ROSAT Guest Observer Facility

ROSAT Status Report #80:

Dec 29, 1993



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[                    HINTS & POINTERS for PROS Users                   ]
[   28 DECEMBER 1992                                            #10    ]
[                                                                      ]
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			PROS RELEASE 2.3 (24 DEC 93)

The new release of PROS is available via anonftp. If you need a magtape version, please send email to the address below, specifying the desired type (dat, exabyte, cartridge, or 1/2" 9 track). This release is designed more as a 'patch' than a complete release, hence it is assumed that sites will already have vs 2.2 installed. If you are running an earlier version, please read the installation instructions carefully to ascertain the datafiles etc. you will need to get from the 2.2 subdir.

The changes to PROS for vs 2.3 are widespread since many file structures have been altered in order to accommodate the new "Rationalized Data Format". Please note that the version of the Pros User's Guide (PUG) currently in anonftp is that corresponding to vs 2.2. We will send an announcement when the revised PUG is available.

RELEASE NOTES FOR SAO/PROS -- Dec 93

(N.B.: Some directory names refer explicitly to the SAO Unix LAN.)

The December 1993 build of the PROS has been installed in the IRAF V2.10.2 system. The xray package is a "top level" package (at the same level as packages such as "tables" and "noao"). The xray package contains the sub-packages xdataio, ximages, xspatial, xspectral, xplot, xtiming, xproto, xobsolete, xinstall, xdemo and xlocal.

I) Setting up to use the XRAY package

To run the xray package, users should use the default IRAF V2.10.2. In addition, the TABLES 1.3.1 package, available from STScI, is required. Optionally, the EUV package is used by the XPROTO/TABFILTER task and is available from "cea-ftp.cea.berkeley.edu" (128.32.154.12).

Users must rerun the "mkiraf" task and answer 'yes' to the 're-initialize uparm?' option before running.

II) New PROS and QPOE features

A. RDF FITS/QPOE formats

There have been major changes throughout the system to bring PROS into compliance with the Rationalized Data Format (RDF). For ROSAT this has meant a change in the existing data file formats, and also a standardization between US, UK and MPE data-set formats; hence all Rev 1 ROSAT re-processed data will be in a common format, regardless of where it was processed. Information on the new ROSAT RDF data files can be found in

'help explain_xdata'

Of course, there is still a large quantity of ROSAT data distributed in the old REV0 format. PROS will continue to support data in either format, but will always write output files in the NEW RDF format. The PROS ROSAT FITS readers will do any required conversions automatically. However, any EXISTING PROS QPOE files, must be converted manually by the user, with the task

xr> xdataio xd> upqpoerdf *.qp

Several of the header keywords are changed by this process. These changes from existing Rev0 format to RDF format are described in

'help file_compare'

The ASCA (Astro-D) mission is following the same FITS-format guidelines (which are being coordinated by the HEASRC for the archiving of High Energy Data) which should ensure that ASCA data will be readable in IRAF/PROS as well.

B. Unscreened ROSAT event data

One of the additional features of the new RDF format for ROSAT data is the inclusion of the 'rejected' events. Both PSPC and HRI do spatial and temporal screening of the event-list before analysis by the pipeline SASS processing system. Previously, only the photon-events that passed this standard screening process were available to users. With the RDF format and Rev 1 processing, an additional extension of 'rejected' events is available. Access to these events requires running the FITS conversion tasks with the switch

rfits2pros unscreen+

Additional information on how to use and manipulate these data is available in

'help explain_screens'

C. POISSON error calculation

PROS now provides an improved estimate of errors on binned data in the limit when the number of counts per bin is small. The new Poisson error approximation is now the system default. Details can be found in

'help explain_errors'

D. ROSAT archive support

The XDATAIO package now supports both GERMAN and US format files for Rev 0 and Rev 1 ROSAT data. The task RARC2PROS will convert archive data, while the task RFITS2PROS will support user data tapes.

III) New TASKS and PACKAGES

   A.  XSPATIAL
	ERRCREATE
        ---------
	Utility to create a PROS error file from an input data file.
	See 'help explain_errors' for more details on the algorithm used.

   B.  XDATAIO 
        MKHKSCR
	-------
        New macro to build a set of default filter parameters which may
	be edited for user-defined screening.

	UPQPOERDF
        ---------
	Utility to update EXISTING QPOE files to the new RDF compatible
	format.  This task is REQUIRED before using other PROS utilities.
	(It is executed automatically when reading in Rev 0 ROSAT FITS files.)

	UPIMGRDF
        ---------
	Utility to update EXISTING IMG files to the new RDF compatible
	format.  (It is executed automatically when reading in Rev 0 ROSAT 
	FITS files.)

