pixtosky: Coordinate transformation to sky coordinates

This task allows a user to perform coordinate transformations with the full WCS and distortion model on source positions from an input image to sky coordinates. This task serves as a replacement for the IRAF.STSDAS task xy2rd, albeit with the added capability of understanding the full distortion model provided in the headers of images updated for use with astrodrizzle and tweakreg.

pixtosky transforms pixel positions given as X,Y values into positions on the sky based on the WCS information and any recognized distortion keywords from the input image header.

Authors:: Warren Hack
License:: License

Parameters

inputstr
full filename with path of input image, an extension name [‘sci’,1] should be provided if input is a multi-extension FITS file.

Optional Parameters

xfloat, optional
X position from input image

yfloat, optional
Y position from input image

coordfilestr, optional
full filename with path of file with x, y coordinates

colnamesstr, optional
comma separated list of column names from ‘coordfile’ file containing x, y coordinates. Will default to first two columns if None are specified. Column names for ASCII files will use ‘c1’,’c2’,… convention.

separatorstr, optional
non-blank separator used as the column delimiter in the coordfile

hmsbool, optional (Default: False)
Produce output in HH:MM:SS.S format instead of decimal degrees?

precisionint, optional
Number of floating-point digits in output values

outputstr, optional
Name of output file with results, if desired

verbosebool (Default: False)
Print out full list of transformation results

Returns

rafloat
Right Ascension of pixel. If more than 1 input value, then it will be a numpy array.

decfloat
Declination of pixel. If more than 1 input value, then it will be a numpy array.

Notes

This task performs a full distortion-correction coordinate transformation based on all WCS keywords and any recognized distortion keywords from the input image header. The transformation recognizes the conventions for describing distortion implemented as part of the SIP and Paper IV conventions used with AstroDrizzle. Input images can be updated to use these conventions through the use of the updatewcs module the STWCS package.

Examples

These examples illustrate the syntax that can be used to run the task in a couple of common modes.

Convert a single X,Y position (100,100) from an calibrated ACS image (j8bt06nyq_flt.fits) into an undistorted sky position (RA,Dec):
```
>>> from drizzlepac import pixtosky
>>> r,d = pixtosky.xy2rd("j8bt06nyq_flt.fits[sci,1]", 100, 100)
```
Convert a list of X,Y positions from the file 'xyfile.dat' for a calibrated ACS image (j8bt06nyq_flt.fits) into undistorted sky positions and write out the result to the file ‘radec.dat’:
```
>>> r,d = pixtosky.xy2rd("j8bt06nyq_flt.fits[sci,1]", coordfile="xyfile.dat",
...       output="radec.dat")
```

The set of X,Y positions from 'input_flt.fits[sci,1]' stored as the 3rd and 4th columns from the ASCII file 'xy_sci1.dat' will be transformed and written out to 'radec_sci1.dat' using:

>>> from drizzlepac import pixtosky
>>> r,d = pixtosky.xy2rd("input_flt.fits[sci,1]", coordfile='xy_sci1.dat',
...                      colnames=['c3','c4'], output="radec_sci1.dat")

drizzlepac.pixtosky.xy2rd(input, x=None, y=None, coords=None, coordfile=None, colnames=None, separator=None, hms=True, precision=6, output=None, verbose=True)[source]: Primary interface to perform coordinate transformations from pixel to sky coordinates using STWCS and full distortion models read from the input image header.

drizzlepac.pixtosky.help(file=None)

Print out syntax help for running pixtosky.

Parameters:

filestr (Default = None): If given, write out help to the filename specified by this parameter Any previously existing file with this name will be deleted before writing out the help.