Umit Kiziloglu, February, 2008What is SExtractor?
SExtractor (Source-Extractor) is a program that builds a catalogue of objects from an astronomical image. It is particularly oriented towards reduction of large scale galaxy-survey data, but it also performs well on moderately crowded star fields.Authors: Emmanuel Bertin (bertin@iap.fr) Source: ftp://ftp.iap.fr/pub/from_users/bertin/sextractor/
Documentation (not complete yet!)
- The most recent version of manual can be found here: SExtractor v2.5
- A cookbook by Benne Holwerda: Source Extractor for Dummies
Few tips for local use:
- Default config files are in:
/usr/local/sextractor-2.5.0/config
block_3x3.conv gauss_3.0_5x5.conv mexhat_5.0_11x11.conv default.conv gauss_3.0_7x7.conv README default.nnw gauss_4.0_7x7.conv tophat_1.5_3x3.conv default.param gauss_5.0_9x9.conv tophat_2.0_3x3.conv default.sex mexhat_1.5_5x5.conv tophat_2.5_3x3.conv gauss_1.5_3x3.conv mexhat_2.0_7x7.conv tophat_3.0_3x3.conv gauss_2.0_3x3.conv mexhat_2.5_7x7.conv tophat_4.0_5x5.conv gauss_2.0_5x5.conv mexhat_3.0_9x9.conv tophat_5.0_5x5.conv gauss_2.5_5x5.conv mexhat_4.0_9x9.conv- Typical use: (In your working directory)
se_run xxx.fits (name of an image file with fits extension)
se_run xxx.fits xxx.cfg (name of a user configuration fileExample: se_run r10.fits
Run with default settings. You will find default files in your working directory and output file test.cat for your ccd frame.
default.sex : sextractor default input parameters used
default.param: default requested output parameters
test.cat: cataloque of extracted sources
se_0.cfg & se_1.cfg : short & extended configuration files. (You are free to edit 'se_?.cfg' and 'default.param')Example: se_run r10.fits se_1.cfg
Run with user settings. You can customize all parameters in files: 'se_?.cfg'
You can also cusomize 'default.param' for the output parameters.