Legacy Survey Files

Throughout this page <region> denotes either north for BASS/MzLS or south for DECaLS.

Directory Structures

For Web Access

At NERSC (for collaborators)

Top level directory:
/global/cfs/cdirs/cosmo/data/legacysurvey/dr8/
Top level directory for DECaLS data:
/global/cfs/cdirs/cosmo/data/legacysurvey/dr8/south/
Top level directory for MzLS/BASS data:
/global/cfs/cdirs/cosmo/data/legacysurvey/dr8/north/
Top level directories for sweeps catalogs:
/global/cfs/cdirs/cosmo/data/legacysurvey/dr8/south/sweep/
/global/cfs/cdirs/cosmo/data/legacysurvey/dr8/north/sweep/

Summary Files

survey-bricks.fits.gz

FITS binary table with the RA, Dec bounds of each geometrical "brick" on the sky. This includes all bricks on the sky, not just the ones in our footprint or with coverage in DR8. For that information, see the next file description.

Column

Type

Description

BRICKNAME

char[8]

Name of the brick.

BRICKID

int32

A unique integer with 1-to-1 mapping to brickname.

BRICKQ

int16

A "priority" factor used for processing.

BRICKROW

int32

Dec row number.

BRICKCOL

int32

Number of the brick within a Dec row.

RA

float64

RA of the center of the brick.

DEC

float64

Dec of the center of the brick.

RA1

float64

Lower RA boundary.

RA2

float64

Upper RA boundary.

DEC1

float64

Lower Dec boundary.

DEC2

float64

Upper Dec boundary.

<region>/survey-bricks-dr8-<region>.fits.gz

A FITS binary table with information that summarizes the contents of each brick for a region of DR8.

Column

Type

Description

brickname

char[8]

Name of the brick

ra

float64

RA of the center of the brick

dec

float64

Dec of the center of the brick

nexp_g

int16

Median number of exposures in the unique area (i.e. BRICK_PRIMARY area) of the brick in g-band

nexp_r

int16

Median number of exposures in the unique area of the brick in r-band

nexp_z

int16

Median number of exposures in the unique area of the brick in z-band

nexphist_g

int32[6]

Histogram of number of pixels in the unique brick area with 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or > 5 exposures in g

nexphist_r

int32[6]

Histogram of number of pixels in the unique brick area with 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or > 5 exposures in r

nexphist_z

int32[6]

Histogram of number of pixels in the unique brick area with 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or > 5 exposures in z

nobjs

int16

Total number of BRICK_PRIMARY objects in this brick, of all types

npsf

int16

Total number of BRICK_PRIMARY objects in this brick, of type PSF

nsimp

int16

Total number of BRICK_PRIMARY objects in this brick, of type SIMP (there should be 0 such objects)

nrex

int16

Total number of BRICK_PRIMARY objects in this brick, of type REX

nexp

int16

Total number of BRICK_PRIMARY objects in this brick, of type EXP

ndev

int16

Total number of BRICK_PRIMARY objects in this brick, of type DEV

ncomp

int16

Total number of BRICK_PRIMARY objects in this brick, of type COMP

psfsize_g

float32

Median PSF size, in arcsec, evaluated at the BRICK_PRIMARY objects in this brick in g-band

psfsize_r

float32

Median PSF size, in arcsec, evaluated at the BRICK_PRIMARY objects in this brick in r-band

psfsize_z

float32

Median PSF size, in arcsec, evaluated at the BRICK_PRIMARY objects in this brick in z-band

psfdepth_g

float32

5-sigma PSF detection depth in \(g\)-band (AB mag), using PsfEx PSF model

psfdepth_r

float32

5-sigma PSF detection depth in \(r\)-band (AB mag), using PsfEx PSF model

psfdepth_z

float32

5-sigma PSF detection depth in \(z\)-band (AB mag), using PsfEx PSF model

galdepth_g

float32

5-sigma galaxy (0.45" round exp) detection depth in \(g\)-band (AB) mag

galdepth_r

float32

5-sigma galaxy (0.45" round exp) detection depth in \(r\)-band (AB) mag

galdepth_z

float32

5-sigma galaxy (0.45" round exp) detection depth in \(z\)-band (AB) mag

ebv

float32

Median SFD98 dust map E(B-V) extinction, in magnitudes, evaluated at BRICK_PRIMARY objects in this brick

trans_g

float32

Median Milky Way dust transparency in \(g\)-band, based on ebv. See also MW_TRANSMISSION_G

trans_r

float32

Median Milky Way dust transparency in \(g\)-band, based on ebv. See also MW_TRANSMISSION_R

trans_z

float32

Median Milky Way dust transparency in \(z\)-band, based on ebv. See also MW_TRANSMISSION_Z

ext_g

float32

Extinction in \(g\)-band

ext_r

float32

Extinction in \(r\)-band

ext_z

float32

Extinction in \(z\)-band

wise_nobs

int16[4]

Number of images that contributed to WISE calculations in each filter (not profile-weighted)

trans_wise

float32[4]

Median Milky Way dust transparency in WISE bands, based on ebv. See also, e.g., MW_TRANSMISSION_W1

ext_w1

float32

Extinction in \(W1\)-band

ext_w2

float32

Extinction in \(W2\)-band

ext_w3

float32

Extinction in \(W3\)-band

ext_w4

float32

Extinction in \(W4\)-band

Note that, for the nexphist rows, pixels that are masked by the NOIRLab Community Pipeline as, e.g., cosmic rays or saturation (see, e.g. the ALLMASK/ANYMASK information on the DR8 bitmasks page), do not count toward the number of exposures. More information about the morphological types and MW_TRANSMISSION can be found on the catalogs page.

survey-ccds-<camera>-dr8.fits.gz

A FITS binary table with almanac information about each individual CCD image for each camera (where <camera> is one of 90prime for BASS, decam for DECaLS or mosaic for MzLS).

This file contains information regarding the photometric and astrometric zero points for each CCD of every image that is part of the DR8 data release. Photometric zero points for each CCD are computed by identifying stars and comparing their instrumental magnitudes to color-selected stars in the PanSTARRS "qz" catalog.

The photometric zeropoints (zpt, ccdzpt, etc) are magnitude-like numbers (e.g. 25.04), and indicate the magnitude of a source that would contribute one count per second to the image. For example, in an image with zeropoint of 25.04 and exposure time of 30 seconds, a source of magnitude 22.5 would contribute \(30 \times 10^{((25.04 - 22.5) / 2.5)} = 311.3\) counts.

