Table of Contents Preface Introduction to Reducing HST Data Part I: Introduction to Reducing HST Chapter 1: Getting HST Data 1.1 Archive Overview 1.1.1 Archive Registration 1.1.2 Archive Documentation and Help 1.2 Getting Data with StarView 1.2.1 Downloading and Setting Up StarView 1.2.2 Simple Use of StarView 1.2.3 Marking and Retrieving Data with StarView 1.2.4 Using StarView to Retrieve Calibration Files and Proposal Information 1.2.5 Advanced Features of StarView 1.2.6 StarView and the Visual Target Tuner 1.2.7 Quick Data Retrieval with StarView 1.3 Getting Data with the World Wide Web 1.4 Reading HST Data Tapes and Disks Chapter 2: HST File Formats 2.1 Historical Perspective 2.2 FITS File Format 2.2.1 Working with FITS Image Extensions 2.2.2 Working with FITS Table Extensions 2.3 GEIS File Format 2.3.1 Converting FITS to GEIS 2.3.2 GEIS Data Groups 2.3.3 Working with GEIS Files 2.3.4 The "waiver" FITS format Chapter 3: STSDAS Basics 3.1 Navigating STSDAS 3.1.1 STSDAS Structure 3.1.2 Packages of General Interest 3.2 Displaying HST Images 3.2.1 The Display Task 3.2.2 Working with Image Sections 3.3 Analyzing HST Images 3.3.1 Basic Astrometry 3.3.2 Examining and Manipulating Image Data 3.3.3 Working with STIS, ACS, and NICMOS Imsets 3.3.4 Photometry 3.4 Displaying HST Spectra 3.4.1 FOS and GHRS Spectra 3.4.2 STIS Spectra 3.4.3 Producing Hardcopy 3.5 Analyzing HST Spectra 3.5.1 Preparing FOS and GHRS Data 3.5.2 Preparing STIS Spectra for Analysis 3.5.3 General Tasks for Spectra 3.5.4 STSDAS Fitting Package 3.5.5 Specfit 3.6 References 3.6.1 Available from STScI 3.6.2 Available from NOAO 3.6.3 Other References Cited in This Chapter Part II: ACS Data ACS Introduction How to Use this Handbook Chapter 1: ACS Overview 1.1 Instrument Design and Capabilities 1.1.1 Detectors 1.1.2 ACS Optical Design 1.1.3 ACS Geometric Distortion 1.2 Basic Instrument Operations 1.2.1 Target Acquisitions 1.2.2 Typical ACS Observing Sequence 1.2.3 Data Storage and Transfer 1.2.4 Parallel Operations Chapter 2: ACS Data Structure 2.1 Types of ACS Files 2.1.1 Data Files and Suffixes 2.1.2 Association Tables 2.1.3 Trailer Files 2.2 ACS File Structure 2.3 Data Storage Requirements 2.4 Headers and Keywords Chapter 3: ACS Calibration Pipeline 3.1 On The Fly Reprocessing (OTFR) 3.2 Pipeline Overview 3.2.1 CALACS: Image Calibration 3.2.2 PyDrizzle: Distortion Correction and Dither Combination 3.2.3 When is OTFR not Appropriate? 3.3 Structure of CALACS 3.4 CALACS Processing Steps 3.4.1 ACSCCD 3.4.2 ACSREJ 3.4.3 ACS2D 3.4.4 ACSSUM 3.5 Manual Recalibration of ACS Data 3.5.1 Requirements for Manual Recalibration 3.5.2 CALACS Examples Chapter 4: Distortion Correction and Drizzling of ACS Images 4.1 ACS Geometric Distortions 4.1.1 On-orbit Calibration Program 4.1.2 Distortion Model 4.1.3 Analysis 4.1.4 Results 4.1.5 Distortion Table (IDCTAB) 4.2 Combination of Dithered Data 4.2.1 Introduction to Dithering 4.2.2 Introduction to Drizzling 4.2.3 Overview of Drizzling Software Tools 4.3 PyDrizzle 4.3.1 Application by the Pipeline 4.3.2 Association Tables 4.3.3 PyDrizzle Data Products 4.4 Reprocessing with PyDrizzle 4.4.1 Specifying the 'Bits' Parameter 4.4.2 Creating Custom Association Tables 4.4.3 Applying User-defined Shifts 4.4.4 PyDrizzle Examples 4.5 MultiDrizzle 4.5.1 Reprocessing with MultiDrizzle 4.5.2 Tasks Performed by MultiDrizzle 4.5.3 Specifying Shifts Between Images 4.6 MultiDrizzle Example 4.6.1 Detailed Processing Steps & Parameters Part Appendix A: IRAF Primer A.1 Initiating IRAF A.1.1 Setting Up IRAF A.1.2 Starting and Stopping an IRAF Session A.2 IRAF Basics A.2.1 Loading Packages A.2.2 Running Tasks A.2.3 Getting Help A.2.4 Setting Parameters A.2.5 Setting Environment Variables A.2.6 File Management A.2.7 Troubleshooting A.3 Getting IRAF and STSDAS A.3.1 Retrieving the IRAF and STSDAS Software A.3.2 Getting the Synphot Database A.3.3 Extracting the Synphot Unix Tar Files Appendix B: HST File Names B.1 Rootnames B.2 Suffixes of Files Common to all Instruments B.3 Associations Appendix C: Observation Logs C.1 Observation Log Files C.1.1 Observation Log File Contents (October 1994 version) C.1.2 Observation Log File Contents (February 1997 version) C.2 Retrieving Observation Logs C.3 Using Observation Logs C.3.1 Guiding Mode C.3.2 Guide Star Acquisition Failure C.3.3 Moving Targets and Spatial Scans C.3.4 High Jitter Appendix D: Resources on the Internet Index
