Calibration and Data Reduction

8.5 Data Reduction and Data Products

The routine processing of WFPC2 science data consists of the pipeline functions described below. The resulting images will be available on magnetic tape in FITS format, and as greyscale printouts. The reformatted raw data will also be available, along with the relevant calibration data. The STSDAS Calibration Guide should be consulted for a more complete description than the summary presented here.

The following data are supplied to observers on FITS tapes:

Edited Image and DQF (uncalibrated): d0h,.q0h
Standard Header Packet: .shh
Extracted Engineering Data and DQF: .x0h,.q1h
Trailer File (ASCII file): .trl
Calibrated Image and DQF: .c0h,.c1h

In addition, a histogram file used for monitoring of the signal chain (.c2h file), and a calibration file which gives the throughput curve used in populating the photometric keywords (.c3t file) are included.

Further data reduction and analysis can be performed under the STScI's science data analysis software system (STSDAS). Standard routines are available, operating under IRAF, for the analysis of data for image photometry, spectral analysis, astrometry, and the generation of the calibration data files.