IV) Major modifications to existing TASKS

The following changes have been made to PROS in this release:

   A. XSPECTRAL

      QPSPEC            
      ------
        There is a MAJOR new format for the output QPSPEC files, to conform
        to the new RDF standards from HEASRC.  

        Calculates errors using Poisson (rather than Gaussian) statistics
        Produces full RDF header

        Enhanced to calculate the vignetting and charged-particle
        corrections during background subtraction using in PI units
	rather than energy units; for details, see "help PSPC_FITTING" .

     QPSPEC/FIT/COUNTS_PLOT
     ----------------------
        Upgraded to support SRG/SODART/LEPC/HEPC instruments.

        Default parameters in "pkgpars" have been set to be optimal
	for ROSAT observations AFTER the PSPC gain change (Oct. 1991)
	They must be manually altered for data PRECEEDING the gain
	change.  See ROSAT Status Report #45  (already available in PROS 2.1.2)
                ros_dtmat = "xspectraldata$dtmat_36.ieee"
                ros_offar = "xspecraldata$offar2_6.ieee"
                ros_pspc_cha = "3:34"

   B. XSPATIAL

        IMCNTS
        ------
	Updated to default to Poisson error calculations.
	Produces full RDF header

	MAKEVIG
	-------
	Einstein calibration files for energies greater than 2.5 have been
	corrected

   C. DETECT

   D. XTIMING

        LTCURV/FOLD/PERIOD
	------------------
        Calculates errors using Poisson (rather than Gaussian) statistics

        FFT
        ---
        A bug which interchanged the 'ctrt' and 'net' options when
	calculation an FFT directly from a QPOE file has been fixed,
	and bug which always normalized the background counts (e.g.
	when calculating 'net') to zero has been fixed


        PERIOD/FOLD
        -----------
        Fixed a bug  to exposure binning when the period was of length 
	comparable to or longer than the length of the good data intervals.

        TIMCOR/CALC_BARY
        ----------------
        Task updated to work on new RDF format, as well as rev0 files 
        Updated to delete duplicate ephemenris records & write warning message

   F. XPLOT

	PSPC_HRCOLOR
	------------
	Updated to allow user specified 'pi' boundaries for the 3 colors

        IMCONTOUR/TVIMCONTOUR
        ---------------------
	Fixed bug in reading source positions at declinations of
	negative 00 degrees.

   G. XDATAIO

        FITS2QP 
        --------
	Updated to accept new RDF formats.  Current parameter configuration
	is correct for ASCA data.  ROSAT data must be converted using
	the specialized conversion scripts below.	

        UPQPOERDF
        --------
	Utility to update existing QPOE data files to the new RDF
	formats.

        RFITS2PROS
        ----------
	Modified to recognize and accept both Rev0 and RDF
	ROSAT files and perform the appropriate conversions.
	For REV1 data there is an option to make a QPOE file, including
	the REJECTED events.

        RARC2PROS
        ----------
	Modified to recognize and accept both Rev0 (including MPE) and 
	RDF ROSAT files and perform the appropriate conversions.
	For REV1 data there is an option to make a QPOE file, including
	the REJECTED events.

 

V) PROS PACKAGES AND TASKS

The xray package contains the following sub-packages and tasks
      (note that:
         * denotes a new task,
         + major modifications made to a task,
         $ task has been given a new name,
         - task has been moved from one package to another):

package     tasks           description
---------   ------------    ------------------------------------------
xdataio                 
            $ einbb.eincdrom   support for reading Einstein CDROM data.
            + rfits2pros    ROSAT data tape reading (& correcting) script
            + rarc2pros     ROSAT archive FITS reading (& correcting) script
            + fits2qp       Fixed bug that prevented use on "foreign" data
                              without "GTI" information.
	    * upqpoerdf	    Update existing QPOE files in old format
	    $ qpappend	    Combine a list of ROSAT QPOE files
	    $ hkfilter	    Generate an IRAF/QPOE time filter from TSI values

xspatial                
            + imcnts        Updated to use Poison Error calculation,
			    and write full RDF header parameters.
            + imsmooth      Modified to require user to supply the error
			    array that is to be used, if this option is 
			    requested.  
detect          
xtiming                         
            + fft           Fix net/ctrt option
            + ltcurv        Fixed problems with "long" bins
			    Add Poisson error calculation
			    Added an sc-time column