Column

Type

Description

image_filename

char[120]

Path to FITS image, e.g. "north/DECam_CP/CP20170729/c4d_170730_045351_ooi_g_v1.fits.fz"

image_hdu

int16

FITS HDU number in the image_filename file where this image can be found

camera

char[9]

The camera that took this image e.g. "90prime"

expnum

int64

Exposure number, eg 348224

plver

char[8]

Community Pipeline (CP) version number

procdate

char[19]

CP processing date

plprocid

char[7]

Unique, time-based, CP processing hash - see the plprocid page for how to convert this to a date

ccdname

char[5]

CCD name, e.g. "N10", "S7" for DECam

object

char[35]

Name listed in the object tag from the CCD header

propid

char[10]

Proposal ID of the program that took this image, eg "2014B-0404"

filter

char[1]

Filter used for observation, eg "\(g\)", "\(r\)", "\(z\)"

exptime

float32

Exposure time in seconds, eg 30

mjd_obs

float64

Date of observation in MJD (in UTC system), eg 56884.99373389

airmass

float32

Airmass of observation (measured at the telescope bore-sight)

fwhm

float32

FWHM (in pixels) measured by the CP

width

int16

Width in pixels of this image, eg 2046

height

int16

Height in pixels of this image, eg 4096

ra_bore

float64

Telescope boresight RA of this exposure (deg)

dec_bore

float64

Telescope boresight Dec of this exposure (deg)

crpix1

float32

Astrometric header value: X reference pixel

crpix2

float32

Astrometric header value: Y reference pixel

crval1

float64

Astrometric header value: RA of reference pixel

crval2

float64

Astrometric header value: Dec of reference pixel

cd1_1

float32

Astrometric header value: transformation matrix

cd1_2

float32

Astrometric header value: transformation matrix

cd2_1

float32

Astrometric header value: transformation matrix

cd2_2

float32

Astrometric header value: transformation matrix

yshift

boolean

(ignore; it's always False)

ra

float64

Approximate RA center of this CCD (deg)

dec

float64

Approximate Dec center of this CCD (deg)

skyrms

float32

Sky rms for the entire image (in counts/second)

sig1

float32

Median per-pixel error standard deviation, in nanomaggies

ccdzpt

float32

Zeropoint for the CCD (AB mag)

zpt

float32

Median zero point for the entire image (median of all CCDs of the image), eg 25.0927

ccdraoff

float32

Median astrometric offset for the CCD <GAIA-Legacy Survey> in arcsec

ccddecoff

float32

Median astrometric offset for the CCD <GAIA-Legacy Survey> in arcsec

ccdskycounts

float32

Mean sky counts level per second per pixel (AVSKY divided by EXPTIME) in the CP-processed frames measured (with iterative rejection) for each CCD in the image section [500:1500,1500:2500]

ccdskysb

float32

Sky surface brightness (in AB mag/arcsec2)

ccdrarms

float32

rms in astrometric offset for the CCD <Gaia-Legacy Survey> in arcsec

ccddecrms

float32

rms in astrometric offset for the CCD <Gaia-Legacy Survey> in arcsec

ccdphrms

float32

Photometric rms for the CCD (in mag)

ccdnastrom

int16

Number of stars (after sigma-clipping) used to compute astrometric correction

ccdnphotom

int16

Number of Gaia+PS1 stars detected with signal-to-noise ratio greater than five

ccd_cuts

int32

Bit mask describing CCD image quality (see, e.g., the DR9 bitmasks page)

survey-ccds-<camera>-dr8.kd.fits

As for the survey-ccds-<camera>-dr8.fits.gz files but limited by the depth of each observation. These files contain the CCDs actually used for the DR8 reductions. Columns are the same as for the survey-ccds-<camera>-dr8.fits.gz files.

ccds-annotated-<camera>-dr8.fits.gz

Versions of the survey-ccds-<camera>-dr8.fits.gz files with additional information gathered during calibration pre-processing before running the Tractor reductions.

Includes all of the columns in the survey-ccds-<camera>-dr8.fits.gz files plus the columns listed below. Note that string columns can have different lengths in the survey-ccds-<camera>-dr8.fits.gz and ccds-annotated-<camera>-dr8.fits.gz files. For example the camera column can change from char[9] to char[7] (see, e.g. legacypipe issue #379).

Column

Type

Description

annotated

boolean

True unless there is an error when computing the "annotated" quantities in this row of the file

good_region

int16[4]

If only a subset of the CCD images was used, this array of x0,x1,y0,y1 values gives the coordinates that were used, [x0,x1), [y0,y1). -1 for no cut (most CCDs)

ra0

float64

RA coordinate of pixel (1,1)...Note that the ordering of the CCD corners is detailed here

dec0

float64

Dec coordinate of pixel (1,1)

ra1

float64

RA coordinate of pixel (1,H)

dec1

float64

Dec coordinate of pixel (1,H)

ra2

float64

RA coordinate of pixel (W,H)

dec2

float64

Dec coordinate of pixel (W,H)

ra3

float64

RA coordinate of pixel (W,1)

dec3

float64

Dec coordinate of pixel (W,1)

dra

float32

Maximum distance from RA,Dec center to the edge midpoints, in RA

ddec

float32

Maximum distance from RA,Dec center to the edge midpoints, in Dec

ra_center

float64

RA coordinate of CCD center

dec_center

float64

Dec coordinate of CCD center

meansky

float32

Our pipeline (not the CP) estimate of the sky level, average over the image, in nanomaggies

stdsky

float32

Standard deviation of our sky level, in nanomaggies

maxsky

float32

Max of our sky level, in nanomaggies

minsky

float32

Min of our sky level, in nanomaggies

pixscale_mean

float32

Pixel scale (via sqrt of area of a 10x10 pixel patch evaluated in a 5x5 grid across the image), in arcsec/pixel.

pixscale_std

float32

Standard deviation of pixel scale

pixscale_max

float32

Max of pixel scale

pixscale_min

float32

Min of pixel scale

psfnorm_mean

float32

PSF norm = 1/sqrt of N_eff = sqrt(sum(psf_i^2)) for normalized PSF pixels i; mean of the PSF model evaluated on a 5x5 grid of points across the image. Point-source detection standard deviation is sig1 / psfnorm.

psfnorm_std

float32

Standard deviation of PSF norm

galnorm_mean

float32

Norm of the PSF model convolved by a 0.45" exponential galaxy.

galnorm_std

float32

Standard deviation of galaxy norm.

psf_mx2

float32

PSF model second moment in x (pixels^2)

psf_my2

float32

PSF model second moment in y (pixels^2)

psf_mxy

float32

PSF model second moment in x-y (pixels^2)

psf_a

float32

PSF model major axis (pixels)

psf_b

float32

PSF model minor axis (pixels)

psf_theta

float32

PSF position angle (deg)

psf_ell

float32

PSF ellipticity 1 - minor/major

humidity

float32

Percent humidity outside

outtemp

float32

Outside temperate (deg C).

tileid

int32

tile number, 0 for data from programs other than MzLS or DECaLS

tilepass

uint8

tile pass number, 1, 2 or 3, if this was an MzLS or DECaLS observation, or 0 for data from other programs. Set by the observers (the meaning of tilepass is on the status page)

tileebv

float32

Mean SFD98 E(B-V) extinction in the tile, 0 for data from programs other than BASS, MzLS or DECaLS

ebv

float32

SFD98 E(B-V) extinction for CCD center

decam_extinction

float32[6]

Extinction for optical filters \(ugrizY\)

wise_extinction

float32[4]

Extinction for WISE bands W1,W2,W3,W4

psfdepth

float32

5-sigma PSF detection depth in AB mag, using PsfEx PSF model

galdepth

float32

5-sigma galaxy (0.45" round exp) detection depth in AB mag

gausspsfdepth

float32

5-sigma PSF detection depth in AB mag, using Gaussian PSF approximation (using seeing value)

gaussgaldepth

float32

5-sigma galaxy detection depth in AB mag, using Gaussian PSF approximation

<region>/dr8-<region>-depth.fits.gz

A concatenation of the depth histograms for each brick, for each region, from the coadd/*/*/*-depth.fits tables. HDU1 contains histograms that describe the number of pixels in each brick with a 5-sigma AB depth in the given magnitude bin. HDU2 contains the bin edges of the histograms.

