Extracting PSF Images

Generic Code to Reconstruct the PSF

The PSF reconstruction can be performed without any specialized tools.

To read the psf info from a psField file for the r band, read extension 3:

    IDL> pstruct = mrdfits(psfield_file, 3)

(recall u,g,r,i,z == 0,1,2,3,4 so just add one to the index).

The resulting structure can then be used to reconstruct the image. The following IDL code, taken from the SDSSIDL routine "sdss_psfrec.pro", demonstrates the algorithm to reconstruct the PSF at location (row,col) in the field.

    nrow_b=(pstruct.nrow_b)[0]
    ncol_b=(pstruct.ncol_b)[0]
    ;assumes they are the same for each eigen
    ;so only use the 0 one
    rnrow=(pstruct.rnrow)[0]
    rncol=(pstruct.rncol)[0]

    nb=nrow_b*ncol_b
    coeffs=fltarr(nb)
    ecoeff=fltarr(3)
    cmat=pstruct.c

    rcs=0.001
    for i=0l, nb-1 do coeffs[i]=(row*rcs)^(i mod nrow_b) * (col*rcs)^(i/nrow_b)

    for j=0,2 do begin
        for i=0l, nb-1 do begin
            ecoeff[j]=ecoeff[j]+cmat(i/nrow_b,i mod nrow_b,j)*coeffs[i]
        endfor
    endfor
    psf = (pstruct.rrows)[*,0]*ecoeff[0]+$
          (pstruct.rrows)[*,1]*ecoeff[1]+$
          (pstruct.rrows)[*,2]*ecoeff[2]

Stand Alone Code

We have also created a standalone code that serves to both read them and as a template library for inclusion in other codes. The code is available as: readAtlasImages-v5_4_11.tar.gz.

Compiling

1. % make clean

2. % make

If you are on a big-endian machine, remove -DSDSS_LITTLE_ENDIAN from CFLAGS in the Makefile.

Using

% read_PSF -h
Usage: read_PSF [options] input-file hdu output-file
Your options are:
       -?      This message
       -h      This message
       -i      Print an ID string and exit
       -v      Turn up verbosity (repeat flag for more chatter)

To reconstruct the z PSF (i.e. the 5th HDU) at the position (row, col) = (500, 600) from run 1336, column 2, field 51 you'd say:

%  read_PSF psField-001336-2-0051.fit 5 500.0 600.0 foo.fit

The desired PSF would appear as an unsigned short FITS file in foo.fit; the background level is set to the standard `soft bias' of 1000. If you want a floating image, change a line in the read_PSF.c; look for

        /* create a float region */

Developer Comments

The standalone programs read_atlas_image (reads fpAtlas files) and read_mask (reads fpM files) are similar. All three are built by the same 'make' command.

I don't expect that many users will actually want to use the read_PSF executable (although it is perfectly functional). The main use of the product will probably be to link into custom built executables that need to process atlas image data. I believe that the code should be easily reused for this purpose.