Typographic Conventions

To help you understand the material in this Data Handbook, we will use a few consistent typographic conventions.

Visual Cues

The following typographic cues are used:

bold words identify a PYTHON library or function.
typewriter-like words identify a file name, system command, or response that is typed or displayed. typewriter-like words also identify header keywords.
italic type indicates a new term, an important point, a mathematical variable, or a task parameter.
ALL CAPS identifies a table column.

Comments

Occasional side comments point out three types of information, each identified by an icon in the left margin.

Warning: You could corrupt data, produce incorrect results, or create some other kind of severe problem.

Heads Up: Here is something that is often done incorrectly or that is not obvious.

Tip: No problems... just another way to do something or a suggestion that might make your life easier.

Information especially likely to be updated on the WFC3 Web site is indicated by this symbol.

List of Acronyms

Acronym
A-to-D	Analog to Digital conversion
ACQ	Acquisition
ACS	Advanced Camera for Surveys
ADC	Analog-to-Digital converter
APT	Astronomer's Proposal Tool
CASTLE	HST optical simulator
CSM	Channel Select Mechanism
CT	Crosstalk
CTE	Charge Transfer Efficiency
CVZ	Continuous Viewing Zone
DN	Data Number
DQ	Data quality
DS9	SAOimage astronomical image visualization application
ESA	European Space Agency
ETC	Exposure Time Calculator
FGS	Fine Guidance Sensor
FITS	Flexible Image Transport System
FOV	Field of View
FSM	Filter Select Mechanism in WFC3 IR channel
HOPR	Hubble Operations Problem Report
IDC	Image distortion correction
IR	Infrared channel on WFC3
IRAF	Image Reduction and Analysis Facility
ISR	Instrument Science Report
MAST	Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes
MULTIACCUM	Accumulation mode (multiple non-destructive reads)
NICMOS	Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer
OPUS	Operational Pipeline Unified System
OS	Optical Stimulus
OTA	Optical Telescope Assembly
PAM	Pixel Area Map
POM	Pick-off Mirror
PSF	Point Spread Function
QE	Quantum efficiency
SAA	South Atlantic Anomaly
SED	Spectral Energy Distribution
SIC&DH	Science Instrument Command and Data Handling unit
SIP	Simple Image Polynomial
SMOV	Servicing Mission / Orbital Verification
SOFA	Selectable Optical Filter Assembly in WFC3 UVIS channel
ST-ECF	Space Telescope - European Coordinating Facility
STScI	Space Telescope Science Institute
STSDAS	Space Telescope Science Data Analysis Software
TIR	Technical Instrument Report
TV3	Thermal Vacuum campaign 3
UVIS	Ultraviolet-Visible channel on WFC3
WCS	World Coordinate System
WF/PC-1	Wide-field Planetary Camera 1, on-board HST Apr 1990 to Nov 1993
WFPC2	Wide-Field Planetary Camera 2, on-board HST Dec 1993 to May 2009

«Previous Next»

WFC3 Data Handbook
- • Acknowledgments
- • What's New in This Revision
- Preface
  - • Handbook Structure
  - • Typographic Conventions
- Chapter 1: WFC3 Instruments
  - • 1.1 Instrument Overview
  - • 1.2 The UVIS Channel
  - • 1.3 The IR Channel
- Chapter 2: WFC3 Data Structure
  - • 2.1 Types of WFC3 Files
  - • 2.2 WFC3 File Structure
  - • 2.3 Data Storage Requirements
  - • 2.4 Headers and Keywords
- Chapter 3: WFC3 Data Calibration
  - • 3.1 The calwf3 Data Processing Pipeline
  - • 3.2 UVIS Data Calibration Steps
  - • 3.3 IR Data Calibration Steps
  - • 3.4 Pipeline Tasks
  - • 3.5 Manual Recalibration of WFC3 Data
- Chapter 4: WFC3 Images: Distortion Correction and AstroDrizzle
- Chapter 5: WFC3 UVIS Sources of Error
  - • 5.1 Gain and Read Noise
  - • 5.2 Bias Subtraction
  - • 5.3 Dark Current and Hot Pixels
  - • 5.4 UVIS Flat Fields
  - • 5.5 Image Anomalies
  - • 5.6 Generic Detector and Camera Properties
  - • 5.7 UVIS Photometry Errors
  - • 5.8 References
- Chapter 6: WFC3 UVIS Charge Transfer Efficiency - CTE
  - • 6.1 Overview
  - • 6.2 CTE Losses And Background
  - • 6.3 The Nature Of CTE Losses
  - • 6.4 The Pixel-Based Model
  - • 6.5 Empirical Corrections
  - • 6.6 Dealing With CTE Losses in WFC3 UVIS Images
  - • 6.7 Sink Pixels
  - • 6.8 References
- Chapter 7: WFC3 IR Sources of Error
  - • 7.1 WFC3 IR Error Source Overview
  - • 7.2 Gain
  - • 7.3 WFC3 IR Bias Correction
  - • 7.4 WFC3 Dark Current and Banding
  - • 7.5 Blobs
  - • 7.6 Detector Nonlinearity Issues
  - • 7.7 Count Rate Non-Linearity
  - • 7.8 IR Flat Fields
  - • 7.9 Pixel Defects and Bad Imaging Regions
  - • 7.10 Time-Variable Background
  - • 7.11 IR Photometry Errors
  - • 7.12 References
- Chapter 8: Persistence in WFC3 IR
- Chapter 9: WFC3 Data Analysis
  - • 9.1 Photometry
  - • 9.2 Astrometry
  - • 9.3 Spectroscopy
  - • 9.4 STSDAS, STSCI_PYTHON and Astropy
  - • 9.5 Specific Tools for the Analysis of WFC3
  - • 9.6 References
- Chapter 10: WFC3 Spatial Scan Data
  - • 10.1 Analysis of Scanned Data
  - • 10.2 IR Scanned Data
  - • 10.3 UVIS Scanned Data
  - • 10.4 References

Typographic Conventions

Visual Cues

Comments

List of Acronyms

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