Page Contents
Data Handbooks
Cookbook Recipes
Analysis Tools
Quality Assurance and Known Issues
Data Handbooks
The Guest Observer (GO) Data Handbooks describe data products, processing steps, calibration procedures, and known issues.
EXES [pdf]
FIFI-LS [pdf]
FLITECAM [pdf]
FORCAST [pdf]
HAWC+ [pdf]
Cookbook Recipes
These documents provide simple "recipes" (i.e., descriptions and guided examples) for common data analysis objectives using SOFIA processed data. They are generally written for a graduate student audience and are intended to be used with the Data Handbooks.
FORCAST Photometry [pdf]
Performing aperture photometry using flux calibrated FORCAST images accessed through Flexible Image Transport System (FITS) files
FORCAST Grism Spectra Series:
I. Basic Inspection and Assessment [link]
Python tutorial on plotting and analyzing data.
II. Custom Spectral Extraction [link]
Utilizes Level 2 two-dimensional images to plot the aperture and do a simple custom extraction using a different aperture.
III. Basic Line Analysis [link]
Includes minor "cleaning" of the LEVEL_3 data and then some basic emission line analysis including continuum fitting and subtraction, line flux measurement, and simple line fitting.
HAWC+ Data Recipe with 30 Doradus Publicly Available SDDT Data [link]
Associated white paper: SOFIA Community Science I—HAWC+ Polarimetry of 30 Doradus [link]
Guides users through Python analysis techniques using the 30 Doradus dataset, teaching readers how to probe HAWC+ data cubes and learn basic analysis techniques—such as plotting Stokes parameters, error maps, and polarization vectors—to jump-start their own research.
FIFI-LS: Basic Cube Analysis using SOSPEX [link]
Basic spectroscopic cube analysis using the SOFIA python tool SPectrum Explorer (SOSPEX), which displays FIFI-LS and GREAT spectral cubes and allows the user to perform a number of basic analysis routines on them. The cube is shown as a 2D image (spatial image obtained as average along the wavelength dimension) and as a spectrum (sum of spatial pixels of the original cube).
GREAT: How to View GREAT Spectra Using CLASS Utility [link]
Finding a sample data set through modifying the baseline fit, averaging, and saving the result in a Flexible Image Transport System (FITS) file using the Continuum and Line Analysis Single-dish Software (CLASS) utility, the standard for single-dish heterodyne spectroscopy data reduction.
Analysis Tools
SOFIA SPectral EXplorer (SOSPEX)
The SOSPEX tool, written by Dario Fadda and Ed Chambers, allows users to explore the final data cubes produced by the data reduction pipeline. An overview of its use can be found on the SOSPEX poster from the AAS.
FLUXER
The FLUXER IDL tool, written by Christof Iserlohe, allows users to fit the continuum and estimate line strengths in the final FIFI-LS data cubes.
Quality Assurance and Known Issues
Summary of QA Process and Keywords
Calibrated FORCAST imaging data processed before Cycle 3 (2015) do not include the on-source integration time listed in their headers. The document FORCAST Imaging Exposure Time outlines the procedure for calculating the on-source integration time in Level 2 and 3 merged and co-added data files for these observations.