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Software Tools
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To guide you through STIS’ capabilities and help optimize your scientific use of the instrument we have divided this Handbook into four parts:
Figure 1.2 provides a road map to the use of this Handbook.
The Supporting Material and Calibration sections contain technical information which supports the material found in the User’s Guide; readers are referred to the information at appropriate points in the User’s Guide.
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Chapter 1, Introduction, includes information about getting help and where to find additional information about STIS.
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Chapter 4, Spectroscopy, provides a detailed, grating-by-grating description of STIS’ spectroscopic capabilities, including spectral resolutions, throughputs, and descriptions of the slits and apertures.
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Chapter 5, Imaging, provides a detailed, filter-by-filter description of STIS’ imaging capabilities.
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Chapter 6, Exposure Time Calculations, describes how to perform signal-to-noise and exposure time calculations, either by using pencil and paper, or by using the software tools provided on the STIS Web site.
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Chapter 8, Target Acquisition, helps you select the optimum target acquisition sequence needed to place the target in the desired science aperture.
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Chapter 9, Overheads and Orbit-Time Determination, provides information needed to convert a series of planned science exposures to an estimated number of orbits, including spacecraft and STIS overheads. This chapter applies principally to the planning of Phase I proposals.
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Chapter 10, Summary and Checklist, presents a summary and a checklist you should use to assure that there are no major omissions in your Phase I and Phase II proposals.
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Chapter 11, Data Taking, describes data-taking with STIS, including the instrument operating modes ( ACCUM,TIME-TAG), the use of subarrays and binning, and the various types of “associated” observations and contemporaneous calibrations ( WAVECALS, CCDFLATS, CR-SPLIT, PATTERNS). This chapter also discusses dithering and how to orient the long slits.
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Chapter 12, Special Uses of STIS, provides information on special science uses of STIS, including slitless spectroscopy, long-slit echelle spectroscopy, time-resolved spectroscopy and imaging, observations of very bright targets, techniques for obtaining higher signal-to-noise and spectral sampling, observations of planetary objects, parallel observing, and coronagraphic spectroscopy and imaging.
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Chapter 14, Imaging Reference Material, contains the detailed plots of sensitivities, point spread functions, aperture throughputs, and the tables of bright object limits referred to in Chapter 5.
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