A few important points to note.
- Limits are given as V magnitudes, ergs sec-1 cm-2 е-1, ergs sec-1 cm-2 е-1 arcsec-2.
- The limits were derived assuming zero slit loss.
- The imaging table includes a single point source limit. No single source in the field of view can exceed this limit.
- The limits in the tables assume zero extinction. If your source, when corrected for Galactic extinction, does not exceed the absolute limits, then you will be allowed to observe your source.
- The imaging table also includes an integrated magnitude limit. Remember that the global limit of 200,000 counts sec-1 applies to all sources imaged onto the MAMA detector. The integrated magnitude limit gives the total magnitude from all stars (or galaxies, or diffuse objects) of spectral type O which can appear in the MAMA field of view. Initial screening of all MAMA imaging observations will be done assuming all stars are O stars, however, ultimately for the final decision, the colors of the stars are taken into account whenever such information is available (see IHB Chapter 7).
- Be aware of the additional limitations that exist for crowded fields and slightly-resolved stellar clusters (see IHB Section 7.7.3).
Table 14.40: MAMA Bright-Object limits (V magnitudes and cgs units). V magnitudes include NO additional safety factor to account for extrapolation uncertainties from the optical to the UV spectral range.