WSA Browser

Glossary of WSA attributes

This Glossary alphabetically lists all attributes used in the UKIDSSDR8 database(s) held in the WSA. If you would like to have more information about the schema tables please use the UKIDSSDR8 Schema Browser (other Browser versions).

A B C D E F G H I J K L M
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

B

Name Schema Table Database Description Type Length Unit Default Value Unified Content Descriptor

b CurrentAstrometry WSACalib Galactic latitude of device centre float 8 Degrees POS_GAL_LAT

b CurrentAstrometry WSATransit Galactic latitude of device centre float 8 Degrees POS_GAL_LAT

b CurrentAstrometry, PreviousAstrometry WSA Galactic latitude of device centre float 8 Degrees POS_GAL_LAT

b dxsDetection, dxsJKsource, dxsListRemeasurement, dxsSource, dxsSourceRemeasurement, gcsDetection, gcsListRemeasurement, gcsPointSource, gcsSource, gcsSourceRemeasurement, gcsZYJHKsource, gpsDetection, gpsJHKsource, gpsListRemeasurement, gpsPointSource, gpsSource, gpsSourceRemeasurement, lasDetection, lasExtendedSource, lasListRemeasurement, lasPointSource, lasSource, lasSourceRemeasurement, lasYJHKsource, reliableDxsSource, reliableGcsPointSource, reliableGpsPointSource, reliableLasPointSource, reliableUdsSource, UKIDSSDetection, udsDetection, udsListRemeasurement, udsSource, udsSourceRemeasurement WSA Galactic latitude float 8 Degrees POS_GAL_LAT

b calDetection, calListRemeasurement, calSource, calSourceRemeasurement, calSynopticSource WSACalib Galactic latitude float 8 Degrees POS_GAL_LAT

b glimpse1_hrc, glimpse1_mca, glimpse2_hrc, glimpse2_mca, glimpse_hrc_inter, glimpse_mca_inter GLIMPSE Galactic latitude float 8 degrees POS_GAL_LAT

b ptsDetection WSATransit Galactic latitude float 8 Degrees POS_GAL_LAT

B1 mgcGalaxyStruct MGC Background correction applied to A1 real 4 99.99

B2 mgcGalaxyStruct MGC Background correction applied to A2 real 4 99.99

B3 mgcGalaxyStruct MGC Background correction applied to A3 real 4 99.99

B4 mgcGalaxyStruct MGC Background correction applied to A4 real 4 99.99

b_err glimpse1_hrc, glimpse1_mca, glimpse2_hrc, glimpse2_mca, glimpse_hrc_inter, glimpse_mca_inter GLIMPSE Error in Galactic latitude float 8 arcsec ERROR

B_IMAGE mgcDetection MGC Flux rms along minor axis real 4 pixel

b_m_opt twomass_psc 2MASS Blue magnitude of associated optical source. real 4 mag SPECT_FLUX_VALUE

B_MGC mgcDetection MGC Best of MAG_AUTO and MAG_ISOCOR real 4 mag

B_MGC_DC mgcDetection MGC B_MGC corrected for extinction real 4 mag

BACK mgcGalaxyStruct MGC Background Level (digital units) real 4 99.99

BACKGRND mgcDetection MGC Background at object position real 4 count

BACKm mgcGalaxyStruct MGC Background Level error (-) real 4 99.99

BACKp mgcGalaxyStruct MGC Background Level error (+) real 4 99.99

bandMergingCriterion Programme WSA maximum timespan over which different filters are merged into sources in the synoptic source table. real 4 minutes -0.9999995e9

bandMergingCriterion Programme WSACalib maximum timespan over which different filters are merged into sources in the synoptic source table. real 4 minutes -0.9999995e9

bandMergingCriterion Programme WSATransit maximum timespan over which different filters are merged into sources in the synoptic source table. real 4 minutes -0.9999995e9

BBDWEIGHT mgcGalaxyStruct MGC Weight from MGC4 BBD real 4

BBDWEIGHTERR mgcGalaxyStruct MGC Error in weight from MGC4 BBD real 4

beamNS Multiframe WSA Topend: N-S beam {image primary HDU keyword: NSBEAM} real 4 -0.9999995e9

beamNS Multiframe WSACalib Topend: N-S beam {image primary HDU keyword: NSBEAM} real 4 -0.9999995e9

beamNS Multiframe WSATransit Topend: N-S beam {image primary HDU keyword: NSBEAM} real 4 -0.9999995e9

beamWE Multiframe WSA Topend: W-E beam {image primary HDU keyword: WEBEAM} real 4 -0.9999995e9

beamWE Multiframe WSACalib Topend: W-E beam {image primary HDU keyword: WEBEAM} real 4 -0.9999995e9

beamWE Multiframe WSATransit Topend: W-E beam {image primary HDU keyword: WEBEAM} real 4 -0.9999995e9

BEST_Z mgcBrightSpec MGC Best redshift real 4

BEST_ZQUAL mgcBrightSpec MGC Quality of best redshift tinyint 1

BESTTQZ_Z mgcBrightSpec MGC 2qz redshift real 4

bgrCpsa rosat_bsc, rosat_fsc ROSAT background countrate, vignetting corrected real 4 counts/sec/arcmin**2 INST_BACKGROUND

