Cited by 592Astronomy and Astrophysical ResearchStellar, planetary, and galactic studiesAstronomical Observations and Instrumentation

An Improved Photometric Calibration of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Imaging Data

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Padmanabhan, Nikhil, Schlegel, David J., Finkbeiner, Douglas P., Barentine, J. C., Blanton, Michael R., Brewington, Howard J., Gunn, James E., Harvanek, Michael +16 more·2008·The Astrophysical Journal

Abstract

We present an algorithm to photometrically calibrate wide-field optical imaging surveys, which simultaneously solves for the calibration parameters and relative stellar fluxes using overlapping observations. The algorithm decouples the problem of "relative" calibrations from that of "absolute" calibrations; the absolute calibration is reduced to determining a few numbers for the entire survey. We pay special attention to the spatial structure of the calibration errors, allowing one to isolate particular error modes in downstream analyses. Applying this to the SDSS imaging data, we achieve ~1% relative calibration errors across 8500 deg 2 in griz ; the errors are ~2% for the u band. These errors are dominated by unmodeled atmospheric variations at Apache Point Observatory. These calibrations, dubbed "ubercalibration," are now public with SDSS Data Release 6 and will be a part of subsequent SDSS data releases.

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  • SDSS, PS1, and DES data taken in good photometric conditions have approached the LSST requirement of 1% photometric calibration.

    “SDSS, PS1, and DES data taken in good photometric conditions have approached the LSST requirement of 1% photometric calibration ( Padmanabhan et al. 2008; Schla fl y et al. 2012; Burke et al. 2018 ) , although measurements with ground-based telescopes typically produce data with errors a factor of two or so larger.”

    From LSST: From Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products (2019) · cites this paper as Padmanabhan et al. 2008

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Research works printed but not linked: 5

  1. ---. 2007b, ApJS, submitted (arXiv:0707.3413) · arXiv
  2. Go ´rski, K. M., Hivon, E., & Wandelt, B. D. 1999, in Proc. MPA / ESO Conf., Evolution of Large-Scale Structure: From Recombination to Garching, ed.
  3. Juric, M., et al. 2005, preprint (astro-ph /0510520)
  4. Lupton, R. H., Gunn, J. E., Ivezic ´, Z., Knapp, G. R., Kent, S., & Yasuda, N. 2001, in ASP Conf. Ser. 238, Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems X, ed. F. R. Harnden, Jr., F. A. Primini, & H. E. Payne (San Francisco: ASP), 269
  5. Press, W. H., Teukolsky, S. A., Vetterling, W. T., & Flannery, B. P. 1992, Numerical Recipes in FORTRAN: The Art of Scientific Computing (2nd ed.; Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press)

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Authors
Padmanabhan, N., Schlegel, D. J., Finkbeiner, D. P., Barentine, J. C., Blanton, M. R., Brewington, H. J., Gunn, J. E., Harvanek, M., Hogg, D. W., Ivezić, Ž., Johnston, D., Kent, S. M., Kleinman, S. J., Knapp, G. R., Krzesinski, J., Long, D., Neilsen, Jr., Nitta, A., Loomis, C., Lupton, R. H., Roweis, S., Snedden, S. A., Strauss, M. A., & Tucker, D. L.
Affiliations
  • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
  • Princeton University (US)
  • Udaipur Solar Observatory (IN)
  • New York University (US)
  • University of Washington (US)
  • Jet Propulsion Laboratory (US)
  • Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (US)
  • Subaru (Japan) (JP)
  • University of Toronto (CA)
Venue
The Astrophysical Journal
Published
2008-02-20
Volume
674
Issue
2
Pages
1217-1233
ISSN
  • 0004-637X (ISSN-L)
  • 1538-4357
OpenAlex
W1572376656
Cited by
591
References
45
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 33 · 2018: 38 · 2017: 40 · 2016: 60 · 2015: 50 · 2014: 52 · 2013: 42 · 2012: 60
FWCI
52.64
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • The Astrophysical Journal (publishedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (acceptedVersion)
  • University of North Texas Digital Library (University of North Texas) (submittedVersion)
  • OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion)
  • Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • CERN Document Server (European Organization for Nuclear Research) (submittedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
  • Texas ScholarWorks (Texas Digital Library) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • arXiv (Cornell University)
  • Texas Digital Library (University of Texas)
  • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Funders
  • National Science Foundation
  • U.S. Department of Energy
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration
  • Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
  • Princeton University
  • Ohio State University
  • University of Washington
  • Johns Hopkins University
  • University of Pittsburgh
  • Case Western Reserve University
  • Drexel University
  • Universität Basel
  • University of Portsmouth
  • New Mexico State University
  • University of Cambridge
  • Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
  • Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie
  • U.S. Naval Observatory
  • Fermilab
  • Los Alamos National Laboratory
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Instrumentation › Astronomy and Astrophysical Research
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Computational Mechanics › Astronomical Observations and Instrumentation
Keywords
photometric calibration, Sloan Digital Sky Survey, wide-field optical imaging, relative calibration, absolute calibration, overlapping observations, calibration error, atmospheric variability, Apache Point Observatory

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