SKYSURF Sky-SB Measurement Documentation¶

We present sky-SB measurements on all images in the SKYSURF database. For an overview on the project, refer to Windhorst et al. (2022). For a description of sky-SB measurement algorithms and a summary of sky-SB results, refer to O'Brien et al. (2022).

There is 1 csv file corresponding to each Hubble Space Telscope (HST) filter. Each csv file contains 1 sky-SB measurement per detector (i.e. 1 sky measurement for each WFC3/IR image and 2 sky measurements for each WFC3/UVIS and ACS/WFC image).

Table 1. Description of columns in csv files.¶

Column Name Description
File File name that sky-SB was measured on
Root Root name of file that sky-SB was measured on
Extension FITS file extension that sky-SB was measured on
Sky_e or Sky_e/s Measured sky-SB, in units of electrons or electrons/sec
RMS_e or RMS_e/s Measured sky-SB RMS, in units of electrons or electrons/sec
Error_e or Error_e/s Uncertainty in sky-SB, in units of electrons or electrons/sec
Flag Flag associated with measurement (see Table 2 below)
N_bad_regions Number of bad sub-regions in sky-SB measurement (not including bad pixel sub-regions)
N_bad_pixel_regions Number of bad pixel sub-regions in sky-SB measurement
N_good_regions Number of good sub-regions in sky-SB measurement
N_total_regions Total number of sub-regions in sky-SB measurement
Mean_x_px or Mean_y_px Mean x or y pixel position of good sub-regions used in sky-SB measurement
Std_x_px or Std_y_px Std of x or y pixels of good sub-regions used in sky-SB measurement
Q1_Sky_e/s or Q1_RMS_e/s Sky-SB or sky-SB RMS in WFC3/IR Quadrant 1 (top left)
Q2_Sky_e/s or Q2_RMS_e/s Sky-SB or sky-SB RMS in WFC3/IR Quadrant 2 (bottom left)
Q3_Sky_e/s or Q3_RMS_e/s Sky-SB or sky-SB RMS in WFC3/IR Quadrant 3 (bottom right)
Q4_Sky_e/s or Q4_RMS_e/s Sky-SB or sky-SB RMS in WFC3/IR Quadrant 4 (top right)
Quad_Left_Sky_e or Quad_Left_RMS_e Sky-SB or sky-SB RMS in left half of ACS/WFC or WFC3/UVIS chip
Quad_Right_Sky_e or Quad_Right_RMS_e Sky-SB or sky-SB RMS in right half of ACS/WFC or WFC3/UVIS chip
Expected_RMS_e or Expected_RMS_e/s Expected RMS based on Poisson and Gaussian noise
RA_J2000 RA of image
DEC_J2000 DEC of image
Target_Name Target name associated with image
Start_JD Start Modified Julian Date associated with image
Start_Time Start time associated with image
Average_Earth_Limb_Angle Average Earth Limb Angle during the exposure
Ecliptic_Latitude Ecliptic Latitude of exposure
Ecliptic_Longitude Ecliptic Longitude of exposure
Galactic_Latitude Galactic Latitude of exposure
Galactic_Longitude Galactic Longitude of exposure
Exp_Time Exposure Time
Moon_Angle Moon Angle
Sun_Altitude Sun Altitude
Sun_Angle Sun Angle
CAL_VER calwf3 version used to reduce file
Sensitivity_Jy/(e/s) Inverse sensitivity in units of Jy/(e/s)
Sensitivity_SCI1_Jy/(e/s) Inverse sensitivity of the first science extension (Chip 2) in units of Jy/(e/s)
Sensitivity_SCI2_Jy/(e/s) Inverse sensitivity of the second science extension (Chip 1) in units of Jy/(e/s)
Sensitivity_Err_Jy/(e/s) Error in zeropoint from Calamida et al. (2022)
Sky_MJy/sr Measured sky-SB, in units of MJy/sr
Sky_rms_MJy/sr Measured sky-SB rms, in units of MJy/sr
Error_MJy/sr Uncertainty in sky-SB, in units of MJy/sr
Sky_MJy/sr_thermcorr Measured sky-SB, in units of MJy/sr, with Thermal Dark signal subtracted
Sky_MJy/sr_no_thermcorr Measured sky-SB, in units of MJy/sr, with Thermal Dark signal NOT subtracted
Therm_Corr_MJy/sr Thermal Dark signal in units of MJy/sr
Therm_Corr_e/s Thermal Dark signal in units of e/s

Table 2. Description of flags associated with sky-SB measurements.¶

Flag Flag Description
0 No flag
1 More than 30% of sub-regions are flagged as bad
2 The sky-SB rms is higher than 2.5 times the expected rms
4 Image flagged via manual inspections
8 Exposure within 20 degrees of the galactic plane
16 Exposure with an Earth Limb Angle less than 40 deg
32 Exposure with a Sun Altitude greater than 0 deg
64 Exposure with Sun Angle less than 80 deg
128 Exposure with Moon Angle less than 50 deg
256 Image taken close to large, nearby galaxy
512 Exposure affected by persistence