2013-02-27

WFC3 calibration

Fadely and I had a great conversation with Kalirai (STScI) and Deustua (STScI) about WFC3 IR channel calibration, in preparation for our HST Archival proposal regarding self-calibration. We learned a lot about effects to think about but also the provenance of the current calibration information. It is hard to overstate the influence STScI and its calibration teams have had on astrophysics: The availability of calibrated data, free to everyone, has made it easy for anyone to be an observational astrophysicist!

I short-changed my reader yesterday with my brief description of my trip to Princeton. I learned from Dave Spiegel (IAS) something tremendous: At km (yes 1000 m) wavelengths, Earth is the most luminous body in the Solar System. More luminous than the Sun (or Jupiter or anything else). That's exceedingly interesting, don't you think?

2 comments:

  1. What causes the earth to be the brightest body at km wavelengths?

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  2. It is some coherent interaction between the Solar Wind and the Earth's magnetic field.

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