BII twoxmm, twoxmm_v1_2, twoxmmi_dr3_v1_0 XMM Galactic latitude of the detection in degrees corresponding to the (corrected) coordinates RA and DEC. float 8 degrees

bitsPerPix MultiframeDetector WSA Number of bits per data pixel, eg. +32 = 4 byte integers {image extension keyword: BITPIX} smallint 2 FITS bitpix NUMBER

bitsPerPix MultiframeDetector WSACalib Number of bits per data pixel, eg. +32 = 4 byte integers {image extension keyword: BITPIX} smallint 2 FITS bitpix NUMBER

bitsPerPix MultiframeDetector WSATransit Number of bits per data pixel, eg. +32 = 4 byte integers {image extension keyword: BITPIX} smallint 2 FITS bitpix NUMBER

bl_flg twomass_psc 2MASS Blend flag. varchar 3 CODE_MISC

bl_flg twomass_sixx2_psc 2MASS indicates # JHK components fit to source varchar 3

bl_sub_flg twomass_xsc 2MASS blanked/subtracted src description flag. smallint 2 CODE_MISC

blk_fac twomass_xsc 2MASS LCSB blocking factor (1, 2, 4, 8). smallint 2 FIT_PARAM

bMag ukirtFSstars WSA B band total magnitude real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 PHOT_INT-MAG

bMag ukirtFSstars WSACalib B band total magnitude real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 PHOT_INT-MAG

brAperMag1 calSynopticSource WSACalib Extended source Br aperture corrected mag (1.0 arcsec aperture diameter) real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 PHOT_MAG

brAperMag1Err calSynopticSource WSACalib Error in extended source Br mag (1.0 arcsec aperture diameter) real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 ERROR

brAperMag2 calSynopticSource WSACalib Extended source Br aperture corrected mag (1.4 arcsec aperture diameter) real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 PHOT_MAG

brAperMag2Err calSynopticSource WSACalib Error in extended source Br mag (1.4 arcsec aperture diameter) real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 ERROR

brAperMag3 calSource WSACalib Default point/extended source Br aperture corrected mag (2.0 arcsec aperture diameter)
If in doubt use this flux estimator real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 PHOT_MAG

brAperMag3 calSynopticSource WSACalib Default point/extended source Br aperture corrected mag (2.0 arcsec aperture diameter) real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 PHOT_MAG

brAperMag3Err calSource, calSynopticSource WSACalib Error in default point/extended source Br mag (2.0 arcsec aperture diameter) real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 ERROR

brAperMag4 calSource, calSynopticSource WSACalib Extended source Br aperture corrected mag (2.8 arcsec aperture diameter) real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 PHOT_MAG

brAperMag4Err calSource, calSynopticSource WSACalib Error in extended source Br mag (2.8 arcsec aperture diameter) real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 ERROR

brAperMag5 calSynopticSource WSACalib Extended source Br aperture corrected mag (4.0 arcsec aperture diameter) real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 PHOT_MAG

brAperMag5Err calSynopticSource WSACalib Error in extended source Br mag (4.0 arcsec aperture diameter) real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 ERROR

brAperMag6 calSource WSACalib Extended source Br aperture corrected mag (5.7 arcsec aperture diameter) real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 PHOT_MAG

brAperMag6Err calSource WSACalib Error in extended source Br mag (5.7 arcsec aperture diameter) real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 ERROR

braStratAst calVarFrameSetInfo WSACalib Strateva parameter, a, in fit to astrometric rms vs magnitude in Br band, see Sesar et al. 2007. real 4 -0.9999995e9

The best fit solution to the expected RMS position around the mean for all objects in the frameset. Objects were binned in ranges of magnitude and the median RMS (after clipping out variable objects using the median-absolute deviation) was calculated. The Strateva function $\zeta(m)>=a+b\,10^{0.4m}+c\,10^{0.8m}$ was fit, where $\zeta(m)$ is the expected RMS as a function of magnitude. The chi-squared and number of degrees of freedom are also calculated.

braStratPht calVarFrameSetInfo WSACalib Strateva parameter, a, in fit to photmetric rms vs magnitude in Br band, see Sesar et al. 2007. real 4 -0.9999995e9

The best fit solution to the expected RMS brightness (in magnitudes) for all objects in the frameset. Objects were binned in ranges of magnitude and the median RMS (after clipping out variable objects using the median-absolute deviation) was calculated. The Strateva function $\zeta(m)>=a+b\,10^{0.4m}+c\,10^{0.8m}$ was fit, where $\zeta(m)$ is the expected RMS as a function of magnitude. The chi-squared and number of degrees of freedom are also calculated. This technique was used in Sesar et al. 2007, AJ, 134, 2236.

brbestAper calVariability WSACalib Best aperture (1-6) for photometric statistics in the Br band int 4 -9999

Aperture magnitude (1-6) which gives the lowest RMS for the object. All apertures have the appropriate aperture correction. This can give better values in crowded regions than aperMag3 (see Irwin et al. 2007, MNRAS, 375, 1449)

brbStratAst calVarFrameSetInfo WSACalib Strateva parameter, b, in fit to astrometric rms vs magnitude in Br band, see Sesar et al. 2007. real 4 -0.9999995e9

The best fit solution to the expected RMS position around the mean for all objects in the frameset. Objects were binned in ranges of magnitude and the median RMS (after clipping out variable objects using the median-absolute deviation) was calculated. The Strateva function $\zeta(m)>=a+b\,10^{0.4m}+c\,10^{0.8m}$ was fit, where $\zeta(m)$ is the expected RMS as a function of magnitude. The chi-squared and number of degrees of freedom are also calculated.