  • HDU1

Column

Type

Description

counts_ptsrc_g

int32[50]

Histogram of pixels for point source depth in \(g\) band

counts_gal_g

int32[50]

Histogram of pixels for canonical galaxy depth in \(g\) band

counts_ptsrc_r

int32[50]

Histogram of pixels for point source depth in \(r\) band

counts_gal_r

int32[50]

Histogram of pixels for canonical galaxy depth in \(r\) band

counts_ptsrc_z

int32[50]

Histogram of pixels for point source depth in \(z\) band

counts_gal_z

int32[50]

Histogram of pixels for canonical galaxy depth in \(z\) band

brickname

char[8]

Name of the brick

  • HDU2

Column

Type

Description

depthlo

float32

Lower bin edge for each histogram in HDU1 (5-sigma AB depth)

depthhi

float32

Upper bin edge for each histogram in HDU1 (5-sigma AB depth)

<region>/dr8-<region>-depth-summary.fits.gz

A summary of the depth histogram for a region of DR8. FITS table with the following columns:

Column

Type

Description

depthlo

float32

Lower limit of the depth bin

depthhi

float32

Upper limit of the depth bin

counts_ptsrc_g

int64

Number of pixels in histogram for point source depth in \(g\) band

counts_gal_g

int64

Number of pixels in histogram for canonical galaxy depth in \(g\) band

counts_ptsrc_r

int64

Number of pixels in histogram for point source depth in \(r\) band

counts_gal_r

int64

Number of pixels in histogram for canonical galaxy depth in \(r\) band

counts_ptsrc_z

int64

Number of pixels in histogram for point source depth in \(z\) band

counts_gal_z

int64

Number of pixels in histogram for canonical galaxy depth in \(z\) band

The depth histogram runs from magnitude of 20.1 to 24.9 in steps of 0.1 mag. The first and last bins are "catch-all" bins: 0 to 20.1 and 24.9 to 100, respectively. The histograms count the number of pixels in each brick's unique area with the given depth. These numbers can be turned into values in square degrees using the brick pixel area of 0.262 arcseconds square. These depth estimates take into account the small-scale masking (cosmic rays, edges, saturated pixels) and detailed PSF model.

Random Catalogs

randoms/randoms-inside-dr8-0.31.0-*.fits

Ten files of random points sampled across the CCDs that comprise the geometry of DR8. Random locations were generated across the footprint at a density of 5,000 per square degree and meta-information about the survey was extracted from pixels at each random location from files in the coadd directory (see below, e.g. coadd/*/*/*-depth-<filter>.fits.fz, coadd/*/*/*-galdepth-<filter>.fits.fz, coadd/*/*/*-nexp-<filter>.fits.fz, coadd/*/*/*-maskbits.fits.fz, coadd/*/*/*-invvar-<filter>.fits.fz). The order of the points within each file is also random (meaning that randomness is retained if just the first N rows of the file are read). Contains the following columns:

Column

Type

Description

RA

float64

Right ascension at equinox J2000

DEC

float64

Declination at equinox J2000

BRICKNAME

char[8]

Name of the brick

NOBS_G

int16

Number of images that contribute to the central pixel in the \(g\) filter for this location (not profile-weighted)

NOBS_R

int16

Number of images that contribute to the central pixel in the \(r\) filter for this location (not profile-weighted)

NOBS_Z

int16

Number of images that contribute to the central pixel in the \(z\) filter for this location (not profile-weighted)

PSFDEPTH_G

float32

For a \(5\sigma\) point source detection limit in \(g\), \(5/\sqrt(\mathrm{PSFDEPTH\_G})\) gives flux in nanomaggies and \(-2.5[\log_{10}(5 / \sqrt(\mathrm{PSFDEPTH\_G})) - 9]\) gives corresponding magnitude

PSFDEPTH_R

float32

For a \(5\sigma\) point source detection limit in \(g\), \(5/\sqrt(\mathrm{PSFDEPTH\_R})\) gives flux in nanomaggies and \(-2.5[\log_{10}(5 / \sqrt(\mathrm{PSFDEPTH\_R})) - 9]\) gives corresponding magnitude

PSFDEPTH_Z

float32

For a \(5\sigma\) point source detection limit in \(g\), \(5/\sqrt(\mathrm{PSFDEPTH\_Z})\) gives flux in nanomaggies and \(-2.5[\log_{10}(5 / \sqrt(\mathrm{PSFDEPTH\_Z})) - 9]\) gives corresponding magnitude

GALDEPTH_G

float32

As for PSFDEPTH_G but for a galaxy (0.45" exp, round) detection sensitivity

GALDEPTH_R

float32

As for PSFDEPTH_R but for a galaxy (0.45" exp, round) detection sensitivity

GALDEPTH_Z

float32

As for PSFDEPTH_Z but for a galaxy (0.45" exp, round) detection sensitivity

PSFDEPTH_W1

float32

As for PSFDEPTH_G (and also on the AB system) but for WISE W1

PSFDEPTH_W2

float32

As for PSFDEPTH_G (and also on the AB system) but for WISE W2

PSFSIZE_G

float32

Weighted average PSF FWHM in arcsec in the \(g\) band

PSFSIZE_R

float32

Weighted average PSF FWHM in arcsec in the \(r\) band

PSFSIZE_Z

float32

Weighted average PSF FWHM in arcsec in the \(z\) band

APFLUX_G

float32

Total flux in nanomaggies extracted in a 0.75 arcsec radius in the \(g\) band at this location

APFLUX_R

float32

Total flux in nanomaggies extracted in a 0.75 arcsec radius in the \(r\) band at this location

APFLUX_Z

float32

Total flux in nanomaggies extracted in a 0.75 arcsec radius in the \(z\) band at this location

APFLUX_IVAR_G

float32

Inverse variance of APFLUX_G

APFLUX_IVAR_R

float32

Inverse variance of APFLUX_R

APFLUX_IVAR_Z

float32

Inverse variance of APFLUX_Z

MASKBITS

int16

Bitwise mask for optical data in the coadd/*/*/*maskbits* maps (see the DR8 bitmasks page)

WISEMASK_W1

uint8

Bitwise mask for WISE W1 data in the coadd/*/*/*maskbits* maps (see the DR8 bitmasks page)

WISEMASK_W2

uint8

Bitwise mask for WISE W2 data in the coadd/*/*/*maskbits* maps (see the DR8 bitmasks page)

EBV

float32

Galactic extinction E(B-V) reddening from SFD98

PHOTSYS

char[1]

'N' for an MzLS/BASS location, 'S' for a DECaLS location

HPXPIXEL

int64

HEALPixel containing this location at NSIDE=64 in the NESTED scheme

The 0.31.0 in the file names refers to the version of the desitarget code used to generate the random catalogs. The code is available on GitHub (see also here). The northern and southern imaging footprints overlap, so, randoms are resolved at a Declination of 32.375° and by the Galactic plane, such that locations at Dec > 32.375° that are north of the Galactic Plane have PHOTSYS set to "N".

randoms/randoms-outside-dr8-0.31.0-*.fits

Ten files of random points in bricks that do not contain an observation in DR8 (that are "outside" of the DR8 footprint). The columns in this file are simplified compared to the other random catalogs as most of the entries in the additional columns would be zeros. As with the other random catalogs, points were generated at a density of 5,000 per square degree and the order of the points within the file is also randomized. Contains the following columns:

Column

Type

Description

RA

float64

Right ascension at equinox J2000

DEC

float64

Declination at equinox J2000

BRICKNAME

char[8]

Name of the brick

NOBS_G

int16

Always zero in this file.

NOBS_R

int16

Always zero in this file.

NOBS_Z

int16

Always zero in this file.

