IRAS Explanatory Supplement
V. Data Reduction
D. Point Source Confirmation
D.8 Flux and Confusion Status Words
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Two status words were used to track the progress of a source through all levels of the confirmation processing. Each wavelength band of each hours-confirmed sighting has associated with it a flux status (FSTAT) and a confusion status (CSTAT) word which describe the quality of the quoted flux and whether the processor detected any possibly confusing neighbor sources nearby. Both of these status words were used in deciding which sources were to be included in the final catalog (see Section V.H). FSTAT (Table V.D.5) tells whether in a given band the quoted flux is an upper limit, an unconfirmed detection(s) or a well-confirmed measurement. CSTAT tells whether a sighting was potentially confused by other detections at the times of seconds- or hours-confirmation or during band-merging. Tables V.D.3a, b lists values of CSTAT.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 7 | Hours-confirmed; detector number array reveals number of detections. |
| 6 | One seconds-confirmed detection that was never hours-confirmed but was associated with at least one low-signal-to-noise detection. |
| 5 | One seconds-confirmed detection that was never hours-confirmed or associated with any other detection. |
| 4 | Two or more NSCF detections hours-confirmed and possibly including NSC detections. |
| 3 | At least one NSC detection associated with no more than one NSCF detection. |
| 2 | One NSC or NSCF detection and possibly any number of low-signal-to-noise detections (S/N > 2.9)oratleastonelow-signal- to-noise detection (S/N < 3) |
| 1 | Lowest three-sigma noise value found |
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