Visualizing SED Data in Iris

When SED data is read into Iris, it displays in the Iris Visualizer, where you can interact with the data plot in various ways. The options available for customizing the data display are described in this thread.

When multiple segments and/or photometric points have been read into the Iris session and coplotted in the main display, it is important to note that the spectral data are not combined, coadded, or spliced in memory in any way; the raw data from the multiple input spectrograms/points is completely preserved in the resulting combination. This means that two separate SED data segments loaded into Iris for a particular source - e.g., observed with two differeny observatories and spanning separate (or overlapping) spectral ranges - may be offset from one another, as Iris does not scale, trim, and join the separate segments to form a seamless SED for the source. This is illustrated in the image below.

Clicking the "Metadata" button in the upper-right corner of the Iris display opens a window containing two separate tabs of information, one displaying the metadata associated with each SED data point in the plot, and the second the independent and dependent data arrays defining the plot.

Metadata tab

When available, the Metadata tab includes many useful pieces of information about the data points currently displayed. When a SED is imported from NED, as in the example considered in this thread, the metadata includes such things as the bibliographic reference code for each data point, the spectral range covered by instrument used to obtain data point, data point uncertainty and flux values as they are published, data point significance values, among other properties. The full list of metadata information available for each data point in this example includes the following:

• ID - data point identification number
• Data Reference Code - bibliographic reference for data point
• Data Significance - data point uncertainty information, if available
• Data Spectral Pass Band - spectral range covered by instrument used to obtain data point
• Data Spectral Published Value - spectral coordinate of data point as it is published
• Data Flux Published Unit - flux unit of data point as it is published
• Data Target Position - Ra and DEC coordinates of source target associated with the data point
• Data Spatial Mode - spatial mode in which flux value of data point was calculated (e.g., "flux integrated from map" or "total flux")
• Data Comments - miscellaneous helpful comments, e.g., "From new raw data" or "Extinction-corrected for Milky Way"
• Data Flux Unit - flux unit of data point
• Data Qualifiers - miscellaneous data qualifier information, e.g., "S/N=99"
• Data Flux Published Value - flux value of data point as it is published
• Data Frequency Mode - frequency mode in which flux value of data point was calculated (e.g., "Broad-band measurement")
• Data Flux Published Statistical Error - error on the flux value as it is published

The metadata table may be sorted by clicking the header of the column by which you would like to sort - once for ascending order, twice for descending order, and three times to restore the default sorting - and rearranged by clicking and dragging columns left or right. A nested sort may be achieved by first selecting the column which will set the master sort, clicking and holding the Control key, and then selecting the column by which to sort the groups of the master sort.

Data tab

The X and Y coordinate values of each SED data point in the Iris display are contained in the "Spectral Axis" and "Flux Axis" columns of the Data tab in the Metadata window, and reflect the values as they were imported into Iris from NED or uploaded from a file on your hard disk - i.e., not what is currently plotted in the Iris display (in the event that you changed the units of the data plot within the display). For example, if the data were uploaded in Jansky flux units versus frequency in Hertz, but then you change the display units to ergs/s/cm2/Angstrom versus Angstrom, the data point values returned will be in Jansky flux units and Hertz.

In order to mask or 'gray out' selected data points in the Iris display, simply select the rows corresponding to these points in either of the Metadata or Data tabs of the Metadata window, and then click "View un-selected" at the bottom of that window. In the display, the points selected in the Metadata window will appear fainter than the unselected points.

The "Select from plot" option in the Metadata window may be used to select all the data points in the plot, highlighting all rows in the metadata table.

It is also possible to view a selection of data points in the display without technically masking or hiding the remaining points, simply by clicking and dragging with a mouse cursor over the plot to draw a box around the desired points; this action effectively 'zooms in' on this subset of data.

The "Extract" function in the Metadata window allows you to go one step further than simply masking unwanted data points; it allows you to extract a whole new SED consisting of only the selected data points.

Making the desired row selections in the Metadata window and then clicking "Extract" will open a new SED in the SED Builder window named "FilterSED" - an ID which you can change - which will display in the Iris Visualizer.