EBV

float32

Galactic extinction E(B-V) reddening from SFD98

randoms/randoms-allsky-dr8-0.31.0.fits

The (randomly shuffled) combination of each of the randoms-inside-dr8-0.31.0-X.fits and randoms-outside-dr8-0.31.0-X.fits files (where X = 1, 2, 3 etc.). This creates ten "all-sky" random catalogs (at a density of 5,000 locations per square degree) where each brick is either populated with observations from the Legacy Surveys, or zeros. Contains the same columns as the randoms-inside-dr8-0.31.0-\*.fits files.

randoms/survey-bricks-dr8-randoms-0.31.0.fits

A similar file to the survey-bricks.fits.gz file, but with extra columns to help interpret the random catalogs. Contains the same columns as the survey-bricks.fits.gz file, plus the additional columns:

Column

Type

Description

PHOTSYS

char[1]

"N", "S" or " " for bricks resolved to be in the north, south, or outside of the footprint, respectively.

AREA_PER_BRICK

float64

The area of the brick in square degrees.

External Files (<region>/external/*)

The Legacy Survey photometric catalogs have been matched to a range of external spectroscopic files from the SDSS. These external spectroscopic files can be accessed on the NERSC computers (for collaborators) at:
/global/cfs/cdirs/sdss/data/sdss
Or on the NERSC computers at:
/global/cfs/cdirs/cosmo/data/legacysurvey/dr8/north/external/
/global/cfs/cdirs/cosmo/data/legacysurvey/dr8/south/external/

Each row of each external-match file contains the full record of the nearest object in our Tractored survey imaging catalogs, matched at a radius of 1.5 arcsec. The structure of the imaging catalog files is documented on the catalogs page. If no match is found, then OBJID is set to -1.

In addition to the columns from the Tractor catalogs, we have added columns from the SDSS files that can be used to track objects uniquely. These are typically some combination of PLATE, FIBER, MJD (or SMJD) and, in some cases, RERUN.

survey-dr8-<region>-specObj-dr14.fits

HDU1 (the only HDU) contains Tractored survey photometry that is row-by-row-matched to the SDSS DR14 spectrosopic pipeline file such that the photometric parameters in row "N" of survey-dr8-specObj-dr14.fits matches the spectroscopic parameters in row "N" of specObj-dr14.fits. The spectroscopic file is documented in the SDSS DR14 data model for specObj-dr14.fits.

survey-dr8-<region>-dr12Q.fits

HDU1 (the only HDU) contains Tractored survey photometry that is row-by-row-matched to the SDSS DR12 visually inspected quasar catalog (Paris et al. 2017) such that the photometric parameters in row "N" of survey-dr8-dr12Q.fits matches the spectroscopic parameters in row "N" of DR12Q.fits. The spectroscopic file is documented in the SDSS DR12 data model for DR12Q.fits.

survey-dr8-<region>-dr14Q_v4_4.fits

HDU1 (the only HDU) contains Tractored survey photometry that is row-by-row-matched to the SDSS DR14 visually inspected quasar catalog (Paris et al. 2018) such that the photometric parameters in row "N" of survey-dr8-dr14Q_v4_4.fits matches the spectroscopic parameters in row "N" of DR14Q_v4_4.fits. The spectroscopic file is documented in the SDSS DR14 data model for DR14Q_v4_4.fits.

survey-dr8-<region>-superset-dr12Q.fits

HDU1 (the only HDU) contains Tractored survey photometry that is row-by-row-matched to the superset of all SDSS DR12 spectroscopically confirmed objects that were visually inspected as possible quasars (Paris et al. 2017) such that the photometric parameters in row "N" of survey-dr8-Superset_dr12Q.fits matches the spectroscopic parameters in row "N" of Superset_DR12Q.fits. The spectroscopic file is documented in the SDSS DR12 data model for Superset_DR12Q.fits.

survey-dr8-<region>-dr7Q.fits

HDU1 (the only HDU) contains Tractored survey photometry that is row-by-row-matched to the SDSS DR7 visually inspected quasar catalog (Schneider et al. 2010) such that the photometric parameters in row "N" of survey-dr8-dr7Q.fits matches the spectroscopic parameters in row "N" of DR7qso.fit. The spectroscopic file is documented on the DR7 quasar catalog description page.

Tractor Catalogs (<region>/tractor/*)

In the file listings outlined below:

  • brick names (<brick>) have the format <AAAa>c<BBB> where A, a and B are digits and c is either the letter m or p (e.g. 1126p222). The names are derived from the (RA, Dec) center of the brick. The first four digits are \(int(RA \times 10)\), followed by p to denote positive Dec or m to denote negative Dec ("plus"/"minus"), followed by three digits of \(int(Dec \times 10)\). For example the case 1126p222 corresponds to (RA, Dec) = (112.6°, +22.2°).

  • <brickmin> and <brickmax> denote the corners of a rectangle in (RA, Dec). Explicitly, <brickmin> has the format <AAA>c<BBB> where <AAA> denotes three digits of the minimum \(int(RA)\) in degrees, <BBB> denotes three digits of the minimum \(int(Dec)\) in degrees, and c uses the p/m ("plus"/"minus") format outlined in the previous bullet point. The convention is similar for <brickmax> and the maximum RA and Dec. For example 000m010-010m005 would correspond to a survey region limited by \(0^\circ \leq RA < 10^\circ\) and \(-10^\circ \leq Dec < -5^\circ\).

  • sub-directories are listed by the RA of the brick center, and sub-directory names (<AAA>) correspond to RA. For example 002 corresponds to brick centers between an RA of 2° and an RA of 3°.

  • <filter> denotes the \(g\), \(r\) or \(z\) band, using the corresponding letter.

Note that it is not possible to go from a brick name back to an exact (RA, Dec) center (the bricks are not on 0.1° grid lines). The exact brick center for a given brick name can be derived from columns in the survey-bricks.fits.gz file (i.e. brickname, ra, dec).

<AAA>/tractor-<brick>.fits

FITS binary table containing Tractor photometry, documented on the catalogs page.

Users interested in database access to the Tractor catalogs can contact the Astro Data Lab [1] at datalab@noirlab.edu.

Sweep Catalogs (<region>/sweep/*)

8.0/sweep-<brickmin>-<brickmax>.fits

The sweeps are light-weight FITS binary tables (containing a subset of the most commonly used Tractor measurements) of all the Tractor catalogs for which BRICK_PRIMARY==T in rectangles of RA, Dec.

Name

Type

Units

Description

RELEASE

int16

Unique integer denoting the camera and filter set used (RELEASE is documented here)

BRICKID

int32

A unique Brick ID (in the range [1, 662174])

BRICKNAME

char[8]

Name of brick, encoding the brick sky position, eg "1126p222" near RA=112.6, Dec=+22.2

OBJID

int32

Catalog object number within this brick; a unique identifier hash is RELEASE,BRICKID,OBJID; OBJID spans [0,N-1] and is contiguously enumerated within each blob

TYPE

char[4]

Morphological model: "PSF"=stellar, "REX"="round exponential galaxy" = round EXP galaxy with a variable radius, "EXP"=exponential, "DEV"=deVauc, "COMP"=composite, "DUP"==Gaia source fit by different model. Note that in some FITS readers, a trailing space may be appended for "PSF ", "EXP " and "DEV " since the column data type is a 4-character string

RA

float64

deg

Right ascension at equinox J2000

DEC

float64

deg

Declination at equinox J2000

RA_IVAR

float32

1/deg²

Inverse variance of RA (no cosine term!), excluding astrometric calibration errors

DEC_IVAR

float32

1/deg²

Inverse variance of DEC, excluding astrometric calibration errors

DCHISQ

float32[5]

Difference in χ² between successively more-complex model fits: PSF, REX, DEV, EXP, COMP. The difference is versus no source.