brbStratPht calVarFrameSetInfo WSACalib Strateva parameter, b, in fit to photometric rms vs magnitude in Br band, see Sesar et al. 2007. real 4 -0.9999995e9

The best fit solution to the expected RMS brightness (in magnitudes) for all objects in the frameset. Objects were binned in ranges of magnitude and the median RMS (after clipping out variable objects using the median-absolute deviation) was calculated. The Strateva function $\zeta(m)>=a+b\,10^{0.4m}+c\,10^{0.8m}$ was fit, where $\zeta(m)$ is the expected RMS as a function of magnitude. The chi-squared and number of degrees of freedom are also calculated. This technique was used in Sesar et al. 2007, AJ, 134, 2236.

brchiSqAst calVarFrameSetInfo WSACalib Goodness of fit of Strateva function to astrometric data in Br band real 4 -0.9999995e9

The best fit solution to the expected RMS position around the mean for all objects in the frameset. Objects were binned in ranges of magnitude and the median RMS (after clipping out variable objects using the median-absolute deviation) was calculated. The Strateva function $\zeta(m)>=a+b\,10^{0.4m}+c\,10^{0.8m}$ was fit, where $\zeta(m)$ is the expected RMS as a function of magnitude. The chi-squared and number of degrees of freedom are also calculated.

brchiSqpd calVariability WSACalib Chi square (per degree of freedom) fit to data (mean and expected rms) real 4 -0.9999995e9

The photometry is calculated for good observations in the best aperture. The mean, rms, median, median absolute deviation, minMag and maxMag are quite standard. The skewness is calculated as in Sesar et al. 2007, AJ, 134, 2236. The number of good detections that are more than 3 standard deviations can indicate a distribution with many outliers. In each frameset, the mean and rms are used to derive a fit to the expected rms as a function of magnitude. The parameters for the fit are stored in VarFrameSetInfo and the value for the source is in expRms. This is subtracted from the rms in quadrature to get the intrinsic rms: the variability of the object beyond the noise in the system. The chi-squared is calculated, assuming a non-variable object which has the noise from the expected-rms and mean calculated as above. The probVar statistic assumes a chi-squared distribution with the correct number of degrees of freedom. The varClass statistic is 1, if the probVar>0.9 and intrinsicRMS/expectedRMS>3.

brchiSqPht calVarFrameSetInfo WSACalib Goodness of fit of Strateva function to photometric data in Br band real 4 -0.9999995e9

The best fit solution to the expected RMS brightness (in magnitudes) for all objects in the frameset. Objects were binned in ranges of magnitude and the median RMS (after clipping out variable objects using the median-absolute deviation) was calculated. The Strateva function $\zeta(m)>=a+b\,10^{0.4m}+c\,10^{0.8m}$ was fit, where $\zeta(m)$ is the expected RMS as a function of magnitude. The chi-squared and number of degrees of freedom are also calculated. This technique was used in Sesar et al. 2007, AJ, 134, 2236.

brClass calSource, calSourceRemeasurement, calSynopticSource WSACalib discrete image classification flag in Br smallint 2 -9999 CLASS_MISC

brClassStat calSource, calSourceRemeasurement, calSynopticSource WSACalib N(0,1) stellarness-of-profile statistic in Br real 4 -0.9999995e9 STAT_PROP

brcStratAst calVarFrameSetInfo WSACalib Strateva parameter, c, in fit to astrometric rms vs magnitude in Br band, see Sesar et al. 2007. real 4 -0.9999995e9

The best fit solution to the expected RMS position around the mean for all objects in the frameset. Objects were binned in ranges of magnitude and the median RMS (after clipping out variable objects using the median-absolute deviation) was calculated. The Strateva function $\zeta(m)>=a+b\,10^{0.4m}+c\,10^{0.8m}$ was fit, where $\zeta(m)$ is the expected RMS as a function of magnitude. The chi-squared and number of degrees of freedom are also calculated.

brcStratPht calVarFrameSetInfo WSACalib Strateva parameter, c, in fit to photometric rms vs magnitude in Br band, see Sesar et al. 2007. real 4 -0.9999995e9

The best fit solution to the expected RMS brightness (in magnitudes) for all objects in the frameset. Objects were binned in ranges of magnitude and the median RMS (after clipping out variable objects using the median-absolute deviation) was calculated. The Strateva function $\zeta(m)>=a+b\,10^{0.4m}+c\,10^{0.8m}$ was fit, where $\zeta(m)$ is the expected RMS as a function of magnitude. The chi-squared and number of degrees of freedom are also calculated. This technique was used in Sesar et al. 2007, AJ, 134, 2236.

brDeblend calSource WSACalib placeholder flag indicating parent/child relation in Br int 4 -99999999 CODE_MISC

This CASU pipeline processing source extraction flag is a placeholder only, and is always set to zero in all passbands in the merged source lists. If you need to know when a particular image detection is a component of a deblend or not, test bit 4 of attribute ppErrBits (see corresponding glossary entry) which is set by WFAU's post-processing software based on testing the areal profiles aprof2-8 (these are set by CASU to -1 for deblended components, or positive values for non-deblended detections). We encode this in an information bit of ppErrBits for convenience when querying the merged source tables.

