Table of Contents Preface Introduction to Reducing HST Data Part I: Introduction to Reducing HST Data 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: NICMOS Data Handbook Introduction How to Use this Handbook Chapter 1: Instrument Overview 1.1 Instrument Overview 1.2 Detector Readout Modes 1.2.1 MULTIACCUM 1.2.2 ACCUM 1.2.3 BRIGHTOBJ 1.2.4 RAMP Chapter 2: Data Structures 2.1 NICMOS Data Files 2.1.1 File Name Suffixes 2.1.2 Science Data Files 2.1.3 Auxiliary Data Files 2.2 Header Keywords 2.3 Working with NICMOS Files 2.4 From the Phase II Proposal to Your Data 2.5 Paper Products Chapter 3: Calibration 3.1 Pipeline Processing, OTFR, and the HST Archive 3.2 NICMOS Calibration Software 3.2.1 The Calibration Pipeline 3.2.2 Software for Grism Data Reduction 3.3 Basic Data Reduction: calnica 3.4 Mosaicing: calnicb 3.4.1 Input Files 3.4.2 Output Files 3.4.3 Processing 3.5 Recalibration 3.5.1 Why Recalibrate? 3.5.2 Recalibrating the Data Chapter 4: Anomalies and Error Sources 4.1 NICMOS Dark Current and Bias 4.1.1 Dark Current 4.1.2 Bias, Shading, and "Pedestal" 4.1.3 Dark Reference Files 4.1.4 What is Removed by Standard Pipeline Processing 4.1.5 Cures: How To Get Rid of What's Left 4.2 Bars 4.3 Detector Nonlinearity Issues 4.3.1 New Nonlinearity Calibrations 4.3.2 Non-Zero zeroth Read Correction for Bright Sources 4.3.3 Uncorrected Saturation 4.4 Flatfielding 4.4.1 Characteristics of NICMOS Flatfields 4.4.2 Temperature-dependent Flatfields 4.4.3 Color Dependence of Flatfields 4.5 Pixel Defects and Bad Imaging Regions 4.5.1 Hot Pixels, Cold Pixels, and Grot 4.5.2 Erratic Middle Column/Row. 4.5.3 Coronagraphic Hole 4.5.4 Vignetting 4.6 Effects of Overexposure 4.6.1 Photon Persistence 4.6.2 Cosmic Ray Persistence 4.6.3 Amplifier Ringing (The "Mr. Staypuft" Anomaly) 4.6.4 Optical Ghost Images 4.7 Cosmic Rays of Unusual Size 4.8 Scattered Earthlight Chapter 5: Data Analysis 5.1 STSDAS Software 5.2 The NICMOS History Tool 5.3 Photometric Calibrations 5.3.1 Units for NICMOS Photometry 5.3.2 Fluxes and Magnitude Zeropoints 5.3.3 Photometric Corrections 5.3.4 Absolute Photometry for Emission Line Filters 5.3.5 Absolute Spectrophotometry with NICMOS Grisms 5.4 Astrometry, Pixel scales, and Geometric Distortion 5.4.1 Pixel Scale Time Dependence 5.4.2 X and Y Pixel Scale Differences 5.4.3 Geometric Distortion 5.4.4 Drizzling 5.4.5 Absolute Astrometry 5.5 PSF Subtraction 5.5.1 Impact of Instrumental Effects on PSF Subtraction 5.6 Coronagraphic Reductions 5.6.1 Data Products and File Structures 5.6.2 Coronagraphic Acquisitions 5.6.3 Positions of the Hole and Target 5.6.4 Recalibrating Coronagraphic Images 5.6.5 Reducing and Co-adding Coronagraphic Images 5.7 Analysis of Polarization Images 5.7.1 Introduction 5.7.2 Theory 5.7.3 A Useful Script for Polarization Analysis 5.8 Grism Data Reduction 5.8.1 Extraction Software 5.8.2 Processing Part III: Appendixes Appendix A: IRAF Primer A.1 Initiating IRAF A.2 IRAF Basics A.3 Getting IRAF and STSDAS 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.2 Retrieving Observation Logs C.3 Using Observation Logs Index