EBV

float32

mag

Galactic extinction E(B-V) reddening from SFD98, used to compute MW_TRANSMISSION

FLUX_G

float32

nanomaggies

model flux in \(g\)

FLUX_R

float32

nanomaggies

model flux in \(r\)

FLUX_Z

float32

nanomaggies

model flux in \(z\)

FLUX_W1

float32

nanomaggies

WISE model flux in \(W1\) (AB system)

FLUX_W2

float32

nanomaggies

WISE model flux in \(W2\) (AB)

FLUX_W3

float32

nanomaggies

WISE model flux in \(W3\) (AB)

FLUX_W4

float32

nanomaggies

WISE model flux in \(W4\) (AB)

FLUX_IVAR_G

float32

1/nanomaggies²

Inverse variance of FLUX_G

FLUX_IVAR_R

float32

1/nanomaggies²

Inverse variance of FLUX_R

FLUX_IVAR_Z

float32

1/nanomaggies²

Inverse variance of FLUX_Z

FLUX_IVAR_W1

float32

1/nanomaggies²

Inverse variance of FLUX_W1 (AB system)

FLUX_IVAR_W2

float32

1/nanomaggies²

Inverse variance of FLUX_W2 (AB)

FLUX_IVAR_W3

float32

1/nanomaggies²

Inverse variance of FLUX_W3 (AB)

FLUX_IVAR_W4

float32

1/nanomaggies²

Inverse variance of FLUX_W4 (AB)

MW_TRANSMISSION_G

float32

Galactic transmission in \(g\) filter in linear units [0,1]

MW_TRANSMISSION_R

float32

Galactic transmission in \(r\) filter in linear units [0,1]

MW_TRANSMISSION_Z

float32

Galactic transmission in \(z\) filter in linear units [0,1]

MW_TRANSMISSION_W1

float32

Galactic transmission in \(W1\) filter in linear units [0,1]

MW_TRANSMISSION_W2

float32

Galactic transmission in \(W2\) filter in linear units [0,1]

MW_TRANSMISSION_W3

float32

Galactic transmission in \(W3\) filter in linear units [0,1]

MW_TRANSMISSION_W4

float32

Galactic transmission in \(W4\) filter in linear units [0,1]

NOBS_G

int16

Number of images that contribute to the central pixel in \(g\): filter for this object (not profile-weighted)

NOBS_R

int16

Number of images that contribute to the central pixel in \(r\): filter for this object (not profile-weighted)

NOBS_Z

int16

Number of images that contribute to the central pixel in \(z\): filter for this object (not profile-weighted)

NOBS_W1

int16

Number of images that contribute to the central pixel in \(W1\): filter for this object (not profile-weighted)

NOBS_W2

int16

Number of images that contribute to the central pixel in \(W2\): filter for this object (not profile-weighted)

NOBS_W3

int16

Number of images that contribute to the central pixel in \(W3\): filter for this object (not profile-weighted)

NOBS_W4

int16

Number of images that contribute to the central pixel in \(W4\): filter for this object (not profile-weighted)

RCHISQ_G

float32

Profile-weighted χ² of model fit normalized by the number of pixels in \(g\)

RCHISQ_R

float32

Profile-weighted χ² of model fit normalized by the number of pixels in \(r\)

RCHISQ_Z

float32

Profile-weighted χ² of model fit normalized by the number of pixels in \(z\)

RCHISQ_W1

float32

Profile-weighted χ² of model fit normalized by the number of pixels in \(W1\)

RCHISQ_W2

float32

Profile-weighted χ² of model fit normalized by the number of pixels in \(W2\)

RCHISQ_W3

float32

Profile-weighted χ² of model fit normalized by the number of pixels in \(W3\)

RCHISQ_W4

float32

Profile-weighted χ² of model fit normalized by the number of pixels in \(W4\)

FRACFLUX_G

float32

Profile-weighted fraction of the flux from other sources divided by the total flux in \(g\) (typically [0,1])

FRACFLUX_R

float32

Profile-weighted fraction of the flux from other sources divided by the total flux in \(r\) (typically [0,1])

FRACFLUX_Z

float32

Profile-weighted fraction of the flux from other sources divided by the total flux in \(z\) (typically [0,1])

FRACFLUX_W1

float32

Profile-weighted fraction of the flux from other sources divided by the total flux in \(W1\) (typically [0,1])

FRACFLUX_W2

float32

Profile-weighted fraction of the flux from other sources divided by the total flux in \(W2\) (typically [0,1])

FRACFLUX_W3

float32

Profile-weighted fraction of the flux from other sources divided by the total flux in \(W3\) (typically [0,1])

FRACFLUX_W4

float32

Profile-weighted fraction of the flux from other sources divided by the total flux in \(W4\) (typically [0,1])

FRACMASKED_G

float32

Profile-weighted fraction of pixels masked from all observations of this object in \(g\), strictly between [0,1]

FRACMASKED_R

float32

Profile-weighted fraction of pixels masked from all observations of this object in \(r\), strictly between [0,1]

FRACMASKED_Z

float32

Profile-weighted fraction of pixels masked from all observations of this object in \(z\), strictly between [0,1]

FRACIN_G

float32

Fraction of a source's flux within the blob in \(g\), near unity for real sources

FRACIN_R

float32

Fraction of a source's flux within the blob in \(r\), near unity for real sources

FRACIN_Z

float32

Fraction of a source's flux within the blob in \(z\), near unity for real sources

ANYMASK_G

int16

Bitwise mask set if the central pixel from any image satisfies each condition in \(g\) (see the DR8 bitmasks page)

ANYMASK_R

int16

Bitwise mask set if the central pixel from any image satisfies each condition in \(r\) (see the DR8 bitmasks page)

ANYMASK_Z

int16

Bitwise mask set if the central pixel from any image satisfies each condition in \(z\) (see the DR8 bitmasks page)

ALLMASK_G

int16

Bitwise mask set if the central pixel from all images satisfy each condition in \(g\) (see the DR8 bitmasks page)

ALLMASK_R

int16

Bitwise mask set if the central pixel from all images satisfy each condition in \(r\) (see the DR8 bitmasks page)

ALLMASK_Z

int16

Bitwise mask set if the central pixel from all images satisfy each condition in \(z\) (see the DR8 bitmasks page)

WISEMASK_W1

uint8

W1 bitmask as cataloged on the DR8 bitmasks page

WISEMASK_W2

uint8

W2 bitmask as cataloged on the DR8 bitmasks page

PSFSIZE_G

float32

arcsec

Weighted average PSF FWHM in the \(g\) band

PSFSIZE_R

float32

arcsec

Weighted average PSF FWHM in the \(r\) band

PSFSIZE_Z

float32

arcsec

Weighted average PSF FWHM in the \(z\) band

PSFDEPTH_G

float32

1/nanomaggies²

For a \(5\sigma\) point source detection limit in \(g\), \(5/\sqrt(\mathrm{PSFDEPTH\_G})\) gives flux in nanomaggies and \(-2.5[\log_{10}(5 / \sqrt(\mathrm{PSFDEPTH\_G})) - 9]\) gives corresponding magnitude

PSFDEPTH_R

float32

1/nanomaggies²

For a \(5\sigma\) point source detection limit in \(g\), \(5/\sqrt(\mathrm{PSFDEPTH\_R})\) gives flux in nanomaggies and \(-2.5[\log_{10}(5 / \sqrt(\mathrm{PSFDEPTH\_R})) - 9]\) gives corresponding magnitude

PSFDEPTH_Z

float32

1/nanomaggies²

For a \(5\sigma\) point source detection limit in \(g\), \(5/\sqrt(\mathrm{PSFDEPTH\_Z})\) gives flux in nanomaggies and \(-2.5[\log_{10}(5 / \sqrt(\mathrm{PSFDEPTH\_Z})) - 9]\) gives corresponding magnitude

