JWST ETC Downloads
The JWST Exposure Time Calculator provides an option to download the final and intermediate output products, along with input data used for an ETC calculation. The data products are available for downloads as FITS files.
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Video Tutorial: 
ETC General Overview
The JWST ETC outputs 2-D images and line plots as well as scalar values for every ETC calculation that is performed using the scene and sources, background spectrum, instrument configuration, observing setup, and extraction strategy selected by the user.
All the final output products and intermediate products from the ETC calculations are available for download using the link provided on the Download pane. The tarball contains FITS files of the input 3-D model scene, 3-D data cube for the IFU calculation, and 2-D images that may be used for more detailed and specific analysis as desired by the ETC user. The extracted flux, backgrounds, contamination, and SNR used for the line plots are available as FITS tables.
The tarballs will be named for the workbook number, calculation number, and time and date that the calculation was performed. The folder the tarball contains will be named similarly, except in the case that the calculation is an unmodified default calculation. In that case, the workbook number will be given as "wb2", and the rest of the information will reflect the date that version of the JWST ETC was deployed.
Image directories
Background
"backgrounds.fits" contains background flux for the field of view at the time of observation requested. Background components are assumed to be uniform across the field, dependent on wavelength. The "background.fits" file has an array in its second header (hdu 1) which has 5 records: the first column is wavelength (μm), the second column is the total combined background (MJy/str), and the last 3 columns are the thermal, stray light, and infield components (MJy/sr) of the total combined background, respectively.
Cube
- 3d/cube_flux.fits
- 3d/cube_flux_plus_background.fits
These contain the scene "observed" by the ETC, with sources convolved by instrument PSFs. It is the scene cube incident on the detector, in units of mJy. The difference between the 2 files is that "cube_flux_plus_background.fits" contains additive background noise (scaled to the wavelength-dependent fluxes in "backgrounds.fits").
First header (hdu 0) contains a 3-dimensional array whose dimensions are wavelength, then x, then y. Pulling out a single slice of the array will provide the scene at a particular wavelength. The values of CRVAL1 and CDELT1, CRVAL2 and CDELT2 are referring to the spatial position of the (0, 0) pixel and scale (in arcseconds) of each of those slices.
Second header (hdu 1) has 2 fields: wavelength (in μm), and index number. Those index numbers map the wavelengths to the slices of the 3-D array in the first header.
If you have used an IFU mode, you will have different 3-D output files:
- "3d/cube_reconstructed.fits" - a cube of the reconstructed flux, in units of e–/s
- "3d/cube_reconstructed_noise.fits" - a cube of the noise (including all noise sources), in e–/s
- "3d/cube_reconstructed_snr.fits" - the above 2 cubes divided by each other
- "3d/cube_reconstructed_saturation.fits" - 3-D saturation map, where 1 = partially saturated, and 2 = fully saturated
These files represent the scene as reconstructed from the "observation." All files have a single header containing a 3-dimensional array with the axes in order wavelength, x, and y. All information for reconstituting the coordinates and wavelengths is given in the single header. Note that the header defines, per limitations of the FITS standard, a linear wavelength scale. For NIRSpec IFU in particular, the actual wavelength scale is not linear; see "lineplots/lineplots_wave_pix.fits" for the actual wavelength scale.
There will also be files in the "model" directory.
- 3d/model/cube_flux_n.fits
- 3d/model/cube_flux_plus_background_n.fits
These files are equivalent in format and content to the "3d/cube_flux.fits" and "3d/cube_flux_plus_background.fits" files obtained from the other modes and described above, with the difference that each of the files is a y-axis slice through the input scene cube. Within each file, only 2 y-axis locations in the array are populated for all values of x and wavelength, corresponding to one IFU element. The rest of the cube is zeroes.
Image
- "image/image_detector.fits" - the signal, in e–/s
- "image/image_saturation.fits"- the SNR
- "image/image_snr.fits" - the saturation, where 1 = partially saturated and 2 = fully saturated
- "image/image_ngroups_map.fits" - a map giving the number of groups before a given pixel will saturate
These are the 2-D images displayed by the ETC. First header (hdu 0) contains a 2-dimensional array of all of the values. As with the scene cubes, the header contains the spatial information for the scene.
For coronagraphic imaging, these files correspond to the chosen PSF subtraction strategy.
Plot directories
Lineplot
All of these files have 2 FITS headers, with an array of data (and explanatory headers) in the second header (hdu 1):
- "wave_calc" - 1-dimensional wavelengths (in μm), corresponding to the spectra (whether input from the user or from the ETC library) input into the calculation.
- "wave_pix" - 1-dimensional wavelength (in μm), corresponding to the output of the calculation. Unless a spectroscopic mode is specified, this file will have a single record with a single entry, which is the wavelength of the requested observation.
Some of these correspond to the line plots displayed in the ETC, but many do not.
These files contain inputs to the calculated observation, and have 2 records, wavelength (equivalent to "wave_calc") and the specified value, in their second header (hdu 1):
- "target" - combined flux of all the targets in the scene re-sampled onto the calculation's input wavelength grid, in mJy (as a function of wavelength)
- "fp" - the combined flux in e–/s incident on the detector focal plane
- "bg" - the (assumed spatially uniform) background flux input into the calculation, in MJy/steradian
- "bg_rate" - the background flux input into the calculation in e–/s
Words in bold are GUI menus/
panels or data software packages;
bold italics are buttons in GUI
tools or package parameters.
- "total_flux" - the total flux onto the detector extracted from the calculation, in e–/s
- "extracted_flux_plus_bg" - the flux of the target extracted from the calculation, in e–/s
- "extracted_flux" - the flux of the target extracted from the calculation, with background subtracted, in e–/s
- "extracted_noise" - the extracted noise (incorporating all instrumental noise sources), in e–/s
- "sn" - the extracted SNR (calculated as extracted_flux/extracted_noise)
- "extracted_bg_only" - the background flux extracted from the output of the calculation, in e–/s
- "extracted_bg_total" - the background plus contamination from sources in the scene, in e–/s
- "extracted_bg_contamination" - just the background contamination, in e–/s
- "n_partial_saturated" - number of partially saturated pixels in the output, as a function of wavelength
- "n_full_saturated" - number of fully saturated pixels in the output, as a function of wavelength
- "contrast" - (coronagraphic imaging only) companion-to-host flux ratio, as a function of wavelength
Input data
"input.json" - a JSON-formatted text file containing a complete record of the inputs to the ETC. This can be used as input to the ETC when run as a scriptable standalone Python program.