Status of PROS Software :

February 1994

-- J. DePonte, F. A. Primini, F.R. Harnden, Jr.

PROS 2.3 RDF Support

There have been major changes throughout the system to bring PROS into compliance with the Rationalized Data Format (RDF). For ROSAT, this compliance has meant a change in the existing data file formats, and also a standardization between US, UK, and MPE data-set formats. Therefore, all ROSAT re-processed data will be in a common format regardless of where it was processed. Information on the new ROSAT RDF files can be found in the IRAF/XRAY packageby typing:

xr> help explain_xdata

Of course, there is still a large quantity of ROSAT data distributed in the old REV0 format. PROS will continue to support data in either format, but always will write output files in the NEW RDF format. The PROS ROSAT FITS readers will do any required conversions automatically. However, any EXISTING PROS QPOE files (in Rev0 format), MUST be converted manually by the user, with the task UPQPOERDF as follows:

xr> xdataio xd> upqpoerdf *.qp

Several of the header keywords are changed by this process. These changes from existing Rev0 format to RDF format are described in on-line documentation. Type the following command for information:

xr> help file_compare

The ASCA (Astro-D) mission is following the same FITS-format guidelines (which are being coordinated by the HEASRC for the archiving of High Energy Data) that should ensure that ASCA data will be readable in IRAF/PROS as well.

Unscreened ROSAT event data

One of the additional features of the new RDF format for ROSAT data is the inclusion of the "rejected" events. Both PSPC and HRI SASS pipeline software do spatial and temporal screening of the event-list. Previously, only the photon-events that passed this standard screening process were available to users. With the RDF format, an additional extension of "rejected" events is available. Access to these events requires running the PROS FITS conversion tasks with the "unscreen" switch set to YES, as follows xd> rfits2pros unscreen+

Additional information on how to use and manipulate these data is also availableby typing:

xr> help explain_screens

POISSON error calculation

Provided with PROS 2.3 are improved estimate of errors on binned data in the limit when the number of counts per bin is small. The new Poisson error approximation is now the system default. Details can be found by typing:

xr> help explain_errors

ROSAT archive support

The XDATAIO package now supports both GERMAN and US format files for Rev0 and RDF ROSAT data. The task RARC2PROS will convert archive data, while the task RFITS2PROS will support user data tapes. The task works on the full set or on a subset of the files from the archive in either rationalized data format (RDF) or Rev0 format (US or GERMAN).

User Support and Documentation

1. PROS releases and documents are maintained on the SAO anonymous ftp account accessible via the alias sao-ftp.harvard.edu (IP address: 128.103.42.3) in the directory /pub/pros. Go to the ftp account. 2. The PROS User's Guide (PUG) is revised and distributed periodically and is available on sao-ftp.harvard.edu in the directory a href="ftp://sao-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/pros/PUG>/pub/pros/PUG. In this same directory are the following files:

• TASKLIST.asc - an alphabetically ordered, one-page-per-task description of each PROS task.
• INDEXES.asc - a cross index of PROS, STSDAS, and IRAF tasks.

The PUG is also available via Mosaic, mail the e-mail hotline service (address below) to find out the URL for this service.

3. The SAO "Hints & Pointers" e-mail service provides users with timely information on common problems or bugs. (Subscribe by e-mailing to the address below.) Previous "issues" are maintained on sao-ftp.harvard.edu in /pub/pros/Hints.

4. The SAO e-mail hotline service (address below) is provided by the SAO RSDC team to give users rapid response to PROS problems.

5. Guide to supporting documentation for the XRAY package are available in on-line in IRAF/XRAY by typing:

xr> help pros

For more information contact the Center for Astrophysics (CfA):

Address: 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

E-mail: hotseat@cfa.harvard.edu

Phone: (617) 495-7134

FAX: (617) 495-7356

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Curator: Michael Arida (ADNET)
HEASARC Guest Observer Facility

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This file was last modified on Monday, 05-Apr-2004 16:43:38 EDT