Reduction Algorithms for the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer

Abstract

We describe the data reduction algorithms for the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS). These algorithms were based on extensive preflight testing and modeling of the Si:As (24 μm) and Ge:Ga (70 and 160 μm) arrays in MIPS and have been refined based on initial flight data. The behaviors we describe are typical of state-of-the-art infrared focal planes operated in the low backgrounds of space. The Ge arrays are bulk photoconductors and therefore show a variety of artifacts that must be removed to calibrate the data. The Si array, while better behaved than the Ge arrays, does show a handful of artifacts that must also be removed to calibrate the data. The data reduction to remove these effects is divided into three parts. The first part converts the nondestructively read data ramps into slopes while removing artifacts with time constants of the order of the exposure time. The second part calibrates the slope measurements while removing artifacts with time constants longer than the exposure time. The third part uses the redundancy inherent in the MIPS observing modes to improve the artifact removal iteratively. For each of these steps, we illustrate the relevant laboratory experiments or theoretical arguments, along with the mathematical approaches taken to calibrate the data. Finally, we describe how these preflight algorithms have performed on actual flight data. © 2005. The Astronomical Society of the Pacific. All rights reserved.