Documentation of Deepsearch Software

This documentation will hopefully be kept up to date by R.Knop (rknop@lbl.gov) and all others maintaining it.... Most of it does not as yet exist. The list below is an optimistic menu of what will hopefully be available eventually.

Deepsearch software for the astronomical user

If you want to use our software to load and display images, find images, measure statistics or stars on images, then this section should get you started.


General Overview
Setting up
What procedures are necessary to get your account set up to run the deepsearch software, as well as an introduction to where to find yourself an introduction to IDL.

Customizing the Startup
How to insert your own cutomized IDL startup into the deepsearch startup. (Do not replace or subvert the standard deepsearch startup... please read this if you want to customize your startup.)

Images and the Database
An overview of what our "database" (including the many gigabytes of images, as well as the database proper) includes, and where all of this is. Additional information on the implicit assumptions for images in our database.

Additionally, see the current version of the Deepsearch Data Reduction Manual, available as a Postscript file (1.3MB) or as a PDF file (440K). This is an attempt at a complete manual for data reduction. The first few chapters are about "standard" data reduction procedures, and for the most part will not be of use to an experienced astronomer; there are only one or two quirks (e.g. gain multiplication) that are non-standard for the Deepsearch. The last chapter attempts to document everything which is necessary in order to get images loaded into the Deepsearch database for use by Deepsearch software.

The Deepsearch Database
Most people shouldn't have to read this. Read Images and the Database instead.

Image names
The naming scheme of deepsearch images.

Conceptual overview
Some of the most important common blocks and data structures you will be interacting with in order to use the deepsearch software.

Display and Colors
Some information about how the Deepsearch software handles IDL dislplays, and how to access the standard deepsearch colors in such a way that will be compatible with both 24-bit and 8-bit displays.

Using CVS for IDL software
We use the CVS revision control system to keep track of software in the $DEEPHOME/idlpro directory. READ THIS before you edit any software in that directory!

WARNING
Almost every innocent thing you do is going to modify the database. Be aware!


Database Access
Finding Images
How to figure out what images we have in our database, and how to find images of certain specifications.

Reading and displaying images
The most basic of operations.

"Reducing" images
What it means to run reduceimages and why you do it so much.

Translating images
Finding transformations between images.

Astrometry
Finding the RA and Dec of coordinates on images; transforming between coordinate systems.

Database access from within your IDL programs
All the IDL routines you need to know to access the Deepsearch database. You should only use the programs documented here; doing it any other way makes it very hard if we ever have to change the database system.

Programmers/Maintainers Guide to the Databse
This has information for the IDL (or other) programmer working on either standard Deepsearch software, or their own software which interacts with the deepsearch database. Note that most of what you need to know is already in one of the descriptions above. This also has information for whoever it is who has to maintain the database, written when Rob transferred some of the summary files over to SQL. So that the next person who has to do this doesn't have to dig as hard as he did to figure out how to patch things up, this should hopefully be a complete description of what routines and programs are necessary for the maintenance of the database.

Programmer's/Maintainer's Guide: freadimage
The internals of just what freadimage does, and what varaibles it sets. Includes documentation on the new freadimage2, which has a conceptually cleaner interface (i.e. no global variables). Also includes some information on readfits.

Programmer's/Maintainer's Guide: freduceimage
The internals of what freduceimage does, more detailed information about star_struct. Includes information on the no-global-variable version freduceimage2. Includes documentation on isofind and catalog.

Programmer's/Maintainer's Guide: faperture

Programmer's/Maintainers's Guide: Transformations
Some information about how the transformations are calculated and what pieces of code actually use them. Includes some brief descriptions of the relevant procedures and a list of which pieces of code will have to be modified if you want to add another transformation.

Programmer's/Maintainer's Guide: matchall
Some of the internals of what matchall actually does to produce lists of matched objects.


Supernova Search Software
This is the software actually used when searching for supernovae.

Quick Guide

The overview quick guide to running a subtraction and search

Longer Guide

The longer guide to running a subtraction a subtraction and search, with more fiddly details.

Maintainer's Guide

The programmer's / maintainer's guide (including descriptions of data structures and algorithms). It also includes some documentation on the other tools (such as "scanmonitor"), and how to set up the database and all the tools for a new search campaign.


Lightcurve Software

Ivan's Lightcurve Software

How to build the Ivan lightcurves; Horribly, horribly out of date!!!

Reynald's Lightcurve Software

Using reylight.

Fitting lightcurves

Using SNMINUIT fitting software.


Cosmology Software

Markus's Cosmology Software

IDL Software to calculate the cosmological parameters.

Markus's Photometry Software

IDL Software to calculate observed magnitudes of SNe Ia.


Image Cleaning and Reduction

Image data reduction

This is the Deepsearch Data Reduction Manual, a 440K PDF file of some 60-odd pag length. (It is also available as a 1.3MB Postscript File, if you like that sort of thing.) This includes instructions for the neophyte about how to actually reduce data, as well as instructions for what is necessary to make the images Deepsearch compliant and to get them loaded into our database.

Photometric Calibration

  • Data Products