Filter Response Curves

The data/filters/ subdirectory contains small files with tabulated filter response curves. All files contain a single curve stored in the ASCII enhanced character-separated value format, which is used to specify the wavelength units and provide the following metadata:

Key

Description

group_name

Name of the group that this filter response belongs to, e.g., sdss2010.

band_name

Name of the filter pass band, e.g., r.

airmass

Airmass used for atmospheric transmission, or zero for no atmosphere.

url

URL with more details on how this filter response was obtained.

description

Brief description of this filter response.

The following sections summarize the standard filters included with the speclite code distribution. Refer to the filters module API docs for details and examples of how to load an use these filters. See below for instructions on working with your own custom filters.

SDSS Filters

SDSS filter responses are taken from Table 4 of Doi et al, “Photometric Response Functions of the SDSS Imager”, The Astronomical Journal, Volume 139, Issue 4, pp. 1628-1648 (2010), and calculated as the reference response multiplied by the reference APO atmospheric transmission at an airmass 1.3. See the paper for details.

The group name sdss2010 is used to identify these response curves in speclite. The plot below shows the output of:

sdss = speclite.filters.load_filters('sdss2010-*')
speclite.filters.plot_filters(sdss, wavelength_limits=(3000, 11000))
sdss2010 filter curves

We also provide versions of the filters without the atmospheric transmission which are identified by the sdss2010noatm group name and can be visualized with this bit of code:

sdss_noatm = speclite.filters.load_filters('sdss2010noatm-*')
speclite.filters.plot_filters(sdss_noatm, wavelength_limits=(3000, 11000))
sdss2010noatm filter curves

2MASS Filters

2MASS filter responses are taken from Cohen, Wheaton & Megeath, “Spectral Irradiance Calibration in the Infrared. XIV. The Absolute Calibration of 2MASS”, The Astronomical Journal, Volume 126, Issue 2, pp. 1090-1096 (2003), as tabulated by Michael Blanton. See the paper for details.

The group name twomass is used to identify these response curves in speclite. The plot below shows the output of:

twomass = speclite.filters.load_filters('twomass-*')
speclite.filters.plot_filters(twomass, wavelength_limits=(10000, 25000))
2MASS filter curves

GALEX Filters

The command below produces the figure:

galex = speclite.filters.load_filters('galex-*')
speclite.filters.plot_filters(galex)
GALEX filter curves

ODIN Narrow-band Filters

The One-hundred-deg2 DECam Imaging in Narrowbands (ODIN) survey filters consist of three narrow-band filters centered at (approximately) 419, 501, and 673 nm.

The command below produces the figure:

odin = speclite.filters.load_filters('odin-*')
speclite.filters.plot_filters(odin, legend_loc='upper left')
ODIN narrow-band filter curves

DECam DR1 Filters

The DECam DR1 filter curves are documented in T. M. C. Abbott et al 2018 ApJS 239 18 and available from this NOAO DECam page. These represent the total system throughput and average instrumental response across the science CCDs. The official curves have arbitrary normalization, but the values used here have reasonable normalization factors applied for throughput calculations, provided by Douglas Tucker (Jan 2021, private communication).

There are two versions of the DR1 curves: decamDR1 with an airmass 1.2 reference atmosphere, and decamDR1noatm with no atmospheric extinction:

with_atm = speclite.filters.load_filters('decamDR1-*')
speclite.filters.plot_filters(with_atm)
without_atm = speclite.filters.load_filters('decamDR1noatm-*')
speclite.filters.plot_filters(without_atm)
decamDR1 filter curves with X=1.2 atmosphere decamDR1 filter curves without atmosphere

DECam 2014 Filters

The DECam 2014 filter responses are taken from this Excel spreadsheet created by William Wester in September 2014 and linked to this NOAO DECam page. Throughputs include a reference atmosphere with airmass 1.3 provided by Ting Li. These are the most recent publicly available DECam throughputs as of Feb 2016.

The group name decam2014 is used to identify these response curves in speclite. The plot below shows the output of:

decam = speclite.filters.load_filters('decam2014-*')
speclite.filters.plot_filters(
    decam, wavelength_limits=(3000, 11000), legend_loc='upper left')
decam2014 filter curves

WISE Filters

WISE filter responses are taken from files linked to this page containing the weighted mean relative spectral responses described in Wright et al, “The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE): Mission Description and Initial On-orbit Performance”, The Astronomical Journal, Volume 140, Issue 6, pp. 1868-1881 (2010).

Note that these responses are based on pre-flight measurements but the in-flight responses of the W3 and W4 filters are observed to have effective wavelengths that differ by -(3-5)% and +(2-3)%, respectively. Refer to Section 2.2 of Wright et al. 2010 for details. See also Section 2.1.3 of Brown 2014 for further details about W4.

The group name wise2010 is used to identify these response curves in speclite. The plot below shows the output of the command below, and matches Figure 6 of the paper:

wise = speclite.filters.load_filters('wise2010-*')
speclite.filters.plot_filters(wise, wavelength_limits=(2, 30),
    wavelength_unit=astropy.units.micron, wavelength_scale='log')
plt.gca().set_xticks([2, 5, 10, 20, 30])
plt.gca().set_xticklabels([2, 5, 10, 20, 30])
wise2010 filter curves

HSC Filters

HSC filter responses are taken from here, as described here and in Kawanamoto et al. 2018. These throughputs include a reference atmosphere with airmass 1.2.

The group name hsc2017 is used to identify these curves in speclite. The plot below shows the output of the following command:

hsc = speclite.filters.load_filters('hsc2017-*')
speclite.filters.plot_filters(hsc)
HSC filter curves

Suprime-Cam Intermediate-band Filters

Intermediate-band Suprime-Cam filters taken from here. The response is the total transmission, including the filter, the instrument, and the atmosphere.