brDeblend calSourceRemeasurement, calSynopticSource WSACalib placeholder flag indicating parent/child relation in Br int 4 -99999999 CODE_MISC

brEll calSource, calSourceRemeasurement, calSynopticSource WSACalib 1-b/a, where a/b=semi-major/minor axes in Br real 4 -0.9999995e9 PHYS_ELLIPTICITY

breNum calMergeLog, calSynopticMergeLog WSACalib the extension number of this Br frame tinyint 1 NUMBER

brErrBits calSource, calSynopticSource WSACalib processing warning/error bitwise flags in Br int 4 -99999999 CODE_MISC

Apparently not actually an error bit flag, but a count of the number of zero confidence pixels in the default (2 arcsec diameter) aperture.

brErrBits calSourceRemeasurement WSACalib processing warning/error bitwise flags in Br int 4 -99999999 CODE_MISC

brEta calSource, calSynopticSource WSACalib Offset of Br detection from master position (+north/-south) real 4 arcsec -0.9999995e9 POS_EQ_DEC_OFF

When associating individual passband detections into merged sources, a generous (in terms of the positional uncertainties) pairing radius of 2.0 (UKIDSS LAS and GPS; also non-survey programmes) or 1.0 (UKIDSS GPS, DXS and UDS) arcseconds is used, the higher value enabling pairing of moving sources when epoch separations may be several years. Such a large association criterion can of course lead to spurious pairings in the merged sources lists (although note that between passband pairs, handshake pairing is done: both passbands must agree that the candidate pair is their nearest neighbour for the pair to propagate through into the merged source table). In order to help filter spurious pairings out, and assuming that large positional offsets between the different passband detections are not expected (e.g. because of source motion, or larger than usual positional uncertainties) then the attributes Xi and Eta can be used to filter any pairings with suspiciously large offsets in one or more bands. For example, for a clean sample of QSOs from the LAS, you might wish to insist that the offsets in the selected sample are all below 1 arcsecond: simply add WHERE clauses into the SQL sample selection script to exclude all Xi and Eta values larger than the threshold you want.

brexpML calVarFrameSetInfo WSACalib Expected magnitude limit of frameSet in this in Br band. real 4 -0.9999995e9

The expected magnitude limit of an intermediate stack, based on the total exposure time. expML=Filter.oneSecML+1.25*log10(totalExpTime). Since different intermediate stacks can have different exposure times, the totalExpTime is the minimum, as long as the number of stacks with this minimum make up 10% of the total. This is a more conservative treatment than just taking the mean or median total exposure time.

brExpRms calVariability WSACalib Rms calculated from polynomial fit to modal RMS as a function of magnitude in Br band real 4 mag -0.9999995e9

The photometry is calculated for good observations in the best aperture. The mean, rms, median, median absolute deviation, minMag and maxMag are quite standard. The skewness is calculated as in Sesar et al. 2007, AJ, 134, 2236. The number of good detections that are more than 3 standard deviations can indicate a distribution with many outliers. In each frameset, the mean and rms are used to derive a fit to the expected rms as a function of magnitude. The parameters for the fit are stored in VarFrameSetInfo and the value for the source is in expRms. This is subtracted from the rms in quadrature to get the intrinsic rms: the variability of the object beyond the noise in the system. The chi-squared is calculated, assuming a non-variable object which has the noise from the expected-rms and mean calculated as above. The probVar statistic assumes a chi-squared distribution with the correct number of degrees of freedom. The varClass statistic is 1, if the probVar>0.9 and intrinsicRMS/expectedRMS>3.

brGausig calSource, calSourceRemeasurement, calSynopticSource WSACalib RMS of axes of ellipse fit in Br real 4 pixels -0.9999995e9 MORPH_PARAM

brHallMag calSource WSACalib Total point source Br mag real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 PHOT_MAG

brHallMagErr calSource WSACalib Error in total point source Br mag real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 ERROR

brIntRms calVariability WSACalib Intrinsic rms in Br-band real 4 mag -0.9999995e9

The photometry is calculated for good observations in the best aperture. The mean, rms, median, median absolute deviation, minMag and maxMag are quite standard. The skewness is calculated as in Sesar et al. 2007, AJ, 134, 2236. The number of good detections that are more than 3 standard deviations can indicate a distribution with many outliers. In each frameset, the mean and rms are used to derive a fit to the expected rms as a function of magnitude. The parameters for the fit are stored in VarFrameSetInfo and the value for the source is in expRms. This is subtracted from the rms in quadrature to get the intrinsic rms: the variability of the object beyond the noise in the system. The chi-squared is calculated, assuming a non-variable object which has the noise from the expected-rms and mean calculated as above. The probVar statistic assumes a chi-squared distribution with the correct number of degrees of freedom. The varClass statistic is 1, if the probVar>0.9 and intrinsicRMS/expectedRMS>3.

brMag calSourceRemeasurement WSACalib Br mag (as appropriate for this merged source) real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 PHOT_MAG

brMagErr calSourceRemeasurement WSACalib Error in Br mag real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 ERROR

brMagMAD calVariability WSACalib Median Absolute Deviation of Br magnitude real 4 mag -0.9999995e9

