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Kron photometry is determined from the observed (smoothed) profile of each Detection.  A Kron radius is determined for all objects, irrespective of whether they are point sources or not, and the total magnitude is inferred from the growth curve (enclosed flux vs. radius).

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The starting point for the PS1 data archive is at Pan-STARRS1 data archive home page.

Definition

Look up the formal definition (Kron 1980, ApJS 43, 305). 

The Kron 1980 paper shows how to define a nominal magnitude for an extended object on the basis of the shape of the light profile.   In the PanSTARRS implementation, the definition of the Kron radius and Kron magnitude is carried out as follows (from the PS1 guide (Kron Parameters)  [PS1 wiki login required]:

  • Kron Radius determined from smoothed image
  • start with isophotal aperture at sky level
  • measure moments
  • redefine aperture to be 6x 1st radial moment
  • re-measure moments
  • do we iterate like this again - not sure?
  • Kron flux is measured inside 2.5 * 1st radial moment
  • 1.0 * 1st radial moment and 4.0 * 1st radial moment fluxes are also measured as KRON_INNER and KRON_OUTER (don't make it into PSPS though, only in cmfs)

Be aware that by definition Kron magnitudes do NOT encompass the total flux from an object, and in DR1 no attempt is made to correct the Kron fluxes for this missing light. Some information on the size of this effect for galaxies can be seen in this article, but very roughly expect 10% of the flux to be missing.

Values Available

Kron parameters are listed in the Detection table as followsseveral different tables, depending on their origin (warp images, stack images, mean values, etc.) The PS1 MeanObject table fields table includes:

Name

Unit

Data Type

Size

Default Value

Description

kronFlux

gMeanKronMag

Janskys

AB magnitudes

REAL

4

-999

Mean Kron (1980)

flux

magnitude from g filter detections.

kronFluxErr

gMeanKronMagErr

Janskys

AB magnitudes

REAL

4

-999

Error

on

in mean Kron (1980)

flux

magnitude from g filter detections.

kronRad

gMeanKronMagStd

arcsec

AB magnitudes

REAL

4

-999

Standard deviation of Kron (1980)

radius

magnitudes from g filter detections.

gMeanKronMagNpt

dimensionless

SMALLINT

2

-999

Number of measurements included in mean Kron (1980) magnitude from g filter detections.

and similar entries in the same row for rizy filters.

 

StackObjectThin contains:

Name

Unit

Data Type

Size

Default Value

Description

gKronMag

AB magnitudes

REAL

4

-999

Kron (1980) magnitude from g filter stack detection

gKronMagErr

AB magnitudes

REAL

4

-999

Error in Kron (1980) magnitude from g filter stack detection.

and similar entries in the same row for rizy filters rizy filters.

 

StackObjectAttributes contains:

Name

Unit

Data Type

Size

Default Value

Description

gKronFlux

Janskys

REAL

4

-999

Kron (1980) flux from g filter stack detection.

gKronFluxErr

Janskys

REAL

4

-999

Error in Kron (1980) flux from g filter stack detection.

gKronRad

arcsec

REAL

4

-999

Kron (1980) radius from g filter stack detection.

and similar entries in the same row for rizy filters rizy filters.

 

MeanObject ForcedMeanObject contains:

Name

Unit

Data Type

Size

Default Value

Description

gMeanKronMag

gFKronFlux

AB magnitudes

Janskys

REAL

4

-999

Mean Kron (1980)

magnitude

flux from forced single epoch g filter detections.

gMeanKronMagErr

gFKronFluxErr

AB magnitudes

Janskys

REAL

4

-999

Error in mean Kron (1980)

magnitude

flux from forced single epoch g filter detections.

gMeanKronMagStd

gFKronFluxStd

AB magnitudes

Janskys

REAL

4

-999

Standard deviation of Kron (198) fluxes from forced single epoch g filter detections.

gFKronMag

AB magnitudes

REAL

4

-999

Magnitude from mean Kron (1980)

magnitudes

flux from forced single epoch g filter detections.

gMeanKronMagNpt

gFKronMagErr

dimensionless

AB magnitudes

SMALLINT

REAL

2

4

-999

Number of measurements included in

Error in magnitude from mean Kron (1980)

magnitude

flux from forced single epoch g filter detections.

and similar entries in the same row for rizy filters.

 

 rizy filters.


The tables below with multi-epoch measurements are not included in the DR1 database but are included here for completeness.

PS1 Detection table fields ForcedWarpMeasurement contains:

Name

Unit

Data Type

Size

Default Value

Description

FkronFlux

kronFlux

Janskys

REAL

4

-999

Kron (1980) flux.

FkronFluxErr

kronFluxErr

Janskys

REAL

4

-999

Error

in

on Kron (1980) flux.

FkronRad

kronRad

arcsec

REAL

4

-999

Kron (1980) radius.

 

ForcedMeanObject ForcedWarpMeasurement contains:

Name

Unit

Data Type

Size

Default Value

Description

gFKronFlux

FkronFlux

Janskys

REAL

4

-999

Mean

Kron (1980) flux

from forced single epoch g filter detections

.

gFKronFluxErr

FkronFluxErr

Janskys

REAL

4

-999

Error in

mean

Kron (1980) flux

from forced single epoch g filter detections

.

gFKronFluxStd

FkronRad

Janskys

arcsec

REAL

4

-999

Standard deviation of

Kron (

198) fluxes from forced single epoch g filter detections.gFKronMagAB magnitudesREAL4-999Magnitude from mean Kron (1980) flux from forced single epoch g filter detections.gFKronMagErrAB magnitudesREAL4-999Error in magnitude from mean Kron (1980) flux from forced single epoch g filter detections.

and similar entries in the same row for rizy filters.

1980) radius.

 

DiffDetection contains:

Name

Unit

Data Type

Size

Default Value

Description

DkronFlux

Janskys

REAL

4

-999

Kron (1980) flux.

DkronFluxErr

Janskys

REAL

4

-999

Error in Kron (1980) flux.

DkronRad

arcsec

REAL

4

-999

Kron (1980) radius.

References

Most of the information contained here is based on the PS1 Guide http://ps1sc.ifa.hawaii.edu/PS1wiki/index.php/PS1Guide#Kron_parameters (requires PS1 wiki login).


 
Information on the contents of the Table is obtained from the PSPS Schema Browser at http://web01.psps.ifa.hawaii.edu/PSI/schema_browser.php?describeTable=Detection (requires PSPS login).  The STScI verison of the schema browser is at http://plps3v.stsci.edu/PSI/schema_browser.php.

The original definitions presumably are from Kron (1980): http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1980PhyS...21..652K

A modern implementation is described, e.g., for 2MASS at: http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/2mass/releases/allsky/doc/sec4_5e.html. If you have more specific information on the exact definitions used in PanSTARRS processing, please add a comment or email stefano@stsci.edu.

 

   
  
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