StarCAT: A CATALOG OF SPACE TELESCOPE IMAGING SPECTROGRAPH ULTRAVIOLET ECHELLE SPECTRA OF STARS
- Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy, 389 UCB, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 (United States), E-mail: Thomas.Ayres@Colorado.edu
StarCAT is a catalog of high resolution ultraviolet spectra of objects classified as 'stars', recorded by Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) during its initial seven years of operations (1997-2004). StarCAT is based on 3184 echelle observations of 545 distinct targets, with a total exposure duration of 5.2 Ms. For many of the objects, broad ultraviolet coverage has been achieved by splicing echellegrams taken in two or more FUV (1150-1700 A) and/or NUV (1600-3100 A) settings. In cases of multiple pointings on conspicuously variable sources, spectra were separated into independent epochs. Otherwise, different epochs were combined to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N). A post-facto correction to the calstis pipeline data sets compensated for subtle wavelength distortions identified in a previous study of the STIS calibration lamps. An internal 'fluxing' procedure yielded coherent spectral energy distributions (SEDs) for objects with broadly overlapping wavelength coverage. The best StarCAT material achieves 300 m s{sup -1} internal velocity precision; absolute accuracy at the 1 km s{sup -1} level; photometric accuracy of order 4%; and relative flux precision several times better (limited mainly by knowledge of SEDs of UV standard stars). While StarCAT represents a milestone in the large-scale post-processing of STIS echellegrams, a number of potential improvements in the underlying 'final' pipeline are identified.
- OSTI ID:
- 21301219
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series, Vol. 187, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0067-0049/187/1/149; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0067-0049
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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