Skip to the navigation links
Last modified: 24 October 2023

URL: https://cxc.cfa.harvard.edu/ciao/bugs/dmstat.html

Bugs: dmstat


Caveats

dmstat reads the null value defined for a column as an integer whether or not the image actually contains integer values.

For images (and probably for tables, as well), dmstat reads the null value defined for a column as an integer whether or not the image actually contains integer values. So as dmstat calculates its output, null=0 behaves exactly like null=0.9 and null=1.1 behaves like null=1.0.

This means that if there are pixels inside of the region whose values actually are 0.0, they are added up with the null pixels outside of the region, in the case that if null=0.0 or null=0.9; similarly for null=1.0. This inflates the null count returned by dmstat.

Workaround:

Using null=NaN should give good results. Technically, NaN is the "only" value that should be used for floating point images (or columns). Using any other null value with a floating point image is advised against since that value might already be represented in the image.