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Title: Version 1 of the Hubble Source Catalog

Abstract

The Hubble Source Catalog is designed to help optimize science from the Hubble Space Telescope by combining the tens of thousands of visit-based source lists in the Hubble Legacy Archive into a single master catalog. Version 1 of the Hubble Source Catalog includes WFPC2, ACS/WFC, WFC3/UVIS, and WFC3/IR photometric data generated using SExtractor software to produce the individual source lists. The catalog includes roughly 80 million detections of 30 million objects involving 112 different detector/filter combinations, and about 160 thousand HST exposures. Source lists from Data Release 8 of the Hubble Legacy Archive are matched using an algorithm developed by Budavari & Lubow (2012). The mean photometric accuracy for the catalog as a whole is better than 0.10 mag, with relative accuracy as good as 0.02 mag in certain circumstances (e.g., bright isolated stars). The relative astrometric residuals are typically within 10 mas, with a value for the mode (i.e., most common value) of 2.3 mas. The absolute astrometric accuracy is better than $$\sim$$0.1 arcsec for most sources, but can be much larger for a fraction of fields that could not be matched to the PanSTARRS, SDSS, or 2MASS reference systems. In this paper we describe the database design with emphasis on those aspects that enable the users to fully exploit the catalog while avoiding common misunderstandings and potential pitfalls. Here, we provide usage examples to illustrate some of the science capabilities and data quality characteristics, and briefly discuss plans for future improvements to the Hubble Source Catalog.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), Baltimore, MD (United States)
  2. Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), Baltimore, MD (United States); Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
  3. Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
OSTI Identifier:
1275507
Report Number(s):
arXiv:1602.04861; FERMILAB-PUB-16-287-AE
Journal ID: ISSN 1538-3881; 1477991
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-07CH11359
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
The Astronomical Journal (Online)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: The Astronomical Journal (Online); Journal Volume: 151; Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 1538-3881
Publisher:
IOP Publishing
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; 96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION; astrometry; catalogs (HSC); techniques: photometric; virtual observatory tools

Citation Formats

Whitmore, Bradley C., Allam, Sahar S., Budavari, Tamas, Casertano, Stefano, Downes, Ronald A., Donaldson, Thomas, Fall, S. Michael, Lubow, Stephen H., Quick, Lee, Strolger, Louis -Gregory, Wallace, Geoff, and White, Richard L. Version 1 of the Hubble Source Catalog. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.3847/0004-6256/151/6/134.
Whitmore, Bradley C., Allam, Sahar S., Budavari, Tamas, Casertano, Stefano, Downes, Ronald A., Donaldson, Thomas, Fall, S. Michael, Lubow, Stephen H., Quick, Lee, Strolger, Louis -Gregory, Wallace, Geoff, & White, Richard L. Version 1 of the Hubble Source Catalog. United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-6256/151/6/134
Whitmore, Bradley C., Allam, Sahar S., Budavari, Tamas, Casertano, Stefano, Downes, Ronald A., Donaldson, Thomas, Fall, S. Michael, Lubow, Stephen H., Quick, Lee, Strolger, Louis -Gregory, Wallace, Geoff, and White, Richard L. Wed . "Version 1 of the Hubble Source Catalog". United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-6256/151/6/134. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1275507.
@article{osti_1275507,
title = {Version 1 of the Hubble Source Catalog},
author = {Whitmore, Bradley C. and Allam, Sahar S. and Budavari, Tamas and Casertano, Stefano and Downes, Ronald A. and Donaldson, Thomas and Fall, S. Michael and Lubow, Stephen H. and Quick, Lee and Strolger, Louis -Gregory and Wallace, Geoff and White, Richard L.},
abstractNote = {The Hubble Source Catalog is designed to help optimize science from the Hubble Space Telescope by combining the tens of thousands of visit-based source lists in the Hubble Legacy Archive into a single master catalog. Version 1 of the Hubble Source Catalog includes WFPC2, ACS/WFC, WFC3/UVIS, and WFC3/IR photometric data generated using SExtractor software to produce the individual source lists. The catalog includes roughly 80 million detections of 30 million objects involving 112 different detector/filter combinations, and about 160 thousand HST exposures. Source lists from Data Release 8 of the Hubble Legacy Archive are matched using an algorithm developed by Budavari & Lubow (2012). The mean photometric accuracy for the catalog as a whole is better than 0.10 mag, with relative accuracy as good as 0.02 mag in certain circumstances (e.g., bright isolated stars). The relative astrometric residuals are typically within 10 mas, with a value for the mode (i.e., most common value) of 2.3 mas. The absolute astrometric accuracy is better than $\sim$0.1 arcsec for most sources, but can be much larger for a fraction of fields that could not be matched to the PanSTARRS, SDSS, or 2MASS reference systems. In this paper we describe the database design with emphasis on those aspects that enable the users to fully exploit the catalog while avoiding common misunderstandings and potential pitfalls. Here, we provide usage examples to illustrate some of the science capabilities and data quality characteristics, and briefly discuss plans for future improvements to the Hubble Source Catalog.},
doi = {10.3847/0004-6256/151/6/134},
journal = {The Astronomical Journal (Online)},
number = 6,
volume = 151,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed May 11 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Wed May 11 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}

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