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authorAaron LI <aly@aaronly.me>2017-12-05 14:37:40 +0800
committerAaron LI <aly@aaronly.me>2017-12-05 14:37:40 +0800
commitde487ae5b3c0cc86cba9eff6f0c5e2df0d1a5df2 (patch)
tree6521727957e6faed8d204d0ec453d62cb4e0f6c7 /astro/fits/fitscube.py
parent9d04761972a5522ec76f539fe114e1a7ad2340cb (diff)
downloadatoolbox-de487ae5b3c0cc86cba9eff6f0c5e2df0d1a5df2.tar.bz2
astro/fitscube.py: Rewrite tool description
Diffstat (limited to 'astro/fits/fitscube.py')
-rwxr-xr-xastro/fits/fitscube.py24
1 files changed, 23 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/astro/fits/fitscube.py b/astro/fits/fitscube.py
index 2e1bddf..f69cfd2 100755
--- a/astro/fits/fitscube.py
+++ b/astro/fits/fitscube.py
@@ -5,7 +5,29 @@
#
"""
-Create FITS image cube from a series of image slices.
+FITS image cube manipulation tool.
+
+This tool was originally developed to create a FITS image cube from a
+series of CT scan slices to help better visualize/examine them in the
+sophisticated SAOImage DS9 software. Each slice in the cube is a CT
+image at a position from the CT scan, with the z-axis tracking the slice
+positions (equal-distant) in units of, e.g., [cm].
+
+Then this tool was significantly improved to deal with the spectral cube
+in radio astronomy, with each slice representing the radio sky at a
+certain frequency (channel), so the z-axis records the frequency in
+units of [Hz].
+
+For example, we simulate the observed image using OSKAR and WSClean one
+frequency channel at a time, then use this tool to combine them into
+a spectral cube, from which the 2D and 1D power spectra is derived.
+
+The ``calibrate`` sub-command is used to calibrate the frequency channel
+responses to make them spectrally smooth by fitting a low-order polynomial.
+
+The ``corrupt`` sub-command is used to corrupt the frequency channel
+responses to simulate that real instrument suffers from calibration
+imperfections.
"""
import os