FLATCOR

Divides a series of images by a flatfield

Description:

This routine applies a flat field correction to a series of images. If any of the input data have been flagged as saturated using a saturation value (instead of being marked as BAD) then the saturation values may be protected from modification.

Usage:

flatcor in out flat

Parameters:

FLAT = LITERAL (Read)
Name of the image which contains the normalised (mean of one) flatfield data. This should have been produced by a program such as MAKEFLAT. The data should have a floating point data type (_REAL or _DOUBLE). If USESET is true, FLAT should be a group expression referring to one flatfield data file matching each of the Set Index attributes represented in the IN list; again the name of the file produced by MAKEFLAT will normally be suitable. The name of this file may be specified using indirection through a file. [Global flatfield]
IN = LITERAL (Read)
Names of the images containing the data which are to have the flatfield correction applied. The image names should be separated by commas and may include wildcards.
KEEPIN = _LOGICAL (Read)
Whether to keep (i.e. not delete) the input images (parameter IN) or not. Deleting the input images has the advantage of saving disk space, but should probably only be used if this program is part of a sequence of commands and the intermediary data produced by it are not important.

The calibration master frame (parameter FLAT) is never deleted.

The default for this parameter is TRUE and this cannot be overridden except by assignment on the command line or in response to a forced prompt. [TRUE]

LOGFILE = FILENAME (Read)
Name of the CCDPACK logfile. If a null (!) value is given for this parameter then no logfile will be written, regardless of the value of the LOGTO parameter.

If the logging system has been initialised using CCDSETUP, then the value specified there will be used. Otherwise, the default is "CCDPACK.LOG". [CCDPACK.LOG]

LOGTO = LITERAL (Read)
Every CCDPACK application has the ability to log its output for future reference as well as for display on the terminal. This parameter controls this process, and may be set to any unique abbreviation of the following:

  • TERMINAL – Send output to the terminal only

  • LOGFILE – Send output to the logfile only (see the LOGFILE parameter)

  • BOTH – Send output to both the terminal and the logfile

  • NEITHER – Produce no output at all

If the logging system has been initialised using CCDSETUP then the value specified there will be used. Otherwise, the default is "BOTH". [BOTH]

OUT = LITERAL (Write)
Names of the output images. These may be specified as list of comma separated names, using indirection if required, or, as a single modification element (of the input names). The simplest modification element is the asterisk "∗" which means call each of the output images the same name as the corresponding input images. So:

IN > ∗
OUT > ∗

signifies that all the images in the current directory should be used and the output images should have the same names.

Other types of modification can also occur, such as:

OUT > tmp_∗

which means call the output images the same as the input images but put tmp_ in front of the names. Replacement of a specified string with another in the output file names can also be used:

OUT > tmp_∗|debias|flattened|

this replaces the string debias with flattened in any of the output names tmp_∗.

SATURATION = _DOUBLE (Read)
The value at which the input data has been saturated. This is only required if the saturation has been flagged using a non-BAD value. [1.0D6]
SETSAT = _LOGICAL (Read)
If the input data has had a saturation value applied then this value should be set to TRUE. However, if the saturation has been applied within CCDPACK then this will not be necessary as this information will have been stored in the CCDPACK extension. Note that data with different saturation properties (i.e. saturation values) which have not been set within CCDPACK will require separate processing (see notes). [FALSE]
PRESERVE = _LOGICAL (Read)
If the input data types are to be preserved and used for processing then this parameter should be set TRUE [default]. If this parameter is set FALSE then the input data will be processed and returned in a suitable floating point representation. This option is useful if the output data will have a significant number of BAD values due to numeric errors (over or under flow), or if unacceptable loss of precision will occur if the data are processed in the original data type (due to rounding errors).

If a global value for this parameter has been set using CCDSETUP then this will be used. [TRUE]

TITLE = LITERAL (Read)
Title for the output images. [Output from FLATCOR]
USESET = _LOGICAL (Read)
Whether to use Set header information or not. If USESET is false then any Set header information will be ignored. If USESET is true, then the FLAT parameter is taken to refer to a group of files, and each IN file will be processed using a flatfield dataset with a Set Index attribute which matches its own. An IN file with no Set header is considered to match a FLAT file with no Set header, so USESET can safely be set true (the default) when the input files contain no Set header information.

If a global value for this parameter has been set using CCDSETUP then that value will be used. [FALSE]

Examples:

flatcor frame1 frame1_f flatr
In this example the data in image frame1 are corrected for the flatfield response stored in image flatr. The result of dividing FRAME1 by flatr is written to image frame1_f. If a saturation value has been applied to the data in frame1 then this will be automatically accommodated by FLATCOR providing the saturation has been applied within CCDPACK.
flatcor n4151r1 n4151r1f flatfield setsat=true saturation=32767
In this example the data have had a saturation value applied which has not been recorded within CCDPACK and the required information has been supplied.
flatcor in=’∗’ out=’∗_flattened’ flat=master_flatr
In this example all the images in the current directory are processed. The resultant data are written to files with the same name as the corresponding input images, but with the characters "_flattened" appended to the filename.

See also

“Flatfielding”, MAKEFLAT.

Notes:

Behaviour of parameters

Most parameters retain their current value as default. The "current" value is the value assigned on the last run of the application. If the application has not been run then the "intrinsic" defaults, as shown in the parameter help, apply. The exceptions to this rule are:

Retaining parameter values has the advantage of allowing you to define the default behaviour of the application but does mean that additional care needs to be taken when using the application on new datasets/different devices, or after a break of sometime. The intrinsic default behaviour of the application may be restored by using the RESET keyword on the command line.

Certain parameters (LOGTO, LOGFILE, PRESERVE, FLAT and USESET) have global values. These global values will always take precedence, except when an assignment is made on the command line. In general global values may be set and reset using the CCDSETUP and CCDCLEAR commands, however, the FLAT parameter may only be set by a run of the application MAKEFLAT.

Implementation Status: