Sky Subtraction

Overview

This document describes how PypeIt performs sky subtraction.

See SkySubPar Keywords for the complete list of options related to sky subtraction.

Global

Phase I of sky subtraction is to perform a fit to the sky across the entire slit. By default, this is done twice: once without any knowledge of objects in the slit and then again after object detection has taken place (these are masked).

Default masking of objects is relatively benign. The FWHM of each object is estimated and then those pixels above a set threshold in the profile are masked.

One can enforce more aggressive masking by setting mask_by_boxcar which will mask each object by the boxcar_radius set in ExtractionPar Keywords:

[reduce]
   [[extraction]]
      boxcar_radius = 2.5  # arcsec
   [[skysub]]
      mask_by_boxcar = True

Local

Assuming you perform Optimal extraction, the default is to refine the sky subtraction in tandem.

To turn this off (e.g. recommended for bright extended emission lines on faint galaxy continua), set no_local_sky in SkySubPar Keywords:

[reduce]
   [[skysub]]
      no_local_sky = True

Interactively defining the sky regions

PypeIt has an automatic algorithm (described above) to define the sky regions, but this may not work in your specific science case. There are several ways to define the sky regions. The first option is to define the locations on the slits where there is sky in your PypeIt Reduction File. The command is a comma separated list of regions that represent the locations on the slit (0 is the left edge, 100 is the right edge):

[reduce]
  [[skysub]]
       user_regions = :20,65:

where in the example above, the sky regions are defined as all pixels in all slices that are in the leftmost 20 percent of the slit (i.e. :20), and the rightmost 35 percent of the slit (65:). You can specify as many regions as you like. For example, 45:55 would indicate that the innermost 10 percent of pixels contains sky.

An alternative approach is to set the sky regions interactively. This is the preferred approach if you want to set different sky regions for every slit. Remember, you really should assign some sky regions in every slit, otherwise the relative spectral sensitivity correction will not work. To interactively define the sky regions, you must first run through the reduction once, and then use the following command:

pypeit_skysub_regions spec2d_file.fits

You will need to manually define the sky regions for each spec2d file. You will see a GUI where you can click and drag regions on each slit to define the sky regions. Hover the mouse over the window and press the ? key. This will print a list of options in the terminal window, so that you know how to operate the GUI. A left (right) mouse button click and drag will add (remove) pixels to (from) the sky regions mask. Once you have defined some regions, the red shaded regions represent the sky pixels. If you want to set the sky regions for multiple slits, use the “Assign sky regions to all slits” bar on the right hand side of the GUI. The gray region represents the slit, and the black regions represent outside the slit. You need to click and drag only on the gray regions, or you can click and drag from the gray to the black regions (i.e. you must click and drag within this small window for it to work).

Alternatively, you can click the “Enter regions” button, which will request input from the command line. You should now enter the regions in the same format as above for the user_regions.

If you’re happy with the sky regions, press the “Continue (and save changes)” button. If you do not wish to save the sky regions, press the “Continue (and don’t save changes)” button. The menu bar at the top of the screen will prompt you if you wish to save these sky regions (click on either YES or NO). If you chose to save the regions file, the regions will be saved in your Calibrations/ folder, with a prefix SkyRegions. A given SkyRegions file is linked to a science frame based on the name of the SkyRegions file.

Once you have defined all of the sky regions manually, you will need to explicitly tell PypeIt to use the manually defined sky regions file by adding the following lines to your PypeIt Reduction File:

[reduce]
   [[skysub]]
      user_regions = user

and then re-run the reduction.