‘rspectext’ task to convert text to spectrum

jhargis wrote on May 08, 2007

Hello -

I am trying to take a two-column ASCII text file (wavelength & flux) and convert it to an IRAF image file using 'rspectext'.

It appears that rspectext is only taking 3 decimal places of precision on input even though my text files has 5. When I immediately write out the IRAF image (with wspect), not all the decimal places are there.

How to I get rspectext to input exactly what is in my text file?

Thanks,

- Jonathan

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Francisco Valdes wrote on May 08, 2007

Hello Jonathan,

You don't say if you are refering to the wavelength or flux. Anyway, there is nothing in the rspectext/wspectext programs that limits the significant digits. In printing out the values with wspectext it is possible to get a small difference but it would be at the limit of the precision of the numbers. This would normally be for real numbers so there are roughly 6 digits of precision.

If you want to send me the exact commands and the text file you are starting with I can try and understand your report further.

Yours,
Frank Valdes
valdes@noao.edu

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Last post on May 08, 2007