About This Article
1. Data Handbook Updates
K. Sahu.
The Cycle 29 WFC3 Data Handbook has been released: available here. The entire Data Handbook has been updated to include the recent publications and results from various calibration programs.
We summarize below a few major updates/additions:
-Updated UVIS and IR photometric calibrations and new UVIS time dependent sensitivities have been included.
-Photometric analysis of extended and emission-line objects are added.
-PSF photometry, and the use of the online library and observed PSFs have been added.
-The CTE model and CTE empirical correction discussion has been fully revised.
-Since IRAF is no longer supported, all the sections regarding IRAF tasks have been removed.
-Jupyter notebook examples have been added to a repository, and are described with appropriate links.
-New IR flat fields and blob flats have been added.
-UV grism calibration has been updated.
-An improved model has been provided for the dispersed IR background.
For full details, see “What’s New in This Revision” Section of the Data Handbook: https://hst-docs.stsci.edu/wfc3dhb/what-s-new-in-this-revision.
2. TrExoLiSTS: Transiting Exoplanets List of Space Telescope Spectroscopy
N. Nikolov, A. Kovacs, C. Martlin.
Transiting Exoplanets List of Space Telescope Spectroscopy or Trexolists, is now available: here. It tabulates existing observations of transiting exoplanets available in the MAST archive made with HST/WFC3 in the infrared channel using the stare or spatial scan mode. The webpage includes time series observations obtained during primary transits, secondary eclipses and phase curves. Trexolists should reduce target duplication and redundant effort in proposal preparation. The webpage includes a user-friendly interface to navigate through the contents, and a search bar allowing quick identification of targets by name or coordinates, program identifiers, PI names, etc. Program identifiers and target names are linked with proposal details and exoMAST entries, respectively. A full contents download is available in machine readable format. Details on the methods for parsing the contents for Trexolists will be presented in an upcoming Instrument Science Report. Future improvements to the webpage will expand the program query to WFC3/UVIS as well as other HST instruments. With the upcoming launch of JWST, this tool may be expanded to include similar information for transit observations made with JWST instruments.
Figure 1. Example of the current version of the Trexolists project catalogue.
3. The New WFC3Library GitHub repository and Software Tools Landing Page
J. Green, F. Dauphin.
We present the release of the new WFC3 software library GitHub repository, WFC3Library, which serves as the hub for python-based WFC3 software analysis notebooks and packages. This repository is managed and regularly updated by the WFC3 team and includes a variety notebooks for data analysis. The WFC3 Library is also linked from the Software Tools landing page, also accessed from the main WFC3 page. The WFC3 software landing page has been reorganized, featuring all STScI WFC3 software tools for Phase 1 and Phase 2. This new landing page contains updated links for all software and includes references for deprecated routines.
4. Discontinued support for RHEL 6 and HSTCAL
M. De La Pena.
The following changes in support will be taking effect for HSTCAL operational builds known as HSTDP-YYYY.major.minor and containing "HSTCAL major.minor.patch".
The HSTCAL package consists of science calibration updates which are currently distributed from https://github.com/astroconda/astroconda-releases/tree/master/caldp as CALDP_YYYYMMDD_CAL_final (YAML). The HSTCAL package will no longer be supporting a distribution for Linux RHEL 6 (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6). This change is beginning with the HSTDP-2021.3.3 (HST 2.7.2, CALDP_20210721_CAL_final) build. We apologize for the abrupt notification, but technical circumstances beyond our control have imposed this hard cutoff. Support for RHEL 6 updates (including security patches) was dropped by Redhat in November 2020. You can determine the version of RHEL on the system with this command:
cat /etc/redhat-release
Currently installed conda environments will continue to work on the RHEL 6 systems. Only the newer HSTCAL distributions, starting with CALDP_20210721_CAL_final, will NOT be created successfully. We caution against trying to update any currently working environments. Please be aware that since at least early 2020, each delivery of the HSTCAL package via the YAML file should be used to create a NEW conda environment. Trying to update an existing environment with each new HSTCAL delivery could result in a corrupted environment due to inconsistencies between packages.
Even for users already working on systems with RHEL 7, it may be necessary to update conda itself to the latest version in order to resolve issues when trying to create a conda environment from the HSTCAL CALDP_20210721_CAL_final YAML file. We are working with the build managers on any issues arising from this update.
5. New Hubble Space Telescope Search Form Coming
C. Martlin.
In August 2021 the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) announced plans to update the Hubble Data search form to increase the accessibility, improve the performance and upgrade the look to a more modern type. In their announcement, available here, MAST stated they would still be providing the usual functionality of the current search form with the following additional functions:
(1) search on multiple targets without needing a target list
(2) Direct data downloads, removing the need for FTP staging
(3) Use the form to create customized API scripts for use in personal programs
(4) Suggestions for filling in some fields (e.g. Filter/Grating)
While this form will replace the original search form, they will both be available for a period of time to allow users to transition. Once the form is live MAST will release a more in-depth news article. Any questions or suggestions may be sent through the Archive Help Desk: archive@stsci.edu.
6. Updates to PSF Libraries
F. Dauphin.
To facilitate users in building PSFs appropriate for their observations, we provide a comprehensive set of WFPC2 and WFC3 observed PSFs. The database contains more than 30 million PSFs from all WFC3 observations taken between 2009 and 2019. Over this past year, we updated the database with approximately one million WFC3/UVIS PSFs and 600,000 WFC3/IR PSFs.
In addition, the database includes WFPC2, an additional 900,000 PSFs from all WFPC2 observations taken between 1994 and 2009.
To access the database, navigate to the MAST Portal and under “Select a Collection”, choose “WFC3 PSF” or “WFPC2 PSF”. Then click “Advanced Search” to query specific PSFs of interest (e.g. F606W, Flux < 10000, etc).
See WFC3 ISR 2021-12 for a full report dedicated to the PSF database.
7. New Documentation
ISR 2021-10: WFC3/IR Blob Flats. H. Olszewski & J. Mack.
ISR 2021-11: A maximum likelihood approach to estimating the flux in infrared detectors non-destructive ramps. M. Gennaro, H. Khandrika.
ISR 2021-12: The WFPC2 and WFC3 PSF Database. F. Dauphin, J. Anderson, V. Bajaj, L. Dressel, K. Sahu, M. Bourque, C. Shanahan.
ISR 2021-13: Table-Based CTE Corrections for fltFormat WFC3/UVIS. Jay Anderson.
ISR 2021-14: UVIS Pixel Stability: Updates to The UVIS Bad Pixel Table Pipeline. J. V. Medina.
ISR 2021-15 : WFC3/UVIS Tungsten Lamp and Filter Performance 2009-2021. H. Khandrika, B. Kuhn.
The complete WFC3 ISR archive is available here.
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