The photometry is calculated for good observations in the best aperture. The mean, rms, median, median absolute deviation, minMag and maxMag are quite standard. The skewness is calculated as in Sesar et al. 2007, AJ, 134, 2236. The number of good detections that are more than 3 standard deviations can indicate a distribution with many outliers. In each frameset, the mean and rms are used to derive a fit to the expected rms as a function of magnitude. The parameters for the fit are stored in VarFrameSetInfo and the value for the source is in expRms. This is subtracted from the rms in quadrature to get the intrinsic rms: the variability of the object beyond the noise in the system. The chi-squared is calculated, assuming a non-variable object which has the noise from the expected-rms and mean calculated as above. The probVar statistic assumes a chi-squared distribution with the correct number of degrees of freedom. The varClass statistic is 1, if the probVar>0.9 and intrinsicRMS/expectedRMS>3.

brMagRms calVariability WSACalib rms of Br magnitude real 4 mag -0.9999995e9

The photometry is calculated for good observations in the best aperture. The mean, rms, median, median absolute deviation, minMag and maxMag are quite standard. The skewness is calculated as in Sesar et al. 2007, AJ, 134, 2236. The number of good detections that are more than 3 standard deviations can indicate a distribution with many outliers. In each frameset, the mean and rms are used to derive a fit to the expected rms as a function of magnitude. The parameters for the fit are stored in VarFrameSetInfo and the value for the source is in expRms. This is subtracted from the rms in quadrature to get the intrinsic rms: the variability of the object beyond the noise in the system. The chi-squared is calculated, assuming a non-variable object which has the noise from the expected-rms and mean calculated as above. The probVar statistic assumes a chi-squared distribution with the correct number of degrees of freedom. The varClass statistic is 1, if the probVar>0.9 and intrinsicRMS/expectedRMS>3.

brmaxCadence calVariability WSACalib maximum gap between observations real 4 days -0.9999995e9

The observations are classified as good, flagged or missing. Flagged observations are ones where the object has a ppErrBit flag. Missing observations are observations of the part of the sky that include the position of the object, but had no detection. All the statistics are calculated from good observations. The cadence parameters give the minimum, median and maximum time between observations, which is useful to know if the data could be used to find a particular type of variable.

brMaxMag calVariability WSACalib Maximum magnitude in Br band, of good detections real 4 -0.9999995e9

The photometry is calculated for good observations in the best aperture. The mean, rms, median, median absolute deviation, minMag and maxMag are quite standard. The skewness is calculated as in Sesar et al. 2007, AJ, 134, 2236. The number of good detections that are more than 3 standard deviations can indicate a distribution with many outliers. In each frameset, the mean and rms are used to derive a fit to the expected rms as a function of magnitude. The parameters for the fit are stored in VarFrameSetInfo and the value for the source is in expRms. This is subtracted from the rms in quadrature to get the intrinsic rms: the variability of the object beyond the noise in the system. The chi-squared is calculated, assuming a non-variable object which has the noise from the expected-rms and mean calculated as above. The probVar statistic assumes a chi-squared distribution with the correct number of degrees of freedom. The varClass statistic is 1, if the probVar>0.9 and intrinsicRMS/expectedRMS>3.

brmeanMag calVariability WSACalib Mean Br magnitude real 4 mag -0.9999995e9

The photometry is calculated for good observations in the best aperture. The mean, rms, median, median absolute deviation, minMag and maxMag are quite standard. The skewness is calculated as in Sesar et al. 2007, AJ, 134, 2236. The number of good detections that are more than 3 standard deviations can indicate a distribution with many outliers. In each frameset, the mean and rms are used to derive a fit to the expected rms as a function of magnitude. The parameters for the fit are stored in VarFrameSetInfo and the value for the source is in expRms. This is subtracted from the rms in quadrature to get the intrinsic rms: the variability of the object beyond the noise in the system. The chi-squared is calculated, assuming a non-variable object which has the noise from the expected-rms and mean calculated as above. The probVar statistic assumes a chi-squared distribution with the correct number of degrees of freedom. The varClass statistic is 1, if the probVar>0.9 and intrinsicRMS/expectedRMS>3.

brmedCadence calVariability WSACalib median gap between observations real 4 days -0.9999995e9

The observations are classified as good, flagged or missing. Flagged observations are ones where the object has a ppErrBit flag. Missing observations are observations of the part of the sky that include the position of the object, but had no detection. All the statistics are calculated from good observations. The cadence parameters give the minimum, median and maximum time between observations, which is useful to know if the data could be used to find a particular type of variable.

brmedianMag calVariability WSACalib Median Br magnitude real 4 mag -0.9999995e9

The photometry is calculated for good observations in the best aperture. The mean, rms, median, median absolute deviation, minMag and maxMag are quite standard. The skewness is calculated as in Sesar et al. 2007, AJ, 134, 2236. The number of good detections that are more than 3 standard deviations can indicate a distribution with many outliers. In each frameset, the mean and rms are used to derive a fit to the expected rms as a function of magnitude. The parameters for the fit are stored in VarFrameSetInfo and the value for the source is in expRms. This is subtracted from the rms in quadrature to get the intrinsic rms: the variability of the object beyond the noise in the system. The chi-squared is calculated, assuming a non-variable object which has the noise from the expected-rms and mean calculated as above. The probVar statistic assumes a chi-squared distribution with the correct number of degrees of freedom. The varClass statistic is 1, if the probVar>0.9 and intrinsicRMS/expectedRMS>3.

brmfID calMergeLog, calSynopticMergeLog WSACalib the UID of the relevant Br multiframe bigint 8 ID_FRAME

brminCadence calVariability WSACalib minimum gap between observations real 4 days -0.9999995e9

