"): gives the relationship of the components to one another as encountered by a light ray tracing each of the many distinct paths from the HST Primary Mirror to the SI detector.
- - thermal component lookup table ("_tmt"): contains the full directory path and name of each component thermal element to be used. Only WFC3 and NICMOS have thermal tables ("_th.fits")
These five types of synphot tables are used by the software to estimate the total throughput of any given observing mode or configuration. New synphot files or updates are also delivered to OPUS via the same basic CDBS reference file delivery process with some specific changes that are described in the TIR.
The tmc, tmg, and tmt tables are also kept in their own directory, called "mtab". They are uniquely named using the uniqname schema, with rootnames endings as described above.
If you are using Synphot or Pysynphot you might want to obtain the latest version of the data it uses in its calculations. Since the set of pysynphot data files is rather large, they are distributed in separate tar files.
The gzipped tarfiles listed below can be obtained from: ftp://archive.stsci.edu/pub/hst/pysynphot/. Note that there can be issues with certain browsers (e.g., Safari). Alternatively, you can do the following:
ftp to archive.stsci.edu
username is anonymous, password is your email address
cd to pub/hst/pysynphot and download the desired file(s).
- synphot1.tar.gz (71Mb)- This contains the HST component throughput files and graph and component lookup tables (use gunzip to uncompress)
- synphot2.tar.gz (35Mb) - This contains some of the stellar and galactic model files.
(agn, bc95, bkmodels, bpgs, bz77, extinction, galactic, jacobi, kc96, Pickles). - synphot3.tar.gz (18Mb) - This contains the Castelli and Kurucz 2004 Atlas.
- synphot4.tar.gz (40Mb) - This contains the Kurucz 1993 Atlas.
- synphot5.tar.gz (506Mb) - This contains the Phoenix Models.
- synphot6.tar.gz (35Mb) - This contains the HST Calibration Spectra.
To retrieve individual throughput tables, please do the following:
- 1. Go to www.stsci.edu/hst/observatory/crds/SIfileInfo/pysynphottables/current_throughput_html and select your instrument.
- 2. Within your given instrument section, note the name(s) of the file(s) you wish to obtain.
- 3. Go to http://archive.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/stdads_retrieval_options
- 4. Put the name of your file(s) in the box, omitting the _syn.fits (e.g., stis_009x29_004). For more than one table, separate the names by a comma (,) or put the name on a new line.
- 5. Click on the ‘Submit datasets for retrieval’ button, located at the bottom of the form.
- 6. After clicking the button, you will be taken to a page containing some information about the file(s). Make sure that all of the small boxes in the 'Mark' column are checked.
- 7. Click on ‘Submit marked data for retrieval from STSDADS’ located above the file information.
- 8. You will be taken to the Retrieval Options page, where you would fill out the information needed to retrieve the file(s).
- 9. In the File Options section, uncheck ‘Calibrated’ and highlight SYN in the ‘… or select or enter one or more extensions’ box to the right.
- 10. Click the ‘Send retrieval request to ST-DADS’ button on the bottom and your file(s will be retrieved for you.
If you have any problems, please contact the ReDCaT Team at: crds_team@stsci.edu