Check the fluxes of the calibration sources
Last updated: sep17
The plots below show the gain
ratio
for
all calibration sources plotted versus frequency. There are
4
plots
per page. Each plot holds 5 sources. Sources are distinguished by
color
and symbol. The large variation for some sources (especially
at
higher
frequencies) is caused by collimation errors (and the
gain
fits inability to fit it).
How the fluxes were checked:
The telescope gain curves are made using a set of
calibration
sources selected by chris salter. The fluxes of these sources are
tabulated
in different catalogs at discrete frequencies. Chris has fit
these
fluxes to the functional form:
let y=log10(fluxJy)
let x=log10(freqMhz)
y= a0 + a1*x + a2*exp(-x)
To compute a gain curve for a receiver we do a
number
of calibration scans using some of the calibration sources and then
fit
the gain as a function of azimuth and zenith angle.
To check that the source fluxes used are ok we
have
computed:
gain_from_a_single_measurement/
gain_from_gaincurve_model_fit
We do this for each calibration scan taken for all receivers.
Some things to keep in mind are:
- When taking the ratio we always use the gain curve that was
valid
during
that epoch . The gain curves have changed over time do to
alignment
procedures.
- A gain curve is made and then not changed until
something
requires
a new gain curve (new receiver, telescope alignment, etc.). We
continue
doing calibration scans to check things out. So there are many
calibration
scans that were not used in creating a gain curve.
- A point whose ratio is an outlier could be caused by:
- The source flux at that frequency is inaccurate
- The measurement may have had some problems (e.g.. we were
using
high
frequencies
and it was cloudy or raining).
- The gain curve fit is not doing a good job of fitting the az
or
za
dependence.
processing: x101/sysperf/chkflux/chkflux.pro
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