Correcting for errors due to walk and geometric distortion in the COS FUV detector

David J. Sahnow; Steven Penton; Thomas Ake; Gisella DeRosa; Justin Ely; Sean Lockwood; Cristina Oliveira; Rachel Plesha; Charles Proffitt; Julia Roman-Duval; Paule Sonnentrucker; Joanna Taylor; James White

doi:10.1117/12.2233091

18 July 2016 Correcting for errors due to walk and geometric distortion in the COS FUV detector

David J. Sahnow, Steven Penton, Thomas Ake, Gisella DeRosa, Justin Ely, Sean Lockwood, Cristina Oliveira, Rachel Plesha, Charles Proffitt, Julia Roman-Duval, Paule Sonnentrucker, Joanna Taylor, James White

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9905, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2016: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray; 99052T (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2233091
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2016, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Abstract

The Far Ultraviolet detector of the Cosmic Origin Spectrograph (COS) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is subject to distortions on a range of spatial scales in its two-dimensional format due to its analog nature. Incomplete correction of these effects can lead to errors in wavelength scales and flux measurements in the calibrated spectra. Two of the largest sources of error are geometric distortion and walk. Although they are accounted for separately in the CalCOS calibration pipeline, they are highly coupled and can be considered as manifestations of the same effect.

The current calibration pipeline does not apply any walk correction in the dispersion direction even though walk-induced errors can be more than a resolution element in some cases. The current geometric correction, which was derived without considering walk effects, is also known to have inaccuracies. As part of our efforts to improve the wavelength calibration of COS, we have revisited the existing walk and geometric correction using both prelaunch and on-orbit data.

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David J. Sahnow, Steven Penton, Thomas Ake, Gisella DeRosa, Justin Ely, Sean Lockwood, Cristina Oliveira, Rachel Plesha, Charles Proffitt, Julia Roman-Duval, Paule Sonnentrucker, Joanna Taylor, and James White "Correcting for errors due to walk and geometric distortion in the COS FUV detector", Proc. SPIE 9905, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2016: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 99052T (18 July 2016); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2233091

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