Special Keywords¶

This section contains special keywords that apply to multiple instruments.

OTA¶

The HST OTA transmissivity is included by default in the calculation of all HST-related observation modes. It can be included or excluded explicitly by adding the keywords ota or noota, respectively; For example:

>>> import stsynphot as stsyn
>>> bp = stsyn.band('stis,ccd,f25srf2,noota')  

COSTAR¶

An observation mode that involves a first-generation instrument (FOC, FOS, or GHRS) also automatically accounts for the effects of COSTAR on its wavelength-dependent sensitivity. This includes the product of the reflectivity curves for each pair of the COSTAR mirrors for each of these instruments, as well as the effects on instrument throughput and sensitivity due to the improved point-spread function that is achieved with COSTAR.

Like the OTA, the COSTAR effects on bandpass and count rates are included by default for these instruments when using versions of the HST graph table created on or after February 24, 1995. In earlier versions of the graph table, nocostar is the default. To explicitly include or exclude COSTAR, use the keywords costar and nocostar, respectively, anywhere within your observation mode string; For example:

>>> import stsynphot as stsyn
>>> bp = stsyn.band('fos,red,4.3,g270h,costar')  

All current HST instruments (except FGS) have built-in corrective optics to compensate for the spherical aberration of the primary mirror. It is not necessary to explicitly exclude COSTAR for the current generation instruments, as it is excluded by default. Inclusion of COSTAR for these instruments are not allowed.

MJD¶

In the case of ACS, COS, STIS, and WFC3, the mjd keyword is used to handle time-dependent sensitivity of certain detectors. To use this capability in simulations, include mjd#ddddd in the obsmode string, where ddddd is the desired Modified Julian Date (MJD) value, which could be an integer or a floating point.

stsynphot interpolates between the dates for which data exist in the table to arrive at an estimate of the throughput on the requested date (see Parameterized Keyword). For example:

>>> import stsynphot as stsyn
>>> bp = stsyn.band('acs,wfc1,f555w,mjd#49486')  

If not specified, the default is to use the latest set of throughput values in the THROUGHPUT column without any interpolation or extrapolation. This default column is expected to be updated by the relevant instrument team whenever significant changes to the current trend are identified, such that the throughput should not differ by more than 2% from the one obtained by using the current date.

Encircled Energy¶

For ACS and WFC3, the aper keyword is used to specify a circular aperture, given by its radius in arcseconds, to calculate the source counts within. If no aperture is given, calculations are done for an infinite aperture, which is also 5.5 arcsec or larger for ACS, and 2 arcsec or larger for WFC3.

This enables stsynphot to be more flexible and accurate, particularly for cases where red targets are observed at long wavelengths. At wavelengths greater than 7500 Angstrom (for ACS/HRC) and about 9000 Angstrom (for ACS/WFC), the observations are affected by a red halo due to light scattered off the CCD substrate. An increasing fraction of the light as a function of wavelength is scattered from the center of the PSF into the wings. This problem affects particularly the very broad z-band F850LP filter, for which the encircled energy (EE) depends on the underlying spectral energy distribution the most.

Supported apertures are instrument-dependent, as listed below. Arbitrary aperture sizes are permitted, but not recommended. This is because stsynphot only provides a linear interpolation between supported apertures (see Parameterized Keyword), which is a poor approximation, especially at small apertures.

For ACS, the following apertures are supported:

every 0.1 arcsec between 0 and 0.6 arcsec
0.8 arcsec
1.0 arcsec
1.5 arcsec
2.0 arcsec
4.0 arcsec

For WFC3, the following apertures are supported:

every 0.05 arcsec between 0.1 and 0.3 arcsec
every 0.1 arcsec between 0.3 and 0.6 arcsec
0.8 arcsec
1.0 arcsec
1.5 arcsec
2.0 arcsec

To use this capability in simulations, include aper#value in the obsmode string, where value is the radius in arcseconds. When “aper#0” is specified, the user will obtain the number of counts in the brightest pixel (i.e., the peak counts of the source centered at that pixel). For example:

>>> import stsynphot as stsyn
>>> bp = stsyn.band('acs,wfc1,f850lp,aper#0.2')  

Temperature¶

For NICMOS and WFC3 IR detectors, thermal background can be calculated by stsynphot. If no temperature is specified, the default value for each component is used (see Thermal Emissivity Table and Parameterized Keyword).

For WFC3, the calculation can only be done at the default temperature (not yet parameterized). For observation modes using a grism, the bkg keyword is used to perform throughput and emission calculations pertaining to the associated background signal. This is because in grism observations, a given detector pixel will receive source signal from only a small wavelength interval of the dispersed source spectrum, but it will receive background signal from the entire bandpass of the grism. Therefore, a special throughput table is used to correctly compute the detected signal from a background spectrum, which gives the transmission of the grism over its entire bandpass. The bkg keyword cannot be used with non-grism observations. For example:

>>> import stsynphot as stsyn
>>> bp = stsyn.band('wfc3,ir,g102,bkg')  

For NICMOS, all keywords except the detector are parameterized for temperature. This includes OTA components that are opaque but thermally emitting. Most of the its optical elements (reimag, pupil, image, para1, para2, bend, dewar, and cmask) are contained in the dewar, and are therefore at the same temperature. However, stsynphot does not enforce this, so the user must specify any non-default temperature for each component individually. For example, to specify a primary mirror temperature of 290 K and then calculate the thermal background:

>>> bp = stsyn.band('nicmos,3,f222m,primary#290.0')  
>>> bp.thermback()  
<Quantity 82.29150427454572 ct / (pix s)>

Contamination¶

The cont# keyword for WF/PC-1 and WFPC2 references the Modified Julian Date, which is used to account for the gradual decline in throughput between decontamination events, as well as for the sudden increase in throughput immediately after a decontamination.

For WF/PC-1, data exists for dates between May 8, 1991 (MJD 48384) and December 8, 1993 (MJD 49329), non-inclusive, in the intervals of 20-30 days. For WFPC2, data currently exists from December 26, 1993 (MJD 49347) until SM4, in intervals of approximately 30 days.