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MOPEX User's Guide - IRSA

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<strong>MOPEX</strong> User’s <strong>Guide</strong><br />

• If you are using the GUI, please attach the most recent log file, found in the directory<br />

~/.spot/<br />

• As much information as possible about the problem, including any processing steps you<br />

carried out since downloading the data from the archive.<br />

Please note that our system does not autoreply, so if you receive a reply from us within a few<br />

minutes then please check it for further information.<br />

1.4 Why <strong>MOPEX</strong>?<br />

<strong>MOPEX</strong> provides a general-purpose tool to generate mosaics of FITS images and to perform<br />

point source extraction. While other tools are available for these tasks, <strong>MOPEX</strong> addresses several<br />

complications specific to Spitzer data:<br />

• Geometric Distortion: Spitzer images have significant geometric distortion, described in<br />

the FITS header using the World Coordinate System (WCS). Mosaicking and photometry<br />

must accurately interpret this information, which is not yet standard in all packages.<br />

• Fast Projection: Large Spitzer mosaics include many images, so a fast method is<br />

required when performing the projection. <strong>MOPEX</strong>’s fast direct plane-to-plane projection<br />

is described in Makovoz, D. 2004, PASP, 116, 971-974.<br />

• Outlier Rejection: Like many datasets, Spitzer data suffer from cosmic rays and other<br />

artifacts. The best algorithm for rejecting these outliers depends upon the observing<br />

mode, e.g. simple temporal outlier rejection works well with highly redundant sky<br />

coverage, but it can fail without it. <strong>MOPEX</strong> has single-frame spatial, temporal and two<br />

spatial-plus-temporal outlier rejection methods that can be adjusted for different<br />

observing modes.<br />

• Profile Fitting: Spitzer pixels are relatively big relative to point sources, so <strong>MOPEX</strong> fits<br />

with Point Response Functions (PRFs), which take into account intra-pixel sensitivities.<br />

For multi-frame photometry, <strong>MOPEX</strong> does detection on a mosaic image, but pointsource<br />

fitting on the original stack of images.<br />

In addition to solving these specific problems, <strong>MOPEX</strong> provides some useful tools for<br />

mosaicking and source extraction. Mosaicking options include background matching, drizzle<br />

interpolation, exposure time weighting, and error propagation. Photometry options include<br />

detection using image segmentation, use of a previous list of detected positions for photometry,<br />

aperture photometry, and residual image generation.<br />

Introduction 3<br />

Why <strong>MOPEX</strong>?

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