1. How can I tell whether polarization data, as well as
the UV spectrum, are available for a particular object?
- In the search results page, the polarization and position angle
will both be set to 0.000 if no polarization data are available. In this
case, only the ultraviolet spectrum is available from the archive. In
addition, the FITS file for an observation including polarization data
is significantly larger (typically 34560 bytes uncompressed) than one
with only spectral data (11520 bytes).
2. How do I read the WUPPE data files?
-
The image files are in FITS format, and should be readable with standard
FITS readers. See Reading WUPPE Data
for more information.
3. How do I convert the Stokes parameters Q and U to
linear polarization parameters?
-
Linear polarization = sqrt(Q2 + U2), while
position angle = 1/2 tan-1(U/Q)
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