NuSTAR Data Analysis Software and Calibration history


The NuSTAR Data Analysis Software (NuSTARDAS) package has been jointly developed by the ASI Space Science Data Center (SSDC, Italy) and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech, USA). The first table presents a history of the NuSTARDAS public releases, click on the NuSTARDAS version number to obtain the associated release notes.

The release history of associated calibration database files (CALDB) is presented below.

The NuSTARDAS and CALDB releases can be obtained from the HEASARC:
HEASofthttps://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/software/lheasoft/
NuSTARDAShttps://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/nustar/analysis/

(Including the NuSTARDAS software users guide)

CALDBhttps://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/caldb/nustar/

Information on additional, user-contributed NuSTAR software for performing timing analysis, analysis of stray light sources, and background modeling, is available on the NuSTAR GitHub.

Last update: 2024-03-26

NuSTARDAS Releases
DateRelease VersionLinked to CALDB
HEAsoftNuSTARDAS
2022-03-146.302.1.2 nuproducts self documentation

numkarf, numkrmf   Added 'CALDBVER' keyword to output ARF and RMF files.
20211020
(and later)
2021-07-196.292.1.1 Disable default temperature dependant ARF (FPMA)
                  (reverses default in v2.0.0)

nupipeline   Modified call of nuproducts (added arfmlicorr parameter)
nuproducts  Modified call of numkarf (added arfmlicorr parameter)
numkarf      No default Temperature dependency for ARF CALDB query,
                  mlicorr default='no'

                  Memory allocation increase (for large PID values)
20210210
(and later)
2020-08-146.282.0.0 Temperature dependent ARF

numkarf      Temperature dependency for ARF CALDB query,
                    added obebhkfile input parameter
nuproducts  Modified call of numkarf (added obebhkfile parameter)
nupipeline   Modified call of nuproducts
                   (added inobebhkfile and obebhkfile parameters)
nu_highfits  Modified to support TFORM values 1PD(X)/1PI(X)
20200813
2020-04-136.27.11.9.2
1.9.1
numetrology   upgrade to handle laser metrology METSTATE 4 and 6

Required for analysis of observations performed after 2020-03-16
20200429
2020-03-266.271.9.0 nupipeline    set orbit file = attorb for barycorr=yes and exitstage=3
nuproducts   new input parameter write_baryevtfile
nuscreen      added PRIOR column in default column list for cleaned event files
2019-05-176.26n/aFTOOLS
barycorr   added support for NuSTAR 'fine' clock correction
2018-10-226.25n/aImproved handling of remote CALDB and file i/o diagnostic output
2017-08-156.221.8.0 nucalcsaa      added saacalc=3 mode, improve handling of input cleaned event
                    files
nuexpomap   improvement in time-averaged optical axis location for
                    vignetting corrected exposure map
nuscreen      supress warning messages for zero exposure time
numkarf       improvement to extended source efective area calculation
nupipeline     support handling of saacalc=3 mode
20170727
2017-01-186.201.7.0 nucalcsaa    no fselect run if saamode=NONE and tentacle=no
nupipeline   select appropriate TLE file
nuscreen     bug fix
nufilter       add parameter timeadj=DEFAULT
2016-05-116.191.6.0 nusplitsc     New task for mode 06 event data
nucalcsaa    optimized SAA screening
nupipeline   accomode nusplitsc and nucaclsaa changes
nuflagbad   bug fix
nuscreen    add keyword OBSMODE
nufilter       add keywords MJDREF and MJDREFF in nu*.mkarf file
nucoord      update value of RA_NOM and DEC_NOM in unfiltered event files
20160502
2015-07-296.171.5.1 numkarf       new input parameters pilowarf, pihigharf and flatflag
numkrmf      bug fix for addrmf execution
nuproducts   new input parameters to support numkarf changes
nupipeline    new input parameters to support numkarf changes, handle
                   casses where cleaned event file is empty
FTOOLS
XSELECT      updated entry for NuSTAR mkf name
2014-07-026.161.4.1 nuproducts   automatically apply grppha, new inputparameter usrgtobarycorr
nupipeline    addition of input parameter productsgtibarycorr
1.4.0 nuexpomap    add parameter indet2instrfile, optimization of execution time
nubackscale   add parameter inexpomapfile
nulccorr         add parameters inskyinstrfile inaspecthistofile
numkarf        add parameter inexpomapfile
nuproducts    add parameter rungrppha, modify calls to nubackscale, nulccorr,
                    and numkarf
nucalcpi        modification of algorithm for GRADE 0 and GRADE 9-20 events
nupipeline     handling of compressed TLE files, support latest Perl versions
2014-01-286.15.11.3.1 nuexpomap  addition of keywords PIXBIN and PERCENT to header
nulccorr        update value of DEADAPP to True
nupipeline     implement barycorr in call to nuproducts
nuproducts    implement barycorr, energy filtering through pilow and pihigh
2013-11-256.151.3.0 numetrology   psdcal input parameter
nuscreen        NUPSDOUT keyword
numkarf         energy dependent PSF correction
nuexpomap    inclusion of bad/hot pixels in exposure maps
nulccorr         energy dependent PSF correction
nupipeline      psdcal input parameter
2013-08-066.141.2.0       NuSTARDAS Initial release

