Astronomy 

101                                          Lecture # 6

Today:   Calculating CCD gain
              Photometry
                         Aperture vs. PSF Photometry
                          Photometric Filters
                         Effects of Atmosphere – Airmass 
                         Differential vs. Absolute Photometry
                         Photometry of Extended Sources
                         SNR and Exposure Time

                  Reading: Ch. 7 (pp. 125–132), 10
 Astronomy 101                                          Lecture # 6
Photometry
Direct measure of integrated flux (counts per unit time 
per unit area ) received from a celestial target.
●

∞
F=∫0 F ⋅S  d 
●

    F = specific flux from a target 
    S = transmission function that describes
           ­ Filter passband
           ­ CCD response
           ­ Atmospheric transmission  
Astronomy 101                                          Lecture # 6

Magnitudes and Fluxes

●
Bolometric  Magnitude: m1− m2=2.5 log10
F2
F1

 
FV , 2
●

Color Magnitude:
● mV ,1 −mV ,2 =2.5 log10
FV ,1
Astronomy 101                                          Lecture # 6
How do we measure F?
∞
F=∫0 F  ⋅S   d 

● Main Methods:
● 1. Aperture photometry
●    2. Point­spread­function (PSF) 

●           fitting
Astronomy 101                                          Lecture # 6
Aperture Photometry

Main stellar 
    aperture

Background 
  annulus

m=C− 2.5 log10 [ N star − N sky ]

Astronomy 101                                          Lecture # 6

PSF Photometry
Stars too close 
together to do a 
simple aperture 
count.

Need to do PSF 
fitting: modeling 
the radial 
“shape” of each 
stellar image.
 Astronomy 101                                          Lecture # 6

PSF Photometry
Airy Pattern: Ideal PSF

Slide Credit: Don Hoard

Astronomy 101                                          Lecture # 6
PSF Photometry

Real PSFs are 
considerably more 
complicated.
Astronomy 101                                          Lecture # 6
PSF Photometry

Real PSFs are 
considerably more 
complicated.

Example: Hubble images 
of quasars from Bahcall 
et al.

Slide Credit: Don Hoard

 Astronomy 101                                          Lecture # 6
PSF Photometry

Slide Credit: Don Hoard

Astronomy 101                                          Lecture # 6

How do we determine S?

∞
F=∫0 F ⋅S  d 

● Main Contributions:
●      1. CCD response
●      2. Filter bandpass

●      3. Atmospheric Transmission
Astronomy 101                                          Lecture # 6
CCD Quantum Efficiency

● From Apogee Instruments
Astronomy 101                                          Lecture # 6
Wide­Band Photometric Filters
Astronomy 101                                          Lecture # 6

Medium­Band Filters
Astronomy 101                                          Lecture # 6

Narrow­Band Filters
Astronomy 101                                          Lecture # 6
Atmospheric Transmission 
 Astronomy 101                                          Lecture # 6
Airmass Correction

 m obs= m star  0 sec 

A better approximation:  
2 3
Airmass= sec −0.0018167 sec −1−0.002875 sec −1 −0.0008083 sec −1
Astronomy 101                                          Lecture # 6
How do we invert this equation
to determine F?
∞
F=∫0 F ⋅S  d 

Converting from instrumental magnitude to apparent   
●

magnitude.

● Main Methods:
● 1. Differential Photometry
●    2. Absolute Photometry
 Astronomy 101                                          Lecture # 6
Differential Photometry

mi=calibrated magnitude of star i

m1= I 1 − I 2 m 2
I i =instrumental magnitude of star i
Slide Credit: Don Hoard
 Astronomy 101                                          Lecture # 6
Absolute Photometry
What if there are no calibrated stars in the same CCD frame as 
your target?

● Make separate observations of standard stars on the same night.

Examples of star catalogs include
Landolt 1992, AJ, 104, 340
Stetson http://cadcwww.hia.nrc.ca/cadcbin/wdb/astrocat/stetson/query

● Standard star observations must span a range of airmasses (typically 1–

2.5) and a range of colors the same as that of science targets.

● Obtain observations of standard stars and targets in at least 2 filters.

● Use standard star observations to derive coefficients for the

“transformation equations” which can then be utilized to calibrate
instrumental magnitudes of science targets.
Slide Credit: Don Hoard
Astronomy 101                                          Lecture # 6

Transformation Equations
B – V = (b–v) Tbv + Kbv X + Zbv
 V – R = (v–r) Tvr + Kvr X + Zvr
 R – I = (r–i) Tri + Kri X + Zri
 V – I = (v–i) Tvi + Kvi X + Zvi
 R = r Tr + Kr X + Zr
Use IRAF package
 V = v Tv + Kv X + Zv digiphot.photcal to solve
for transformation
coefficients and apply
B, V, R, I = calibrated magnitudes
b, v, r, i = instrumental magnitudes calibration to data.
X = airmass
T = color transformation coefficients
K = atmospheric extinction coefficients
Z = zero point corrections Slide Credit: Don Hoard
Magnitude to Flux Conversion

Specific flux in the center of band X:
−m X / 2.5
F  X = f  , X 10
Total flux in band X:
F X =F  X W X
Astronomy 101                                          Lecture # 6
SNR and Exposure Time
S N star
SNR= =
N N  n N sky  N D  N 
2
star R

S N star
Poisson Noise Limited: ≈ =  N star ∝  F star  t
N  N star

S N star F star
Background Limited: ≈ ∝ t
N  n N sky  F sky