GALDEPTH_G

float32

1/nanomaggies²

As for PSFDEPTH_G but for a galaxy (0.45" exp, round) detection sensitivity

GALDEPTH_R

float32

1/nanomaggies²

As for PSFDEPTH_R but for a galaxy (0.45" exp, round) detection sensitivity

GALDEPTH_Z

float32

1/nanomaggies²

As for PSFDEPTH_Z but for a galaxy (0.45" exp, round) detection sensitivity

PSFDEPTH_W1

float32

1/nanomaggies²

As for PSFDEPTH_G (and also on the AB system) but for WISE W1

PSFDEPTH_W2

float32

1/nanomaggies²

As for PSFDEPTH_G (and also on the AB system) but for WISE W2

WISE_COADD_ID

char[8]

unWISE coadd file name for the center of each object

FRACDEV

float32

Fraction of model in deVauc [0,1]

FRACDEV_IVAR

float32

Inverse variance of FRACDEV

SHAPEDEV_R

float32

arcsec

Half-light radius of deVaucouleurs model (>0)

SHAPEDEV_R_IVAR

float32

1/arcsec

Inverse variance of SHAPEDEV_R

SHAPEDEV_E1

float32

Ellipticity component 1

SHAPEDEV_E1_IVAR

float32

Inverse variance of SHAPEDEV_E1

SHAPEDEV_E2

float32

Ellipticity component 2

SHAPEDEV_E2_IVAR

float32

Inverse variance of SHAPEDEV_E2

SHAPEEXP_R

float32

arcsec

Half-light radius of exponential model (>0)

SHAPEEXP_R_IVAR

float32

1/arcsec2

Inverse variance of SHAPEEXP_R

SHAPEEXP_E1

float32

Ellipticity component 1

SHAPEEXP_E1_IVAR

float32

Inverse variance of SHAPEEXP_E1

SHAPEEXP_E2

float32

Ellipticity component 2

SHAPEEXP_E2_IVAR

float32

Inverse variance of SHAPEEXP_E2

FIBERFLUX_G

float32

nanomaggies

Predicted \(g\)-band flux within a fiber of diameter 1.5 arcsec from this object in 1 arcsec Gaussian seeing

FIBERFLUX_R

float32

nanomaggies

Predicted \(r\)-band flux within a fiber of diameter 1.5 arcsec from this object in 1 arcsec Gaussian seeing

FIBERFLUX_Z

float32

nanomaggies

Predicted \(z\)-band flux within a fiber of diameter 1.5 arcsec from this object in 1 arcsec Gaussian seeing

FIBERTOTFLUX_G

float32

nanomaggies

Predicted \(g\)-band flux within a fiber of diameter 1.5 arcsec from all sources at this location in 1 arcsec Gaussian seeing

FIBERTOTFLUX_R

float32

nanomaggies

Predicted \(r\)-band flux within a fiber of diameter 1.5 arcsec from all sources at this location in 1 arcsec Gaussian seeing

FIBERTOTFLUX_Z

float32

nanomaggies

Predicted \(z\)-band flux within a fiber of diameter 1.5 arcsec from all sources at this location in 1 arcsec Gaussian seeing

REF_CAT

char[2]

Reference catalog source for this star: "T2" for Tycho-2, "G2" for Gaia DR2, "L2" for the SGA, empty otherwise

REF_ID

int64

Reference catalog identifier for this star; Tyc1*1,000,000+Tyc2*10+Tyc3 for Tycho2; "sourceid" for Gaia-DR2 and SGA

REF_EPOCH

float32

yr

Reference catalog reference epoch (eg, 2015.5 for Gaia DR2)

GAIA_PHOT_G_MEAN_MAG

float32

mag

Gaia G band magnitude

GAIA_PHOT_G_MEAN_FLUX_OVER_ERROR

float32

Gaia G band signal-to-noise

GAIA_PHOT_BP_MEAN_MAG

float32

mag

Gaia BP magnitude

GAIA_PHOT_BP_MEAN_FLUX_OVER_ERROR

float32

Gaia BP signal-to-noise

GAIA_PHOT_RP_MEAN_MAG

float32

mag

Gaia RP magnitude

GAIA_PHOT_RP_MEAN_FLUX_OVER_ERROR

float32

Gaia RP signal-to-noise

GAIA_ASTROMETRIC_EXCESS_NOISE

float32

Gaia astrometric excess noise

GAIA_DUPLICATED_SOURCE

boolean

Gaia duplicated source flag (1/0 for True/False)

GAIA_PHOT_BP_RP_EXCESS_FACTOR

float32

Gaia BP/RP excess factor

GAIA_ASTROMETRIC_SIGMA5D_MAX

float32

mas

Gaia longest semi-major axis of the 5-d error ellipsoid

GAIA_ASTROMETRIC_PARAMS_SOLVED

uint8

Which astrometric parameters were estimated for a Gaia source

PARALLAX

float32

mas

Reference catalog parallax

PARALLAX_IVAR

float32

1/(mas)²

Reference catalog inverse-variance on PARALLAX

PMRA

float32

mas/yr

Reference catalog proper motion in RA direction (\(\mu_\alpha^*\equiv\mu_\alpha\cos\delta\)) in the ICRS at REF_EPOCH

PMRA_IVAR

float32

1/(mas/yr)²

Reference catalog inverse-variance on PMRA

PMDEC

float32

mas/yr

Reference catalog proper motion in Dec direction (\(\mu_\delta\)) in the ICRS at REF_EPOCH

PMDEC_IVAR

float32

1/(mas/yr)²

Reference catalog inverse-variance on PMDEC

MASKBITS

int16

Bitwise mask indicating that an object touches a pixel in the coadd/*/*/*maskbits* maps (see the DR8 bitmasks page)

Photometric Redshift files (8.0-photo-z/sweep-<brickmin>-<brickmax>-pz.fits)

The Photometric Redshifts for the Legacy Surveys (PRLS, Zhou et al. 2021) catalog is line-matched to the DR8 sweep catalogs as described above.

The photometric redshifts are computed using the random forest algorithm. Details of the photo-z training and performance can be found in Zhou et al. (2021). For computing the photo-z's, we require at least one exposure in \(g\), \(r\) and \(z\) bands (NOBS_G,R,Z>1). For objects that do not meet the NOBS cut, the photo-z values are filled with -99. Although we provide photo-z's for all objects that meet the NOBS cut, only relatively bright objects have reliable photo-z's. As a rule of thumb, objects brighter than \(z\)-band magnitude of 21 are mostly reliable, whereas fainter objects are increasingly unreliable with large systematic offsets.

The photo-z catalogs do not provide information on star-galaxy separation. Stars are excluded from the photo-z training data, and we do not attempt to identify stars. To perform star-galaxy separation, one can use the morphological "TYPE" and/or the photometry (e.g., the optical-WISE color cut, as applied in Zhou et al. 2021, can be very effective for selecting redshift ≳ 0.3 galaxies) in the sweep catalogs.

Name

Type

Description

z_phot_mean

float32

photo-z derived from the mean of the photo-z PDF

z_phot_median

float32

photo-z derived from the median of the photo-z PDF

z_phot_std

float32

standard deviation of the photo-z's derived from the photo-z PDF

z_phot_l68

float32

lower bound of the 68% confidence region, derived from the photo-z PDF

z_phot_u68

float32

upper bound of the 68% confidence region, derived from the photo-z PDF

z_phot_l95

float32

lower bound of the 95% confidence region, derived from the photo-z PDF

z_phot_u95

float32

upper bound of the 68% confidence region, derived from the photo-z PDF

z_spec

float32

spectroscopic redshift, if available

survey

char[10]

source of the spectroscopic redshift

training

boolean

whether or not the spectroscopic redshift is used in photometric redshift training

Work which uses this photometric redshift catalog should cite Zhou et al. (2021) and include the additional acknowledgment for photometric redshifts.

