Health Check monitor

This is the Health Check plot for the signal level in the GIRAFFE flat field calibration data. We display the QC1 parameter mean_raw (QC.OUT1.MEAN.RAW) of the first input raw frame. This plot monitors all setups for the 'normal' read mode. Check the "all_FLATs" plot for the same data set, plotted over time.

The purpose of this plot is to guarantee that all flat field calibration data have an exposure level which is good enough to record the pixel-to-pixel gain variations.

The data are checked against upper and lower limits. The lower limit is the most important one. From the CCD trending plot (no. 1), it follows that a single flat must have a minimum flux level of roughly 20.000 ADU at the fibre peak, in order to be dominated by the pixel-to-pixel gain pattern rather than by photon noise. From the topology of the flat frame signal, it follows a corresponding mean_raw value of about 7000 ADU. Assuming three input flats creating a single master fiber flat, we derive an approximate lower limit of 2000 ADU. In the same way, the IFU flats require about 3000 ADUs on average.

The upper limit is derived from the saturation limit.

Note: All blue setups (below about 400 nm) have a mean raw flux which is rather low, often below the thresholds. This is usually not an issue since it is compensated by an increased number of raw files.