Re: 1999ac paper - wavelength errors

From: Gabriele Garavini (gabri@physto.se)
Date: Mon Jan 19 2004 - 09:54:21 PST

  • Next message: Rollin Thomas: "Re: 1999ac paper - wavelength errors"

    Hi

    thank you very much for notice that. I'll go back to the reduction files
    and check out which is the origin of the problem. I was immediately
    concerned about the expansion velocities of course (that appear peculiar
    in 99ac), but the shift we are speaking about may not be the only
    responsible for their peculiarity. I think the observed shift is at most
    10 A in the minimum of SiII this propagates to 500 km/s. The velocities of
    99ac are lower than expected by more than 2000 km/s. But definitely I have
    to correct for that. I'll report to you on the origin of the problem
    asap.

    Thank you again
    Cheers
    Gabriele

    On Sat, 17 Jan 2004, Greg Aldering wrote:

    > Hi Gabriele,
    >
    > We have noticed that there are wavelength errors in the spectra of 99ac.
    > In particular, the blue and red spectra a +11 days, and the red spectrum
    > at +16 days have very significant shifts. This was noticed because the
    > telluric features didn't line up (and would have been discovered had
    > a telluric correction been performed).
    >
    > Below I list the spectra and the locations of the minimum of the
    > (deredshifted) telluric A-band. Due to resolution effects, the
    > minima can shift around a little (which is why correcting for
    > telluric features with standard stars with the same setup is
    > important), however, all the large shifts are in spectra with good
    > resolution so the offsets are real (I confirmed them by eye as well).
    >
    > mw.sn99ac.CTIO4m.990329.r.16.dat 7532 <---- large offset
    > mw.sn99ac.APO3_5m.990226.r.-15.dat 7534 possibly due to low res
    > mw.sn99ac.CTIO4m.990315.b.2.dat 7536
    > mw.sn99ac.CTIO4m.990321.b.8.dat 7537
    > mw.sn99ac.ESO.990415.r.33.dat 7538
    > mw.sn99ac.ESO3_6m.990421.r.39.dat 7538
    > mw.sn99ac.KPNO4m.990406.b.24.dat 7538
    > mw.sn99ac.MDM2_4m.990304.b.-9.dat 7538
    > mw.sn99ac.ESO3_6m.990410.r.28.dat 7539
    > mw.sn99ac.NOT.990315.r.2.dat 7539
    > mw.sn99ac.CTIO4m.990329.b.16.dat 7540
    > mw.sn99ac.Lick.990424.r.42.dat 7540
    > mw.sn99ac.NOT.990315.b.2.dat 7540
    > mw.sn99ac.LICK3m.990413.r.31.dat 7543
    > mw.sn99ac.CTIO4m.990324.b.11.dat 7548 <---- large offset
    > mw.sn99ac.CTIO4m.990324.r.11.dat 7549 <---- large offset
    >
    > Note that these offsets will affect your line velocity measurements,
    > as presented in the manuscript. This may also affect some of Gaston's
    > measurements.
    >
    > Since the largest offsets all come from CTIO, where I was a observer,
    > perhaps I can comment. I only take arcs at the start and end of the
    > night, and so if there is flexure or some other small changes (like
    > changing a slit or cycling between gratings) this has to be corrected
    > using the night sky lines and then refined in the process of correcting
    > the telluric lines. In these cases, in my logs I note that I used
    > wider slits for 99ac on 990324 and 990329 because of large image motion
    > (the slit width is in the data header). So, there could be wavelength
    > shifts due the change of the slit, and also if the SN was not perfectly
    > centered in these wider slits. Only telluric features can detect the
    > later situation.
    >
    > I recommend that a) all the wavelength zeropoints be checked using
    > night sky lines, and b) that telluric corrections be performed and
    > the spectra adjusted in wavelength if needed to align the telluric
    > features. Only then can the velocity measurements be trusted. You
    > should also check to see whether 99aa is affected.
    >
    > Cheers,
    >
    > Greg
    >
    >

    -- 
    _____________________________________________________________________________
    Gabriele Garavini (gabri@physto.se)
    FYSIKUM-Stockholm University  Roslagstullsbacken 21 S-106 91 Stockholm SWEDEN
    Phone:+46 8 55378661   Fax:+46 8 553 78 601
    


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