NAME

       mMakeImg - Generate synthetic FITS images

SYNOPSIS

       mMakeImg  [-d  level]  [-n  noise_level] [-b bg1 bg2 bg3 bg4] [-t tbl col width epoch mag]
       template.hdr out.fits

DESCRIPTION

       Generates synthetic FITS images, with varying levels of noise, from a  table  of  provided
       point  sources.  Each  source  is  treated  independently and its flux is distributed on a
       source-specific point-spread function.

OPTIONS

       -d level
              Turns on debugging to the specified level (1-4).

       -n noise_level
              Specified random noise equal to noise_level will be added to image background.

       -b bg1 bg2 bg3 bg4
              Specifies the four corners for a 'tilted' background for the image. Each value is a
              floating point number specifying the background height at the corner.

       -t tbl col width epoch mag
              Specifies  a  table  of  sources  to  be  added  to the raw image. tbl is the table
              filename, col is the column name which contains  the  source  fluxes,  width  is  a
              floating  point  number  determining  the point spread of each source, epoch is the
              coordinate system reference year, and mag is the reference magnitude of the  source
              list.  In  addition,  the source table should have ra and dec columns for the image
              positions.

              Several input tables can be specified if desired through repeated  use  of  the  -t
              flag and arguments.

ARGUMENTS

       template.hdr
              FITS header template, used to indicate the desired parameters of the output image

       out.fits
              Path of FITS image to be generated.

RESULT

       Synthetic  FITS  output  image;  sources in image will represent the values from the input
       table(s).

MESSAGES

       OK     [struct stat="OK"]

       ERROR  Can't open table table tbl

       ERROR  Can't find lon, lat columns

       ERROR  Can't find flux/magnitude column 'col'

       ERROR  Template file [template.hdr] not found

       ERROR  Output wcsinit() failed.  Exiting.

       ERROR  FITS library error

EXAMPLES

       $ mMakeImg -n 0.01 -b 0 1.0 1.0 0 -t sources.tbl J_MAG 5.0 2000 10.0 template.hdr out.fits
              [struct stat="OK"]

BUGS

       The drizzle algorithm has been implemented but has not been tested in this release.

       If a header template contains  carriage  returns  (i.e.,  created/modified  on  a  Windows
       machine),  the cfitsio library will be unable to read it properly, resulting in the error:
       [struct stat="ERROR", status=207, msg="illegal character in keyword"]

       It is best for the background correction algorithms if the area described  in  the  header
       template  completely encloses all of the input images in their entirety. If parts of input
       images are "chopped off" by  the  header  template,  the  background  correction  will  be
       affected.  We  recommend  you  use  an expanded header for the reprojection and background
       modeling steps, returning to the originally desired header size for the final  coaddition.
       The default background matching assumes that there are no non-linear background variations
       in the individual images (and therefore in the  overlap  differences).  If  there  is  any
       uncertainty  in  this  regard, it is safer to turn on the "level only" background matching
       (the "-l" flag in mBgModel.

COPYRIGHT

       2001-2015 California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California

       If your research  uses  Montage,  please  include  the  following  acknowledgement:  "This
       research  made use of Montage. It is funded by the National Science Foundation under Grant
       Number ACI-1440620, and was previously  funded  by  the  National  Aeronautics  and  Space
       Administration's  Earth Science Technology Office, Computation Technologies Project, under
       Cooperative Agreement Number  NCC5-626  between  NASA  and  the  California  Institute  of
       Technology."

       The  Montage  distribution  includes an adaptation of the MOPEX algorithm developed at the
       Spitzer Science Center.