Hints and Pointers for PROS, #24
Saku Vrtilek wrote on Apr 01, 1998
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[ HINTS & POINTERS for PROS Users ]
[ 1 APRIL 1998 #24 ]
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Contents:
Bug Report
PROS PATCH 2.5.1
Bug Report - the 's' option (to run 'ldetect' at a particular
location)in xplot.xexamine for fields containing excessive numbers of
counts.
We have found that an overflow occurs for fields with very high
counts/sqarcmin in the central region. This occurs when computing an
exponential of the average surface brightness in conjunction with
calculating expected excursions from the mean under Poisson
statistics. The offense is committed in 'xspatial.detect.bkden',
called during the operation. The default region is a circle at the
field center with radius 7.5 arcmin. When the average counts in this
area is large (e.g. 140 counts/sq_arcmin as was the case for the
center of the Virgo cluster in a 202 ksec observation), the error
message 'floating point overflow' will occur because of BKDEN taking e
to the power of 140. The workaround is to skip BKDEN by setting the
parameter 'xexamine.bkden' larger than zero. A reasonable value for
the background density can be estimated by choosing your own region
and using 'imcnts'.
PROS PATCH 2.5.1 is now available for SUNs and DEC UNIX. A future
issue of H&P will describe revisions to the PROS USER'S GUIDE. If you
want to install our patch, please ftp to the location at the bottom of
this message, cd to pub/pros/pros_2.5_p1, and read README_p1.ftp, and
whichever of README.Sun or README.Alpha is appropriate for your
operating system.
This patch was built under IRAF Revision 2.11 Tue Dec 23 23:22:19 MST
1997. We presume it would also run under the original 2.11 released
in Aug 97.
--- Release Notes for SAO/PROS Patch 2.5.1 -- March 98 ---
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I) Setting up to use the XRAY package :
required packages for Sun :
IRAF V2.11
(iraf.noao.edu)
TABLES 2.0 Beta or higher
(stsci.edu)
PROS 2.5
(sao-ftp.harvard.edu)
required packages for DEC UNIX on ALPHA :
DUNX/IRAF V2.11
(iraf.noao.edu)
TABLES 2.0
(stsci.edu)
PROS2.5
(sao-ftp.harvard.edu)
optional packages:
EUV (cea-ftp.cea.berkeley.edu)
>>> Users must rerun the "mkiraf" task and answer 'yes' to the <<<
>>> 're-initialize uparm?' option before running. <<<
II) Summary of changes made in this release (PROS 2.5.1) :
********* NEW TASKS **********
<package.task> - <description>
xproto.marx2qpoe -
A new task uses FIT2QP to convert the MARX EVENT FITS
into a QPOE file. The output QPOE is spatially sorted
with key_y as the primary key and key_x as the secondary
key. See H&P#23 and the help file for details. NB: MARX
is the AXAF simulator.
xproto.xexamine_r -
This task is a slight modification of xexamine. In addition to all
the features in xexamine(xplot), it now works for QPOE files
which are not square. However, the blocking factor for both
dimensions has to be the same. See the help file for details.
********* BUGFIXES AND ENHANCEMENTS *************
<package.task> - <description>
xproto.imdetect
- Fixed the bug that crashed imdetect when run on image files.
(ref. H&P#23)
- Removed "implicit "a-z"" in some fortran code which
caused compiling problems on Alpha.
xspatial.detect.lpeak
- Fixed the bug that caused two rows of detect
cells to be ignored along one edge, whilst the
other edge was not ignored. (ref. H&P#23)
xdataio.fits2qp
- Added two more index keys to QPOE for ASC
(AXAF Science Center) data.
********* FOR DEC UNIX ON ALPHA ***************
The executable files and the binary data are released for
the Alpha users.
III) Other Information
A. PROS User's Guide (PUG) ( revised on 5 December 1996, see hp#20)
NB: an update is planned for spring 1998.
Latex and/or postscript files are available via anonymous ftp:
sao-ftp.harvard.edu; from subdirectory /pub/pros/PUG.
The WWW version can be accessed with URL:
http://hea-www.harvard.edu/PROS/pros.html
B. Cross-referencing information
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. 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:
**************************************************************************
RSDC MS-3 tel: (617) 495-7134 FAX: 495-7356
Center for Astrophysics Internet - rsdc@cfa.harvard.edu
60 Garden St. Cambridge MA 02138 USA
**************************************************************************
* to access our anonymous ftp service:
o ftp -i sao-ftp.harvard.edu # node address: 131.142.41.9
[Name: anonymous]
[Password: <yourusername@yoursite>]
ftp> cd pub/pros/Hints
N.B.: you can obtain your own copy of the PROS USERS GUIDE by
anonftp from subdir /pub/pros/PUG. The PUG is also on the WorldWideWeb:
http://hea-www.harvard.edu/PROS/pros.html
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Last post on Apr 01, 1998