Image Stacks (<region>/coadd/*)

Image stacks are on tangent-plane (WCS TAN) projections, 3600 × 3600 pixels, at 0.262 arcseconds per pixel.

  • <AAA>/<brick>/legacysurvey-<brick>-ccds.fits

    FITS binary table with the list of CCD images that were used in this brick. Contains the same columns as survey-ccds-<camera>-dr8.fits.gz, and also contains the additional columns listed below. Note that string columns can have different lengths in the survey-ccds-<camera>-dr8.fits.gz and legacysurvey-<brick>-ccds.fits files and can differ for <region> equal to <north> and <south>. For example the camera column can change from char[9] to char[7] (see, e.g. legacypipe issue #379).

    Column

    Type

    Description

    ccd_x0

    int16

    Minimum x image coordinate overlapping this brick

    ccd_y0

    int16

    Minimum y image coordinate overlapping this brick

    ccd_x1

    int16

    Maximum x image coordinate overlapping this brick

    ccd_y1

    int16

    Maximum y image coordinate overlapping this brick

    brick_x0

    int16

    Minimum x brick image coordinate overlapped by this image

    brick_x1

    int16

    Maximum x brick image coordinate overlapped by this image

    brick_y0

    int16

    Minimum y brick image coordinate overlapped by this image

    brick_y1

    int16

    Maximum y brick image coordinate overlapped by this image

    psfnorm

    float32

    Same as psfnorm in the ccds-annotated- file

    galnorm

    float32

    Same as galnorm in the ccds-annotated- file

    skyver

    char[8]

    Git version of the sky calibration code

    wcsver

    char[1]

    Git version of the WCS calibration code

    psfver

    char[7]

    Git version of the PSF calibration code

    skyplver

    char[8]

    Community Pipeline (CP) version of the input to sky calibration

    wcsplver

    char[5]

    CP version of the input to WCS calibration

    psfplver

    char[8]

    CP version of the input to PSF calibration

  • <AAA>/<brick>/legacysurvey-<brick>-chi2-<filter>.fits.fz

    Stacked χ² image, which is approximately the summed χ² values from the single-epoch images.

  • <AAA>/<brick>/legacysurvey-<brick>-depth-<filter>.fits.fz

    Stacked depth map in units of the point-source flux inverse-variance at each pixel.

    • The 5σ point-source depth can be computed as \(5 / \sqrt(\mathrm{depth\_ivar})\) .

  • <AAA>/<brick>/legacysurvey-<brick>-galdepth-<filter>.fits.fz

    Stacked depth map in units of the canonical galaxy flux inverse-variance at each pixel. The canonical galaxy is an exponential profile with effective radius 0.45" and round shape.

    • The 5σ galaxy depth can be computed as \(5 / \sqrt(\mathrm{galdepth\_ivar})\) .

  • <AAA>/<brick>/legacysurvey-<brick>-image-<filter>.fits.fz

    Stacked image centered on a brick location covering 0.25° × 0.25°. The primary HDU contains the coadded image (inverse-variance weighted coadd), in units of nanomaggies per pixel.

    • NOTE: These are not the images used by Tractor, which operates on the single-epoch images.

    • NOTE: These images are resampled using Lanczos-3 resampling.

    • NOTE: Images in WISE bands are on the Vega system, all other flux-related quantities in DR8 are reported on the AB system. The description page lists the Vega-to-AB conversions recommended by the WISE team.

  • <AAA>/<brick>/legacysurvey-<brick>-invvar-<filter>.fits.fz

    Corresponding stacked inverse variance image based on the sum of the inverse-variances of the individual input images in units of 1/(nanomaggies)² per pixel.

    • NOTE: These are not the inverse variance maps used by Tractor, which operates on the single-epoch images.

    • NOTE: Images in WISE bands are on the Vega system, all other flux-related quantities in DR8 are reported on the AB system. The description page lists the Vega-to-AB conversions recommended by the WISE team.

  • <AAA>/<brick>/legacysurvey-<brick>-maskbits.fits.fz

    Bitmask of possible problems with pixels in this brick.

  • <AAA>/<brick>/legacysurvey-<brick>-model-<filter>.fits.fz

    Stacked model image centered on a brick location covering 0.25° × 0.25°.

    • The Tractor's idea of what the coadded images should look like; the Tractor's model prediction.

    • NOTE: Images in WISE bands are on the Vega system, all other flux-related quantities in DR8 are reported on the AB system. The description page lists the Vega-to-AB conversions recommended by the WISE team.

  • <AAA>/<brick>/legacysurvey-<brick>-nexp-<filter>.fits.fz

    Number of exposures contributing to each pixel of the stacked images.

  • <AAA>/<brick>/legacysurvey-<brick>-psfsize-<filter>.fits.fz

    Weighted average PSF FWHM in arcsec at each pixel of the stacked images.

  • <AAA>/<brick>/legacysurvey-<brick>-image.jpg

    JPEG image of the calibrated image using the \(g,r,z\) filters as the colors.

  • <AAA>/<brick>/legacysurvey-<brick>-model.jpg

    JPEG image of the Tractor's model image using the \(g,r,z\) filters as the colors.

  • <AAA>/<brick>/legacysurvey-<brick>-resid.jpg

    JPEG image of the residual image (data minus model) using the \(g,r,z\) filters as the colors.

  • <AAA>/<brick>/legacysurvey-<brick>-wise.jpg

    JPEG image of the calibrated image using the WISE filters as the colors.

  • <AAA>/<brick>/legacysurvey-<brick>-wisemodel.jpg

    JPEG image of the model image using the WISE filters as the colors.

Forced Photometry Files (forced/*)

These files contain forced photometry results, for all CCDs that were included in the DR8 processing.

That is, after we produce the catalogs based on fitting to all images simultaneously, we go back to the individual CCDs, select the catalog objects that overlap, and ask what fluxes those objects should have to best match what is observed in the CCD. When selecting objects from the catalog, we resolve the north and south components using the same cut as in the sweep files and randoms.

We perform two fits. The first is regular forced photometry, where the position and profile of the sources are fixed, and all we are fitting is the flux. In the second fit, we compute the source-centered spatial derivatives and fit the amplitudes of those derivatives as well. For sources moving less than a pixel or two, this produces an approximate estimate of the motion of the source (dra and ddec). Note that for Gaia sources, this is relative to the Gaia measured proper motion!

  • forced/<camera>/<EXPOS>/forced-<camera>-<EXPOSURE>.fits

    Where <camera> is one of 90prime for BASS, decam for DECaLS or mosaic for MzLS, <EXPOSURE> is the exposure number (not necessarily as an 8-character string, unlike some other data products), and <EXPOS> is the first 5 characters of the exposure number printed as an 8-character string.

    This file contains a single FITS binary table for all the CCDs in this exposure, contatenated into one long table.

    For the columns pertaining to the catalog objects, see the catalog description page.

