ABSCAL Handbook

This section describes the ABSCAL science goals and methods.

• ABSCAL WFC3 Handbook
  • ABSCAL Handbook for WFC3 IR Grism

ABSCAL Project Definition

Note

The following text is adapted from text written by Dr. Susana Deustua and Dr. Linda Smith when proposing the ABSCAL project.

The spectro-photometric calibration of the HST instruments has relied on the efforts of Dr. Bohlin, and his personal IDL programs. Many of the programs files have been adapted, ad hoc, for the various instruments, and are idiosyncratic and not suitably documented for the general user i.e. they are highly personal and require manual changes to adapt to a new mode. There are several related reasons to undertake this project now:

1. Ralph is likely to retire in the not too distant future,

2. python is currently the preferred software in the astrophysical research community

3. the basic calibration software for STSCI’s instruments should be standardized, documented, and relatively easy to use.