FTOOLS
barycorr    add NuSTAR CALDB query capability
XSELECT   added entries for NuSTAR to xselect.mdb
20130509
2012-12-216.13n/aFTOOLS
aberrator    update to support NuSTAR orbit extension
barycorr     update to support NuSTAR clock

    CALDB release history

    This list does not include releases that are only for updates to clock correction files that occur approximatly every two weeks. Click on the version number for the release notes and click HERE for a combined ASCII file of all CALDB releases.

    Release date Version Description
    2024-03-26 20240325 This release resolves the issues of incorrect calibration files in the 20240229 and 20240311 versions of the NuSTAR CALDB.

    We recommend downloading this CALDB, which also includes the intended CALDB updates for the 20240229 release.

    If you have any questions or concerns about how this may affect your analysis, please contact the NuSTAR SOC at nustar-help@srl.caltech.edu

    This release includes a new release of the CLOCKFILE, v179

    2024-03-21 20240311a This release was done to re-release valid versions of the following files into the NuSTAR CALDB:

    • $CALDB/data/nustar/fpm/bcf/detabs/nuAdetabs20100101v004.fits
    • $CALDB/data/nustar/fpm/bcf/detabs/nuBdetabs20100101v004.fits
    • $CALDB/data/nustar/fpm/bcf/vign/nuBvign20100101v008.fits
    • $CALDB/data/nustar/fpm/bcf/vign/nuAvign20100101v008.fits
    • $CALDB/data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuAcutdet1_20100101v003.rmf
    • $CALDB/data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuBcutdet0_20100101v003.rmf
    • $CALDB/data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuAcutdet0_20100101v003.rmf
    • $CALDB/data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuBcutdet1_20100101v003.rmf
    • $CALDB/data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuAcutdet3_20100101v003.rmf
    • $CALDB/data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuBcutdet2_20100101v003.rmf
    • $CALDB/data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuAcutgrprmf20100101v003.fits
    • $CALDB/data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuAcutdet2_20100101v003.rmf
    • $CALDB/data/nustar/fpm/cpf/rmf/nuBcutdet3_20100101v003.rmf

    Invalid versions of these files were released on Feb 29, 2024 and were present in the NuSTAR CALDB through March 21, 2024.

    Released at the HEASARC: 2024-03-20

    2024-02-29 20240229 DO NOT USE THIS CALDB RELEASE - Invalid versions of some calibration files were released in this version (20240229). Use CALDB release version 20240311a and later for the most up-to-date versions of NuSTAR calibration files.

    However, the following notes about the updated calibration are correct.

    This release adjusts the long-term gain calibration for FPMA DET0. This release is only for FPMA and only affects the gain calibration for that detector. This change corrects a small 0.2% drop in the line energy calibration from 2020 to 2022 on FPMA DET0.

    Details of the analysis can be found in the calibration memo:
       https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/caldb/nustar/docs/fpm/index.html

    While the most up-to-date version of this analysis is found on the arXiv here:
       https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.04058

    ARF: Removing the FPMA Effective Area Temperature Dependence

    This patch prevents the incorrect use of the temperature-dependent ARF correction introduced in the NuSTAR CALDB 20200813 and NuSTARDAS v2.0.0. After December 2022, the thermistor used to select the temperature-dependent MLI correction is no longer operating correctly. This can result in an incorrect effective area produced by nuproducts if the  mlicorr=yes  keyword is set. The impact is a small (few %) apparent 'tail' in NuSTAR spectra when comparing results from FPMA and FPMB

    The updated CALDB removes the ability to perform a temperature-dependence correction so that  mlicorr=yes  and  mlicorr=no  should result in identical output ARF files.

    There is no update to NuSTARDAS required to utilize CALDB v20240229.

    This update includes Clock Correction file v177.

    2022-05-10 20220510 This update adjusts the long-term gain calibration for FPMA DET2. This release is only for FPMA and only affects the gain calibration for DET2. This changes corrects a total 2% drop in the line energy calibration from 2015 to 2022 on this detector.