The observations are classified as good, flagged or missing. Flagged observations are ones where the object has a ppErrBit flag. Missing observations are observations of the part of the sky that include the position of the object, but had no detection. All the statistics are calculated from good observations. The cadence parameters give the minimum, median and maximum time between observations, which is useful to know if the data could be used to find a particular type of variable.

brMinMag calVariability WSACalib real 4 -0.9999995e9

The photometry is calculated for good observations in the best aperture. The mean, rms, median, median absolute deviation, minMag and maxMag are quite standard. The skewness is calculated as in Sesar et al. 2007, AJ, 134, 2236. The number of good detections that are more than 3 standard deviations can indicate a distribution with many outliers. In each frameset, the mean and rms are used to derive a fit to the expected rms as a function of magnitude. The parameters for the fit are stored in VarFrameSetInfo and the value for the source is in expRms. This is subtracted from the rms in quadrature to get the intrinsic rms: the variability of the object beyond the noise in the system. The chi-squared is calculated, assuming a non-variable object which has the noise from the expected-rms and mean calculated as above. The probVar statistic assumes a chi-squared distribution with the correct number of degrees of freedom. The varClass statistic is 1, if the probVar>0.9 and intrinsicRMS/expectedRMS>3.

brmnbjPnt calSynopticSource WSACalib Point source colour Br-Nbj (using aperMag3) real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 PHOT_COLOR

Default colours from pairs of adjacent passbands within a given set (e.g. Y-J, J-H and H-K for YJHK) are recorded in the merged source table for ease of querying and speedy querying via indexing of these attributes. Presently, the point-source colours and extended source colours are computed from the aperture corrected AperMag3 fixed 2 arcsec aperture diameter measures (for consistent measurement across all passbands) and generally good signal-to-noise. At some point in the future, this may be changed such that point-source colours will be computed from the PSF-fitted measures and extended source colours computed from the 2-d Sersic model profile fits.

brmnbjPntErr calSynopticSource WSACalib Error on point source colour Br-Nbj real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 ERROR

Default colours from pairs of adjacent passbands within a given set (e.g. Y-J, J-H and H-K for YJHK) are recorded in the merged source table for ease of querying and speedy querying via indexing of these attributes. Presently, the point-source colours and extended source colours are computed from the aperture corrected AperMag3 fixed 2 arcsec aperture diameter measures (for consistent measurement across all passbands) and generally good signal-to-noise. At some point in the future, this may be changed such that point-source colours will be computed from the PSF-fitted measures and extended source colours computed from the 2-d Sersic model profile fits.

brndof calVariability WSACalib Number of degrees of freedom for chisquare int 4 -99999999

The photometry is calculated for good observations in the best aperture. The mean, rms, median, median absolute deviation, minMag and maxMag are quite standard. The skewness is calculated as in Sesar et al. 2007, AJ, 134, 2236. The number of good detections that are more than 3 standard deviations can indicate a distribution with many outliers. In each frameset, the mean and rms are used to derive a fit to the expected rms as a function of magnitude. The parameters for the fit are stored in VarFrameSetInfo and the value for the source is in expRms. This is subtracted from the rms in quadrature to get the intrinsic rms: the variability of the object beyond the noise in the system. The chi-squared is calculated, assuming a non-variable object which has the noise from the expected-rms and mean calculated as above. The probVar statistic assumes a chi-squared distribution with the correct number of degrees of freedom. The varClass statistic is 1, if the probVar>0.9 and intrinsicRMS/expectedRMS>3.

brnDofAst calVarFrameSetInfo WSACalib Number of degrees of freedom of astrometric fit in Br band. smallint 2 -9999

The best fit solution to the expected RMS position around the mean for all objects in the frameset. Objects were binned in ranges of magnitude and the median RMS (after clipping out variable objects using the median-absolute deviation) was calculated. The Strateva function $\zeta(m)>=a+b\,10^{0.4m}+c\,10^{0.8m}$ was fit, where $\zeta(m)$ is the expected RMS as a function of magnitude. The chi-squared and number of degrees of freedom are also calculated.

brnDofPht calVarFrameSetInfo WSACalib Number of degrees of freedom of photometric fit in Br band. smallint 2 -9999

The best fit solution to the expected RMS brightness (in magnitudes) for all objects in the frameset. Objects were binned in ranges of magnitude and the median RMS (after clipping out variable objects using the median-absolute deviation) was calculated. The Strateva function $\zeta(m)>=a+b\,10^{0.4m}+c\,10^{0.8m}$ was fit, where $\zeta(m)$ is the expected RMS as a function of magnitude. The chi-squared and number of degrees of freedom are also calculated. This technique was used in Sesar et al. 2007, AJ, 134, 2236.

brnFlaggedObs calVariability WSACalib Number of detections in Br band flagged as potentially spurious by calDetection.ppErrBits int 4 0

The observations are classified as good, flagged or missing. Flagged observations are ones where the object has a ppErrBit flag. Missing observations are observations of the part of the sky that include the position of the object, but had no detection. All the statistics are calculated from good observations. The cadence parameters give the minimum, median and maximum time between observations, which is useful to know if the data could be used to find a particular type of variable.

brnGoodObs calVariability WSACalib Number of good detections in Br band int 4 0

The observations are classified as good, flagged or missing. Flagged observations are ones where the object has a ppErrBit flag. Missing observations are observations of the part of the sky that include the position of the object, but had no detection. All the statistics are calculated from good observations. The cadence parameters give the minimum, median and maximum time between observations, which is useful to know if the data could be used to find a particular type of variable.

