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  1. Request For Comments
  2. RFC-356

Provide reference catalog fluxes in Maggies

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    Details

    • Type: RFC
    • Status: Retired
    • Resolution: Done
    • Component/s: DM
    • Labels:

      Description

      In order to ease the comparison of fluxes between our source catalogs and reference catalogs, I propose that the catalog in a sky circle or pixel box instantiated from a reference object loader provide fluxes in the same units as our source catalog fluxes (Maggies, per RFC-322). Also, our reference catalog standards need to be clearly documented in some location outside the source code (pipelines.lsst.io?).

      The on-disk representation can be in whatever units are most appropriate for that particular catalog. If those units are not Maggies, LoadReferenceObjectTask will convert before the catalog is provided to the user.

      This is a change from current reference catalog practice, where LoadReferenceObjectTask's docstring says that all fluxes are in units of jansky:

          - *referenceFilterName*_flux: brightness in the specified reference catalog filter (Jy)
              Note: the function lsst.afw.image.abMagFromFlux will convert flux in Jy to AB Magnitude.
          - *referenceFilterName*_fluxSigma (optional): brightness standard deviation (Jy);
              omitted if no data is available; possibly nan if data is available for some objects but not others
          - camFlux: brightness in default camera filter (Jy); omitted if defaultFilter not specified
          - camFluxSigma: brightness standard deviation for default camera filter;
              omitted if defaultFilter not specified or standard deviation not available that filter
          - *cameraFilterName*_camFlux: brightness in specified camera filter (Jy)
          - *cameraFilterName*_camFluxSigma (optional): brightness standard deviation
              in specified camera filter (Jy); omitted if no data is available;
              possibly nan if data is available for some objects but not others
      

      I believe the only impact of this RFC is direct users of reference catalogs: single frame calibration and meas_mosaic (and jointcal, which is what provoked this RFC). As such, this could be implemented before RFC-322, but is probably best implemented simultaneously with it.

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            tjenness Tim Jenness added a comment -

            John Parejko what would you like to do?

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            tjenness Tim Jenness added a comment - John Parejko what would you like to do?
            Hide
            Parejkoj John Parejko added a comment -

            Conversation on the Community post above petered out without an obvious conclusion, and with a few conflicting recommendations. I'm not sure how to proceed. Should we have a short voice chat with some of the people involved in the discussion, to see if we can come to a conclusion?

            Show
            Parejkoj John Parejko added a comment - Conversation on the Community post above petered out without an obvious conclusion, and with a few conflicting recommendations. I'm not sure how to proceed. Should we have a short voice chat with some of the people involved in the discussion, to see if we can come to a conclusion?
            Hide
            tjenness Tim Jenness added a comment -

            John Parejko Please arrange something so that we can resolve this.

            Show
            tjenness Tim Jenness added a comment - John Parejko Please arrange something so that we can resolve this.
            Hide
            Parejkoj John Parejko added a comment -

            Adopting this as written: the discussion on the Community post suggested converting to a maggie scale during LoadReferenceObjectsTask, which is in the Description above. The final design of our flux provenance system and how we provide the absolute flux scale to end users is beyond the scope of this RFC (but we can provide methods to help bridge the gap), and I've made that clear in the implementation ticket: DM-12572.

            Show
            Parejkoj John Parejko added a comment - Adopting this as written: the discussion on the Community post suggested converting to a maggie scale during LoadReferenceObjectsTask , which is in the Description above. The final design of our flux provenance system and how we provide the absolute flux scale to end users is beyond the scope of this RFC (but we can provide methods to help bridge the gap), and I've made that clear in the implementation ticket: DM-12572 .
            Hide
            Parejkoj John Parejko added a comment -

            Closing as rejected: this has been entirely superseded by RFC-549.

            Show
            Parejkoj John Parejko added a comment - Closing as rejected: this has been entirely superseded by RFC-549 .

              People

              Assignee:
              Parejkoj John Parejko
              Reporter:
              Parejkoj John Parejko
              Watchers:
              Colin Slater, Jim Bosch, John Parejko, Jonathan Sick, Paul Price, Simon Krughoff, Tim Jenness, Zeljko Ivezic
              Votes:
              0 Vote for this issue
              Watchers:
              8 Start watching this issue

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