PSFEx

PSFEx stands for ``PSF Extractor'': a software that makes PSF models for

use with the SExtractor program or QualityFITS by Frederic Magnard.

Here is a short and preliminary cookbook.

Binary FITS catalog of the bright sources in the image to analyse must be created with SExtractor.

- CATALOG_TYPE in the .sex SExtractor configuration file must be set to

FITS_LDAC. This will allow PSFex to have access to the content of the

original FITS image header.

- The .param SExtractor file must contain at least the

following parameters:

NUMBER

X_IMAGE

Y_IMAGE

FLUX_RADIUS

FLAGS

FLUX_APER(1)

FLUXERR_APER(1)

ELONGATION

VIGNET(35,35)

The VIGNET size (here, 35x35 pixels) sets the maximum size of the fittable

zone around each PSF candidate star.

The extraction parameters in the .sex configuration file do not have to be

refined much; however it is important to check that GAIN, SATUR_LEVEL and

PHOT_APERTURES (which will act as the reference aperture for profile-fitting

photometry) are all set to the correct values.

Now the PSF model can be created with psfex from the previously SExtracted

catalog. In the PSFEx configuration file ("default.psfex" by default), one

should mostly care about the following parameters:

PSF model

---------

PSF_ACCURACY: Accuracy to expect from pixel values. This represents more

or less the pixel-to-pixel stability of the detector

response or its calibration. You might want to increase the

value of PSF_ACCURACY if the intra-pixel response is a bit

bumpy (e.g. old NICMOS detectors). The default is 0.01 (1%).

BASIS_NUMBER: sqrt of the maximum number of super-resolved pixels. Pixels

are super-resolved in priority in the brightest areas of the

PSF, and then in the darker portions.

PSF selection

-------------

* SAMPLE_FWHMRANGE:the range in FWHM in which the PSF candidate stars are

selected. Allows the bigger galaxies and artifacts such as

cosmic-ray impacts to be rejected early in the processing.

* SAMPLE_VARIABILITY:

The larger this parameter, the wider the fluctuations in

FWHM are allowed among PSF candidate stars. For instance,

0.2 means that a 20% peak-to-peak variation of the FWHM is

allowed.

* SAMPLE_MINSN: The minimum Signal-to-Noise Ratio (on aperture fluxes) for a

non-saturated candidate star to be eligible for contributing

to the PSF model.

* SAMPLE_MAXELLIP: Maximum ellipticity (A-B)/(A+B) for a non-saturated candidate

star to be eligible for contributing to the PSF model.

Modeling the PSF variability

----------------------------

* PSFVAR_KEYS: List of "keys" (SExtractor parameters) on which the PSF is

supposed to depend (e.g. X_IMAGE,Y_IMAGE for a spatial

mapping of the PSF). Use an empty string ("") to specify a

constant PSF.

* PSFVAR_GROUPS: Some context keys can be grouped together in a such way that

the associated polynom degree does not excede a given value.

PSFVAR_GROUPS defines the index of the group to which each

PSFVAR_KEYS belongs. This index designates the position of

the group in the list of PSFVAR_DEGREES. For instance, to

make the PSF vary with pixel coordinates x and y as a 3rd

order polynomial (that is, 10 parameters: cste,x,y,x2,xy,y2,

x3,x2y,xy2,y3), one should use the following configuration:

PSFVAR_KEYS X_IMAGE,Y_IMAGE

PSFVAR_GROUPS 1,1

PSFVAR_DEGREES 3

If one wants to allow the PSF to vary with both x,y in a

quadratic way, and the airmass in a linear way, one should

use

PSFVAR_KEYS X_IMAGE,Y_IMAGE,:AIRMASS

PSFVAR_GROUPS 1,1,2

PSFVAR_DEGREES 2,1

The colon before the AIRMASS parameter indicates that

AIRMASS should be interpreted as a FITS keyword of the

SExtracted image header, and not as a SExtractor catalog

parameter (this example supposes of course that the AIRMASS

keyword was present in the image header, and that it

contains the average airmass during the exposure).

A typical session

-----------------

Building a model of the PSF:

% sex -c psf.sex foo.fits -CATALOG_NAME mypsf.cat

% psfex mypsf.cat

Using it in SExtractor (this is not recommended for serious science use at

the moment):

% sex -PSF_NAME mypsf.psf foo.fits

Please report any bug or strange behaviour to the AstrOmatic forum:

http://astromatic.net/forum