	    + fold/period   Add Poisson error calculation.
timcor          
            + calc_bary     Updated to skip duplicated records and for new 
			    formats

xspectral       
            + (package)     updated for latest ROSAT calibration files    
			    The former _chi.tab output file is now called
				_csq.tab (avoid conflict the xtiming/period)
			    Support added for Spectrum X Gamma instruments
				with code and calibration files from DSRI

            + qpspec        Updated support for background vignetting and
                              cosmic ray corrections to use PI bins.
	    		    Full RDF header now output
			    Column headings updated.

xplot	    
	    + pspc_hrcolor  Added parameters for user specified color boundaries
	    + imcontour	    Fixed to handle sources at -00 degrees declination.

ximages
            + qplist        Fixed "display" level bug and added support
                              for different GTI names.
xproto
            + qpgapmap      Task to generate the 'detx,dety' coordinates
				for the ROSAT/HRI QPOE files.


xlocal      (tasks supported locally, e.g., at SAO) 
            + einbb.sdfspec  Updated for RDF formats

In addition to help files for all tasks, there is new help available by typing "help pros" which directs users to auxiliary, non-task help files within the xray package.

VI) TEST DATA FILES

To enable users to develop familiarity with IRAF/PROS, some ROSAT and EINSTEIN data files are provided with this release. The directory "xdata$" contains ROSAT data files for PSPC (rp110590*) and HRI (rh110267*) observations of AR Lac, and EINSTEIN data files for IPC ("snr") and HRI (h8102) observations of the galactic SNR/X-ray pulsar CTB-109. With the PROS 2.3 release we have included new versions of the ROSAT/AR Lac data, in the new RDF-format.

VII) KNOWN BUGS

Current IRAF and PROS bugs are available from PROS via:

`help bugs`

VIII) Support information

Additional support can be obtained by sending email requests to the ROSAT Science Data Center at SAO: "rsdc@cfa.harvard.edu" or "6699::RSDC"

A. Type "help pros" for an overview of on-line help available in PROS.

B. We are continually trying to improve the cross-referencing information in PROS. We recommend using either "references" or "xapropos" to look for information on given keywords, e.g., "references prf" or "xapropos prf" (xapropos requires the CTIO package to be loaded).

C. Indexes for PROS tasks - provided by E. Schlegel (NASA/GSFC). In the anonymous-ftp directory /pub/pros/PUG on "sao-ftp.harvard.edu", the ASCII file "indexes.asc" (total length ~40 pages, as 62 lines/page) contains a cross index of PROS, STSDAS, and useful IRAF tasks, structured as follows:

page section contents 1 1.0 PROS Task Index. 3 2.0 Index to IRAF tasks (except STSDAS and PROS). 12 3.0 .STSDAS Glossary of Tasks. 23 4.0 Inverse Index for PROS (by Schlegel). 26 5.0 Inverse Index for IRAF Tasks (by Schlegel). 32 6.0 Inverted Index to ST-SDAS Tasks (by Schlegel). NB: AS OF DATE, THESE INDEXES REFER TO PROS 2.2

D. Hints & Pointers

As the provider of the PROS software package ("xray" in IRAF), the ROSAT Science Data Center (RSDC) at SAO distributes HINTS & POINTERS to PROS Users via email. When we find answers to often asked questions, or when we have implemented new software solutions to longstanding problems, we will send this information directly to our users. These messages will also be available via anonymous ftp*, but to receive the email version, you should register with us. If your username is the one associated with your site registration, you are already registered for "HINTS & POINTERS", but we encourage other users (even at the same sites) to register.

Mailings will be sent as the need arises, perhaps every month or so. If you would like to suggest items for future issues of H&P or add your name to our distribution list, please contact us at the following address:

**************************************************************************
Internet - rsdc@cfa.harvard.edu         RSDC    MS-3
DECnet   - CFA::RSDC (6699::RSDC)       Center for Astrophysics
UUCP     - ...!harvard!cfa!rsdc         60 Garden St. Cambridge MA 02138 USA
BITNET   - rsdc@cfa                     tel: (617) 495-7134  FAX: 495-7356
**************************************************************************

* to access our anonymous ftp service:
    o   ftp -i sao-ftp.harvard.edu              # node address: 128.103.42.3
        [Name: anonymous]
        [Password: ]

   ftp> cd pub/pros/Hints

N.B.: you can also obtain your own copy of the PROS USERS GUIDE by anonftp from subdir /pub/pros/PUG.

E. System Support

SAO can also provide support for additional IRAF system specific configurations on the following topics: SAOIMAGE/XIMTOOL including "personal pipes" for multiple processes; Post-Script Graphics output from GRAPHICS tasks, and encapsulation post-script screen dumps for publication.

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This file was last modified on Tuesday, 14-Sep-1999 11:47:04 EDT

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