The FWHM Measurement tool is used to compute
the Full Width at Half Maximum, or "FWHM" of a point source or
other small object.
To make a FWHM measurement, position the
Image Cursor near the target object, then click
on the toolbar or click FWHM in the
Measure menu.
This command is also operated using the 'F'
keystroke command when the
Image Cursor is placed near the peak of a point
source.
This command uses the
Image Cursor to locate the approximate center of the
object, then it computes the centroid and then the fit of a PSF +
Constant model. The PSF (Point Spread Function) may be selected as
a Moffat or Gaussian profile. This command works with the Image
Cursor so that the cursor is left in a position for making a Column
or Row plot or computing statistics at the point without having to
re-position.
If an image set is open in the Image Window, you
can choose whether to measure only the active member of the image
set or to compute the FWHM for the entire image set. If measuring
the entire set, Mira likewise centroids each position as it
processes the set.
NOTE
When the Image Cursor is used to measure
centroid positions for an
Image Set, the cursor position may appear to be
inaccurate after being shifted within the individual images. This
happens because the Image Cursor is a feature of the
Image Window rather than the individual images.
However, the centroid coordinates tabulated in the
measurement grid are correct. In contrast,
Point Measurements are calculated and marked
independently on each image, so they indicate the measured
coordinates in each image if the centroid option is enabled on the
Centroid Properties page.
Measurement Results
Measurements are tabulated in the FWHM
Measurements window as shown below. This is a
Report Window with built-in functionality for
sorting, rearranging, copying, and saving to a file.
The example above shows results for images having a
World Coordinate Calibration ("WCS") with FWHM
results in arcseconds and the X,Y values in terms of Right
Ascension and Declination. If the images do not have a WCS
calibration, the results are listed in units of pixels.
Measurements for all objects in all images and all
Image Windows go into a single Report window. If you want to clear
the Report window of prior measurements, make sure the window has
focus, then click Clear in the View menu.
The items in the Report window are described in the
table below.
FWHM Quantities
#
The sequence number of the measurement.
Image
The name of the image that was measured
FWHM
The Full Width at Half Maximum diameter in
arcseconds (WCS calibration) or, otherwise, in pixel units.
Peak Value
The intensity of the peak, measured above the
background.
Background
The background intensity near the object.
X
The X coordinate of the center of the object. If
the image has a WCS calibration, this is right ascension, otherwise
this is the column coordinate.
Y
The Y coordinate of the center of the object. If
the image has a WCS calibration, this is declination, otherwise
this is the row coordinate.