Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2011-05-10
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
accepted by the Astronomical Journal
Scientific paper
We describe a procedure for background subtracting Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) imaging that improves the resulting detection and photometry of large galaxies on the sky. Within each SDSS drift scan run, we mask out detected sources and then fit a smooth function to the variation of the sky background. This procedure has been applied to all SDSS-III Data Release 8 images, and the results are available as part of that data set. We have tested the effect of our background subtraction on the photometry of large galaxies by inserting fake galaxies into the raw pixels, reanalyzing the data, and measuring them after background subtraction. Our technique results in no size-dependent bias in galaxy fluxes up to half-light radii of 100 arcsec; in contrast, for galaxies of that size the standard SDSS photometric catalog underestimates fluxes by about 1.5 mag. Our results represent a substantial improvement over the standard SDSS catalog results and should form the basis of any analysis of nearby galaxies using the SDSS imaging data.
Blanton Michael R.
Kazin Eyal
Muna Demitri
Price-Whelan Adrian
Weaver Benjamin A.
No associations
LandOfFree
Improved background subtraction for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey images does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Improved background subtraction for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey images, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Improved background subtraction for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey images will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-279806