    Column

    Type

    Description

    release

    int16

    Unique integer denoting the camera and filter set used (RELEASE is documented here) for the catalog object

    brickid

    int32

    Unique Brick ID (in the range [1, 662174]) that the catalog object came from

    brickname

    char[8]

    Name of brick, encoding the brick sky position, eg "1126p222" near RA=112.6, Dec=+22.2, of the catalog object

    objid

    int32

    Catalog object number within this brick; a unique identifier hash is release,brickid,objid

    camera

    char[7]

    The camera for the CCD being measured, eg "decam"

    expnum

    int64

    The exposure number of the CCD being measured, eg 574299

    ccdname

    char[4]

    The name of the CCD being measured, eg "N10" or "CCD4"

    filter

    char[1]

    The filter of the CCD being measured ("g", "r" or "z")

    mjd

    float64

    The Modified Julian Date when the exposure was taken, in UTC, eg 57644.31537588

    exptime

    float32

    The exposure time in seconds, eg 90.0

    psfsize

    float32

    PSF FWHM in this exposure, in arcsec

    ccd_cuts

    int64

    Bit mask describing CCD image quality (see, e.g., the DR9 bitmasks page)

    airmass

    float32

    Airmass of this observation

    sky

    float32

    Sky background surface brightness, in nanomaggies/arcsec²

    psfdepth

    float32

    Inverse-variance for the flux measured from a point source; for a \(5\sigma\) point source detection limit use \(5/\sqrt(\mathrm{psfdepth})\) for the flux in nanomaggies and \(-2.5[\log_{10}(5 / \sqrt(\mathrm{psfdepth})) - 9]\) for the corresponding AB magnitude

    galdepth

    float32

    Inverse-variance for the flux measured from a nominal galaxy source (0.45" round exponential galaxy)

    ra

    float64

    Right Ascension in degrees

    dec

    float64

    Declination in degrees

    flux

    float32

    Measured flux for this catalog object in this CCD, in nanomaggies

    flux_ivar

    float32

    Inverse-variance of the flux measurement, in 1/nanomaggies²

    fracflux

    float32

    Profile-weighted fraction of the flux from other sources over total flux

    rchisq

    float32

    Profile-weighted χ² residual chi-squared per pixel

    fracmasked

    float32

    Profile-weighted fraction of pixels masked

    apflux

    float32[8]

    Aperture fluxes in this CCD, in nanomaggies, for aperture radii [0.5, 0.75, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 3.5, 5.0, 7.0] arcsec

    apflux_ivar

    float32[8]

    Inverse-variance on apflux, in 1/nanomaggies²

    x

    float32

    Horizontal pixel position of the catalog source in this CCD, in zero-indexed pixels

    y

    float32

    Vertical pixel position of the catalog source in this CCD, in zero-indexed pixels

    dqmask

    int16

    Data Quality mask from the CP pipeline for the center pixel (defined as for ALLMASK/ANYMASK on the DR8 bitmasks page)

    dra

    float32

    When fitting for spatial derivatives, the motion of the source in the RA direction, in arcsec

    ddec

    float32

    Motion of the source in the Dec direction, in arcsec

    dra_ivar

    float32

    Inverse-variance on dra, in 1/arcsec|sup2|

    ddec_ivar

    float32

    Inverse-variance on ddec, in 1/arcsec|sup2|

Splinesky Files (calib/<camera>/splinesky-*)

  • splinesky-merged/<EXPOS>/<camera>-<EXPOSURE>.fits

    Where <camera> is one of 90prime, decam or mosaic, <EXPOSURE> is the exposure number as an 8-character string and <EXPOS> is the first 5 characters of <EXPOSURE>.

    This file contains all of the sky models for a given exposure number, as a single FITS binary table with 60 rows, one per CCD. Each row in this table contains the sky model for a single CCD. The splinesky files describe a smooth 2-dimensional function, implemented using the scipy RectBivariateSpline function. This is defined by a number of grid cell locations and function values at those locations, interpolated with a cubic spline. The spline grid cells for DR8 are ~256 pixels in size, and extend from edge to edge, so, for example DECam images (~2048 x 4096 pixels) have 9 x 17 cells.

    For MzLS (mosaic) files, some early exposures lack an EXPNUM in the headers; these have a fake exposure number like 160125082555 corresponding to the date and time the image was taken (2016-01-25T08:25:55). For BASS (90prime) files, the exposure number comes from the DTACQNAM header card; for example, 20160710/d7580.0144.fits becomes exposure number 75800144.

    Column

    Type

    Description

    gridw

    int64

    The number of grid cells in the horizontal direction

    gridh

    int64

    The number of grid cells in the vertical direction

    gridvals

    float32

    The spline values (an array of size gridh \(\times\) gridw)

    xgrid

    int32

    The horizontal locations of the grid cells (an array of length gridw)

    ygrid

    int32

    The vertical locations of the grid cells (an array of length gridh)

    order

    uint8

    The order of the spline (i.e. 3 = cubic)

    x0

    int32

    Pixel offset of the model in the x direction (always 0 for these files)

    y0

    int32

    Pixel offset of the model in the y direction (always 0 for these files)

    skyclass

    char[27]

    Always set to tractor.splinesky.SplineSky (the name of a Python class that is used to read the model)

    legpipev

    char[19]

    Version of legacypipe used for this reduction

    plver

    char[4]

    Community Pipeline (CP) version number

    plprocid

    char[7]

    Unique, time-based, CP processing hash - see the plprocid page for how to convert this to a date

    imgdsum

    int64

    The DATASUM value from the image header (a checksum)

    procdate

    char[19]

    CP processing date

    sig1

    float32

    Estimated per-pixel noise in CP image units, from \(1/\sqrt(\mathrm{median}(wt[good]))\) where \(wt\) is the weight map and \(good\) are un-masked pixels

    sky_mode

    float32

    Scalar mode of the image, estimated by fitting a quadratic to the histogram of unmasked pixels

    sky_med

    float32

    Scalar median of the image, based on unmasked pixels

    sky_cmed

    float32

    Median of the \(2\sigma\)-clipped image pixel values, based on unmasked pixels

    sky_john

    float32

    Starting from a 5-pixel boxcar average over the sky_cmed-subtracted pixels, find and mask \(3\sigma\) sources (dilated by 3 pixels), then take the median of \(2\sigma\)-clipped pixels

    sky_fmasked

    float32

    Total fraction of pixels masked by the source mask, the reference-source mask, and where the weightmap is 0

    sky_fine

    float32

    RMS difference between a splinesky model at normal and at twice the resolution, to characterize the splinesky model had it more freedom

    sky_p0

    float32

    Identical to sky_fine

    sky_p10

    float32

    0th percentile of unmasked image pixels minus the splinesky model

    sky_p20

    float32

    10th percentile of unmasked image pixels minus the splinesky model

    sky_p30

    float32

    20th percentile of unmasked image pixels minus the splinesky model

    sky_p40

    float32

    30th percentile of unmasked image pixels minus the splinesky model

    sky_p50

    float32

    40th percentile of unmasked image pixels minus the splinesky model

    sky_p60

    float32

    50th percentile of unmasked image pixels minus the splinesky model

    sky_p70

    float32

    60th percentile of unmasked image pixels minus the splinesky model

    sky_p80

    float32

    70th percentile of unmasked image pixels minus the splinesky model

    sky_p90

    float32

    80th percentile of unmasked image pixels minus the splinesky model

    sky_p100

    float32

    90th percentile of unmasked image pixels minus the splinesky model

    expnum

    int64

    Exposure number, eg 348224

    ccdname

    char[4]

    CCD name, e.g. "N10", "S7" for DECam

Other Files

Much additional information is available as part of the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys Data Releases, including, in separate directories, statistics of the Tractor fits (<region>/metrics), code outputs from the fitting processes (<region>/logs) and additional files detailing the calibrations (calib). We don't expect that most users will need a description of these files, but contact us if you require more information.

Raw Data

See the raw data page.


Footnotes