Supernova Search Code

Introduction

sn is the front end procedure that is used for the supernova search. In the request file, one must specify RA, DEC, EPOCH, EXPTIME, FILTERS, and OBJECT then invoke sn as the PROCEDUR. Here is a typical request file It then does the following:

• points to a bright star near to the galaxy and corrects the pointing
• points telescope at galaxy
• takes a picture using photo
• then in the background, flat fields and bias corrects it using ccdproc
• executes the sn_search. procedure to analyze the image

SN_SEARCH

• looks up the reference image from the OBJECT field in the header
• executes sn_finder on the target image to locate the fiducial stars generating a .coo file
• analyzes the fiducials stars and sky using sn_merit
• determines image offset from the reference image from the fiducial stars (sn_fidmatch) and writes a .match file
• if the name of the reference appears in the file /data/sn/ref/cormatch.list file it uses the correlation method (sn_cormatch) to find the offset
• subtracts the image of the reference image from the target using sn_sub. This procedure calls sn_cfinder to look for candidates.
• echoes report on the sucess of the subtraction and detection to standard out using showcand.
• reports an error to insgen if the match fails
• submits a request to re-observe the galaxy using sn_submit if there is an interesting candidate