The command below produces the figure:

suprime = speclite.filters.load_filters('suprime-*')
speclite.filters.plot_filters(suprime, legend_ncols=3, response_limits=[0, 1.5])
Suprime-Cam intermediate-band filter curves

CFHT-MegaCam Filters

CFHT-MegaCam filters taken from here. The response is the total transmission, including the full telescope transmission (mirror+optics+CCD) plus 1.25 airmasses of atmospheric attenuation. Note that u* refers to the old (first-generation, through 2015) bandpass, whereas the u-band curve is the newer (post-2015, third-generation) filter curve.

The command below produces the figure:

megacam = speclite.filters.load_filters('cfht_megacam-*')
speclite.filters.plot_filters(megacam, legend_ncols=2, response_limits=[0, 0.7])
CFHT-MegaCam filter curves

LSST (2016) Filters

LSST filter responses are taken from tag 12.0 of the LSST simulations throughputs package and include a standard atmosphere with airmass 1.2 that is also tabulated in the same package.

The group name lsst2016 is used to identify these response curves in speclite. The plot below shows the output of the command below, and matches Figure 6 of the paper:

lsst = speclite.filters.load_filters('lsst2016-*')
speclite.filters.plot_filters(
    lsst, wavelength_limits=(3000, 11000), legend_loc='upper left')
lsst filter curves

LSST (2023) Filters

LSST filter responses are taken from tag 1.9 of the LSST simulations throughputs package and include a standard atmosphere with airmass 1.2 that is also tabulated in the same package.

This tag follows the baselining of silver coatings on all three mirrors.

The group name lsst2023 is used to identify these response curves in speclite. The plot below shows the output of the command below:

lsst = speclite.filters.load_filters('lsst2023-*')
speclite.filters.plot_filters(
    lsst, wavelength_limits=(3000, 11000), legend_loc='upper left')
lsst filter curves

Johnson/Cousins Filters

Reference definitions of the Johnson/Cousins “standard” filters are taken from Table 2 of Bessell, M. S., “UBVRI passbands,” PASP, vol. 102, Oct. 1990, p. 1181-1199. We use the band name “U” for the response that Table 2 refers to as “UX”. Note that these do not represent the response of any actual instrument. Response values are normalized to have a maximum of one in each band.

The group name bessell is used to identify these response curves in speclite. The plot below shows the output of the command below:

bessell = speclite.filters.load_filters('bessell-*')
speclite.filters.plot_filters(bessell, wavelength_limits=(2900, 9300))
bessell filter curves

DESI Imaging Survey Filters

The DESI spectroscopic survey used imaging from the DECam, BASS and MzLS instruments to build its target catalog. The relevant BASS and MzLS filters are:

desi_imaging = speclite.filters.load_filters('BASS-g', 'BASS-r', 'MzLS-z')
speclite.filters.plot_filters(desi_imaging)
DESI imaging filter curves

Euclid Filters

The current best end-of-life estimates for the “VIS”, “Y”, “H”, and “J” total throughputs for Euclid, i.e., “Y”, “H”, and “J” have been convolved by the “NISP” throughput. The original tables can be found here. The group name Euclid is used to identify these curves in speclite. The command below produces the figure:

euclid = speclite.filters.load_filters('Euclid-VIS', 'Euclid-Y', 'Euclid-H', 'Euclid-J')
speclite.filters.plot_filters(euclid)
Euclid filter curves

Gaia DR2 Filters

The (revised) filters from DR2 documented here.

The command below produces the figure:

gaiadr2 = speclite.filters.load_filters('gaiadr2-*')
speclite.filters.plot_filters(gaiadr2)
GAIA DR2 filter curves

Gaia DR3 Filters

The filters from DR3/EDR3 documented here.

The command below produces the figure:

gaiadr3 = speclite.filters.load_filters('gaiadr3-*')
speclite.filters.plot_filters(gaiadr3)
GAIA DR3 filter curves

Custom Filters

In addition to the standard filters included with the speclite code distribution, you can create and read your own custom filters. For example to define a new filter group called “fangs” with “g” and “r” bands, you will first need to define your filter responses with new speclite.filters.FilterResponse objects:

fangs_g = speclite.filters.FilterResponse(
    wavelength = [3800, 4500, 5200] * u.Angstrom,
    response = [0, 0.5, 0], meta=dict(group_name='fangs', band_name='g'))
fangs_r = speclite.filters.FilterResponse(
    wavelength = [4800, 5500, 6200] * u.Angstrom,
    response = [0, 0.5, 0], meta=dict(group_name='fangs', band_name='r'))

Your metadata dictionary must include the group_name and band_name keys, but all of the keys listed above are recommended. You can now load and use these filters with their canonical names, although the group wildcard fangs-* is not supported. For example:

fangs = speclite.filters.load_filters('fangs-g', 'fangs-r')
speclite.filters.plot_filters(fangs)
custom filter curves

Next, save these filters in the correct format to any directory:

directory_name = '.'
fg_name = fangs_g.save(directory_name)
fr_name = fangs_r.save(directory_name)

Note that the file name in the specified directory is determined automatically based on the filter’s group and band names.

Finally, you can now read these custom filters from other programs by calling speclite.filters.load_filter() with paths:

directory_name = '.'
fg_name = os.path.join(directory_name, 'fangs-g.ecsv')
fr_name = os.path.join(directory_name, 'fangs-r.ecsv')
fangs_g = speclite.filters.load_filter(fg_name)
fangs_r = speclite.filters.load_filter(fr_name)

Note that load_filter and load_filters look for the “.ecsv” extension in the name to recognize a custom filter.