brNgt3sig calVariability WSACalib Number of good detections in Br-band that are more than 3 sigma deviations smallint 2 -9999

The photometry is calculated for good observations in the best aperture. The mean, rms, median, median absolute deviation, minMag and maxMag are quite standard. The skewness is calculated as in Sesar et al. 2007, AJ, 134, 2236. The number of good detections that are more than 3 standard deviations can indicate a distribution with many outliers. In each frameset, the mean and rms are used to derive a fit to the expected rms as a function of magnitude. The parameters for the fit are stored in VarFrameSetInfo and the value for the source is in expRms. This is subtracted from the rms in quadrature to get the intrinsic rms: the variability of the object beyond the noise in the system. The chi-squared is calculated, assuming a non-variable object which has the noise from the expected-rms and mean calculated as above. The probVar statistic assumes a chi-squared distribution with the correct number of degrees of freedom. The varClass statistic is 1, if the probVar>0.9 and intrinsicRMS/expectedRMS>3.

brnMissingObs calVariability WSACalib Number of Br band frames that this object should have been detected on and was not int 4 0

The observations are classified as good, flagged or missing. Flagged observations are ones where the object has a ppErrBit flag. Missing observations are observations of the part of the sky that include the position of the object, but had no detection. All the statistics are calculated from good observations. The cadence parameters give the minimum, median and maximum time between observations, which is useful to know if the data could be used to find a particular type of variable.

brObjID calSource, calSourceRemeasurement, calSynopticSource WSACalib DEPRECATED (do not use) bigint 8 -99999999 ID_NUMBER

This attribute is included in source tables for historical reasons, but it's use is not recommended unless you really know what you are doing. In general, if you need to look up detection table attributes for a source in a given passband that are not in the source table, you should make an SQL join between source, mergelog and detection using the primary key attribute frameSetID and combination multiframeID, extNum, seqNum to associate related rows between the three tables. See the Q&A example SQL for more information.

brPA calSource, calSourceRemeasurement, calSynopticSource WSACalib ellipse fit celestial orientation in Br real 4 Degrees -0.9999995e9 POS_POS-ANG

brPetroMag calSource WSACalib Extended source Br mag (Petrosian) real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 PHOT_MAG

brPetroMagErr calSource WSACalib Error in extended source Br mag (Petrosian) real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 ERROR

brppErrBits calSource, calSynopticSource WSACalib additional WFAU post-processing error bits in Br int 4 0 CODE_MISC

Post-processing error quality bit flags assigned (NB: from UKIDSS DR2 release onwards) in the WSA curation procedure for survey data. From least to most significant byte in the 4-byte integer attribute byte 0 (bits 0 to 7) corresponds to information on generally innocuous conditions that are nonetheless potentially significant as regards the integrity of that detection; byte 1 (bits 8 to 15) corresponds to warnings; byte 2 (bits 16 to 23) corresponds to important warnings; and finally byte 3 (bits 24 to 31) corresponds to severe warnings:

Byte Bit Detection quality issue Threshold or bit mask Applies to

Decimal Hexadecimal

0 4 Deblended 16 0x00000010 All VDFS catalogues

0 6 Bad pixel(s) in default aperture 64 0x00000040 All VDFS catalogues

2 16 Close to saturated 65536 0x00010000 All VDFS catalogues (though deeps excluded prior to DR8)

2 17 Photometric calibration probably subject to systematic error 131072 0x00020000 GPS only

2 19 Possible crosstalk artefact/contamination 524288 0x00080000 All but GPS

2 22 Lies within a dither offset of the stacked frame boundary 4194304 0x00400000 All but mosaics

In this way, the higher the error quality bit flag value, the more likely it is that the detection is spurious. The decimal threshold (column 4) gives the minimum value of the quality flag for a detection having the given condition (since other bits in the flag may be set also; the corresponding hexadecimal value, where each digit corresponds to 4 bits in the flag, can be easier to compute when writing SQL queries to test for a given condition). For example, to exclude all K band sources in the LAS having any error quality condition other than informational ones, include a predicate ... AND kppErrBits ≤ 255. See the SQL Cookbook and other online pages for further information.

brppErrBits calSourceRemeasurement WSACalib additional WFAU post-processing error bits in Br int 4 0 CODE_MISC

brprobVar calVariability WSACalib Probability of variable from chi-square (and other data) real 4 -0.9999995e9

The photometry is calculated for good observations in the best aperture. The mean, rms, median, median absolute deviation, minMag and maxMag are quite standard. The skewness is calculated as in Sesar et al. 2007, AJ, 134, 2236. The number of good detections that are more than 3 standard deviations can indicate a distribution with many outliers. In each frameset, the mean and rms are used to derive a fit to the expected rms as a function of magnitude. The parameters for the fit are stored in VarFrameSetInfo and the value for the source is in expRms. This is subtracted from the rms in quadrature to get the intrinsic rms: the variability of the object beyond the noise in the system. The chi-squared is calculated, assuming a non-variable object which has the noise from the expected-rms and mean calculated as above. The probVar statistic assumes a chi-squared distribution with the correct number of degrees of freedom. The varClass statistic is 1, if the probVar>0.9 and intrinsicRMS/expectedRMS>3.

