E Specification of LCOGT Quality Control index files

The following pages describe the LCOGT Quality Control index files in detail. These files are part of the calibration scheme therefore they are controlled by LCOGT-specific subclasses of ORAC::Calib (found in <ORAC-DR root>/src/lib/perl5/ORAC/Calib/)) namely ORAC::Calib::LCOSBIG (used for the LCOSBIG, LCOSBIG_0M8 (Sedgwick), LCOSINISTRO, LCOFLI, LCOMEROPE and LCOSPECTRAL instruments), ORAC::Calib::LCOSBIG_0M4 (used for LCOSBIG_0M4 (0.4m) instruments) and ORAC::Calib::LCOCC (used for Context Camera instruments). In addition there is the basis of low-resolution spectrographic calibration support through ORAC::Calib::LCOFLOYDS.

The columns to appear in the index file are controlled by a list of column names within a subroutine of the same name (e.g. the format of the index.dqc file is controlled by a ’dqc’ subroutine) and extra columns can be added as desired. Once defined, the ORAC-DR calibration infrastructure handles the location, creation, indexing, updating, retrieval, consistency checking and verification of the index files. In addition to the declared columns, columns for the frame filename and the time are automatically created.

E.1 Specification of the index.astromqc file

This index is used to store the result of the astrometric calibration i.e. the WCS fit. The format of the file is a header of the column names (with a hash character in the first column) on the first line followed by a line entry for each frame consisting of multiple colums with the form of <FILENAME> OFFSETDEC OFFSETRA <ORACTIME> SECPIX XRMS YRMS where:

• <FILENAME> is the name of the reduced frame,
• NSTARS is the number of stars used in the astrometric fit (set to 0 if no satisfactory fit was determined),
• OFFSETDEC is the offset in Dec in arcseconds between the fitted frame center and the Dec of the telescope (set to 0 if no satisfactory fit was determined),
• OFFSETRA is the offset in RA in arcseconds between the fitted frame center and the RA of the telescope (set to 0 if no satisfactory fit was determined),
• <ORACTIME> is the auto-inserted time of frame in standard ORAC YYYYMMDD.ddddd format,
• SECPIX is the fitted pixel scale in arcseconds/pixel (set to the nominal pixel scale if no satisfactory fit was determined)
• XRMS is the RMS of the astrometric fit in the X direction in arcseconds (set to ’-99’ if no satisfactory fit was determined)
• YRMS is the RMS of the astrometric fit in the X direction in arcseconds (set to ’-99’ if no satisfactory fit was determined)

A section of an example file is shown below:

The index file is updated by filing new astrometric fit results with the calibration system in the _ADD_AUTO_ASTROMETRY_ primitive.

E.2 Specification of the index.dqc file

This index is used to store the result of the data quality control. The format of the file is a header of the column names (with a hash character in the first column) on the first line followed by a line entry for each frame consisting of multiple colums with the form of <FILENAME> AIRMASS ELLIPTICITY FWHM <ORACTIME> ORIENT QC_OBCON QC_IMGST QC_CATST QC_PHTST where:

• <FILENAME> is the name of the reduced frame,
• AIRMASS is the mean airmass at the middle of the exposure,
• ELLIPTICITY is the mean ellipticity (0..1) of the sources in the frame determined by SExtractor (set to -99 if no seeing statistics were determined),
• FWHM is the mean Full Width Half Maximum in arcseconds of the sources in the frame determined by SExtractor (set to -99 if no seeing statistics were determined),
• <ORACTIME> is the auto-inserted time of frame in standard ORAC YYYYMMDD.ddddd format,
• ORIENT is the mean orientation in degrees of the sources in the frame fitted by SExtractor (set to -99’ if no seeing statistics were determined)
• QC_CATST is the bitmask of flags set by the QC module for the catalog extraction (see the LCOGT-SA-ICD Version 0.10.0 or the Science Archive data release notes for the full list of flags),
• QC_IMGST is the bitmask of flags set by the QC module for the processed image (see the LCOGT-SA-ICD Version 0.10.0 or the Science Archive data release notes for the full list of flags),
• QC_OBCON is the string concatanation of tests set by the QC module for the observing constraints (see the LCOGT-SA-ICD Version 0.10.0 or the Science Archive data release notes for the full list of flags),
• QC_PHTST is the bitmask of flags set by the QC module for the photometric calibration (see the LCOGT-SA-ICD Version 0.10.0 or the Science Archive data release notes for the full list of flags),

A section of an example file is shown below:

The index file is updated by filing new seeing statistic results with the calibration system in the _CALCULATE_SEEING_STATS_ primitive and the index entry is updated to set the QC flags by the ._SET_QC_FLAGS_ primitive

E.3 Specification of the index.zeropoint file

This index is used to store the result of the per-frame photometric zeropoint determination. The format of the file is a header of the column names (with a hash character in the first column) on the first line followed by a line entry for each frame consisting of multiple colums with the form of <FILENAME> AIRMASS EXTINCTION FILTER MAG_LIMIT NCALOBJS <ORACTIME> SKY_VALUE SKY_VALUE_ERROR SKY_VALUE_MAG TRANSPARENCY Z EROPOINT ZEROPOINT_ERROR ZEROPOINT_SRC where:

• <FILENAME> is the name of the reduced frame,
• AIRMASS is the mean airmass at the middle of the exposure,
• EXTINCTION is the extinction in magnitudes/airmass in the specific filter (set to ’-99’ if no photometric statistics were determined),
• FILTER is the filter used,
• MAG_LIMIT is the limiting magnitude of the frame (set to ’-99’ if no photometric statistics were determined),
• NCALOBJS is the number of objects used in the zeropoint determination (set to ’-99’ if no photometric statistics were determined),
• <ORACTIME> is the auto-inserted time of frame in standard ORAC YYYYMMDD.ddddd format,
• SKY_VALUE is the sky value of the frame in ADU (set to ’-99’ if no photometric statistics were determined),
• SKY_VALUE_ERROR is the variance on sky value of the frame in ADU (set to ’-99’ if no photometric statistics were determined),
• SKY_VALUE_MAG is the sky value of the frame in magnitudes (set to ’-99’ if no photometric statistics were determined),
• TRANSPARENCY is the estimated transparency (0..1) of the frame (set to ’-99” if no photometric statistics were determined),
• ZEROPOINT is the zeropoint of the frame in magnitudes (set to ’-99” if no photometric statistics were determined),
• ZEROPOINT_ERROR is the error on the zeropoint of the frame in magnitudes (set to ’-99’ if no photometric statistics were determined),
• ZEROPOINT_SRC is the source of the zeropoint determination (normally <primitive name>-version; set to ’N/A’ if no photometric statistics were determined),

A section of an example file is shown below:

The index file is updated by filing new per-frame zeropoint determination results with the calibration system in the _CALCULATE_ZEROPOINT_ primitive.