    Details of the analysis can be found in the calibration memo (CAL_NuSTAR_20220510.pdf) available on the NuSTAR calibration webpage at the HEASARC:

       https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/caldb/nustar/docs/fpm/index.html

    There is no update to NuSTARDAS required to utilize CALDB v20220510. This update includes Clock Correction file v139.

    2021-10-26 20211020 This CALDB release contains a major update in the calibration of the NuSTAR observatory based on detailed analysis of more than nine years of observations of the Crab, utilizing both focused and stray light measurements. Details of the analysis are presented in Madsen et al. (2021) JATIS, in prep. (arXiv), which is also available via the HEASARC CALDB documentation page.

    A detailed summary of this update is also available on the CALDB 20211020 SOC webpage.

    The overall changes between the previous (CALDB v20211004 and earlier) and this new calibration are primarily off-axis dependent. Users of the updated calibration may see the following changes compared to previous analysis:

    • • A flux increase of ~5% for sources < 1' off-axis
    •      □ A flux increase of ~10% for sources 1' to 2' off-axis
    •      □ A flux increase of ~15% for sources > 4' off-axis
    • • Slopes of power law model components may change by ~0.04 depending on off-axis angle
    • • More accurate high-energy and high off-axis angle corrections
    • • A better agreement in the FPMA and FPMB flux measurements

    We expect that for most NuSTAR observations this calibration update will have little or no practical change in interpretation results, especially for analysis of low signal-to-noise spectra.

    This CALDB release also contains an update to the tracking of the NuSTAR detector gain. Details are available in the calibration memo Grefenstette et al. (2021).

    There is no update to NuSTARDAS required to utilize CALDB v20211020.

    2021-02-23 20210210 This CALDB release contains an update to NuSTAR alignment calibration to improve observatory astrometry bringing the source positions on both Focal Plane Modules into better agreement with one another and closer to the J2000 source coordinates. The update is in the CALDB only (no NuSTARDAS update required) and affects the source position of events only and not the energy of events.
    This alignment update primarily improves observations taken after August 2017, but also adds some improvements across the entire mission lifetime. Before 2017, the astrometric improvement is on the order of a pixel (~2.5 arcsec). From 2017 onwards, the adjustment of the source coordinates steadily increases from one pixel in 2017 up to a possible 4-5 pixels (8 - 10 arcsec) in late 2020.

    This release also contains an update to the NuSTAR Clock Correction file (v116) as well as a file describing the attenuation due to the beryllium (Be) window covering the detectors. This file is useful for some users performing analysis of stray light (either stray light due to the cosmic X-ray background or stray light due to off-axis, bright X-ray sources) but is not directly used by NuSTARDAS.

    2020-11-03 20201101 This CALDB release contains an update to the NuSTAR Clock Correction file that corrects for previous gaps in NuSTAR instrument engineering files. Affected sequenceID's have been reprocessed and redelivered to the NuSTAR archive. A list of these sequenceID's can be found on the DLOG update webpage.

    The clock correction file in this release (v111) was produced based on the updated engineering files and is expected to provide improved performance than the previous clock file, especially for observations that occurred during the previous gaps.
    2020-08-13 20200813 This CALDB update contains required files for the NuSTARDAS v2.0.0 update which implements a new temperature-dependence during the ARF generation.

    v108 (and later) Clock correction files contain an improvement of the clock offset model that corrects for a ~5ms systematic shift in absolute alignment to UTC time. Corrects for time intervals with no temperature measurements.
    2020-05-06 20200429 High resolution clock correction files implemented
    MLI correction of ARF for FPMA
    2019-12-19 20191219 Patch for release 20191213 which updated the gain and badpixel files
    2019-12-13 20191213 Update for long term gain tracking and badpixel files
    2017-08-21 20170727 CALDB files used for SAA filtering saamode=3
    2016-06-06 20160606 Update gain, effective area, line of sight absorption
    gain v007, DETABS v003, VIGN v007
    2016-05-02 20160502
    • Defines how CHU combinations are split with nusplitsc
    •   requires NuSTARDAS v1.6.0 or later
    • SAAPAR update
    2015-03-20 20150316 Gain calibration improvement over the entire mission
    2014-07-01 20140414 Adjusted CLC files to improve gain calibration
    2014-01-17 20131223 VIGN adjustment (69.5 keV W edge)
    2013-11-25 20131007 ARF adjustment to match XMM/Swift/Chandra fluxes (NuSTAR flux -15%)
    Updates to INSTRMAP, PIXPOS, energy dependent PSF
    Updated hkrange files
    2013-08-14 20130509 Initial CALDB release


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