brPsfMag calSource WSACalib Point source profile-fitted Br mag real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 PHOT_MAG

brPsfMagErr calSource WSACalib Error in point source profile-fitted Br mag real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 ERROR

brSeqNum calSource, calSynopticSource WSACalib the running number of the Br detection int 4 -99999999 ID_NUMBER

brSeqNum calSourceRemeasurement WSACalib the running number of the Br remeasurement int 4 -99999999 ID_NUMBER

brSerMag2D calSource WSACalib Extended source Br mag (profile-fitted) real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 PHOT_MAG

brSerMag2DErr calSource WSACalib Error in extended source Br mag (profile-fitted) real 4 mag -0.9999995e9 ERROR

brskewness calVariability WSACalib Skewness in Br band (see Sesar et al. 2007) real 4 -0.9999995e9

The photometry is calculated for good observations in the best aperture. The mean, rms, median, median absolute deviation, minMag and maxMag are quite standard. The skewness is calculated as in Sesar et al. 2007, AJ, 134, 2236. The number of good detections that are more than 3 standard deviations can indicate a distribution with many outliers. In each frameset, the mean and rms are used to derive a fit to the expected rms as a function of magnitude. The parameters for the fit are stored in VarFrameSetInfo and the value for the source is in expRms. This is subtracted from the rms in quadrature to get the intrinsic rms: the variability of the object beyond the noise in the system. The chi-squared is calculated, assuming a non-variable object which has the noise from the expected-rms and mean calculated as above. The probVar statistic assumes a chi-squared distribution with the correct number of degrees of freedom. The varClass statistic is 1, if the probVar>0.9 and intrinsicRMS/expectedRMS>3.

brtotalPeriod calVariability WSACalib total period of observations (last obs-first obs) real 4 days -0.9999995e9

The observations are classified as good, flagged or missing. Flagged observations are ones where the object has a ppErrBit flag. Missing observations are observations of the part of the sky that include the position of the object, but had no detection. All the statistics are calculated from good observations. The cadence parameters give the minimum, median and maximum time between observations, which is useful to know if the data could be used to find a particular type of variable.

brVarClass calVariability WSACalib Classification of variability in this band smallint 2 -9999

The photometry is calculated for good observations in the best aperture. The mean, rms, median, median absolute deviation, minMag and maxMag are quite standard. The skewness is calculated as in Sesar et al. 2007, AJ, 134, 2236. The number of good detections that are more than 3 standard deviations can indicate a distribution with many outliers. In each frameset, the mean and rms are used to derive a fit to the expected rms as a function of magnitude. The parameters for the fit are stored in VarFrameSetInfo and the value for the source is in expRms. This is subtracted from the rms in quadrature to get the intrinsic rms: the variability of the object beyond the noise in the system. The chi-squared is calculated, assuming a non-variable object which has the noise from the expected-rms and mean calculated as above. The probVar statistic assumes a chi-squared distribution with the correct number of degrees of freedom. The varClass statistic is 1, if the probVar>0.9 and intrinsicRMS/expectedRMS>3.

brXi calSource, calSynopticSource WSACalib Offset of Br detection from master position (+east/-west) real 4 arcsec -0.9999995e9 POS_EQ_RA_OFF

When associating individual passband detections into merged sources, a generous (in terms of the positional uncertainties) pairing radius of 2.0 (UKIDSS LAS and GPS; also non-survey programmes) or 1.0 (UKIDSS GPS, DXS and UDS) arcseconds is used, the higher value enabling pairing of moving sources when epoch separations may be several years. Such a large association criterion can of course lead to spurious pairings in the merged sources lists (although note that between passband pairs, handshake pairing is done: both passbands must agree that the candidate pair is their nearest neighbour for the pair to propagate through into the merged source table). In order to help filter spurious pairings out, and assuming that large positional offsets between the different passband detections are not expected (e.g. because of source motion, or larger than usual positional uncertainties) then the attributes Xi and Eta can be used to filter any pairings with suspiciously large offsets in one or more bands. For example, for a clean sample of QSOs from the LAS, you might wish to insist that the offsets in the selected sample are all below 1 arcsecond: simply add WHERE clauses into the SQL sample selection script to exclude all Xi and Eta values larger than the threshold you want.

BULGE_E mgcGalaxyStruct MGC Bulge Ellipticity real 4 99.99

BULGE_Em mgcGalaxyStruct MGC Bulge Ellipticity error (-) real 4 99.99

BULGE_Ep mgcGalaxyStruct MGC Bulge Ellipticity error (+) real 4 99.99

BULGE_FRAC mgcGalaxyStruct MGC Bulge Fraction (0=pure disk) real 4 99.99

BULGE_FRACm mgcGalaxyStruct MGC Bulge Fraction error (-) real 4 99.99

BULGE_FRACp mgcGalaxyStruct MGC Bulge Fraction error (+) real 4 99.99

BULGE_PA mgcGalaxyStruct MGC Bulge Position Angle real 4 99.99

BULGE_PAm mgcGalaxyStruct MGC Bulge Position Angle error (-) real 4 99.99

BULGE_PAp mgcGalaxyStruct MGC Bulge Position Angle error (+) real 4 99.99

BULGE_RE mgcGalaxyStruct MGC Bulge Effective Radius real 4 99.99

BULGE_REm mgcGalaxyStruct MGC Bulge Effective Radius error (-) real 4 99.99

BULGE_REp mgcGalaxyStruct MGC Bulge Effective Radius error (+) real 4 99.99

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12/05/2011