Specview with VO interface released

[Ivo Busko]

Philippe Prugniel wrote:
<snip>
> An alternative is to pass the spectrum to a remote service doing the fit.
> In that case we just have to send one spectrum (no numerous retrieval
> for each set of parameters).
> This also allows to make fits which are more complicated than least
> square minimization.
>


Yes, that's a solution for sure. But then you don't require specview
to do that, nor, as a matter of fact, any other analysis software. 
Just ftp the data in, and ftp the results back later.

 
> Do you mean that a spectral component could be, for example, a synthetic
> stellar population specified by some physical parameters, and retrieved
> remotely?
> (to make cz or flux adjustements do not require multiple access to the
> remote access
> and would be useful, even if we do not make a fit of the physical params
> in specview)
>


Yes, but this functionality is not part of specview right now.
It can be added by the user if she follows the recipe in here:

http://specview.stsci.edu/javahelp/Components.html#Custom

It's a bit complicated, especially for non-Java-aware folks.
We intend to make it simpler when we move to Java 1.5, where
compilation can be taken care of by specview itself.

The example in the help page is for fitting a simple y = a + b * x
function. Just replace that line of code by whatever you
would like to fit.

The cz and flux adjustments are already slated for inclusion
in an upcoming release.


> As far as I understood, describing the resolution of each point of a
> spectrum
> is beyond the scope of SED-DM 1.0. But a precise description of the line
> spread
> function (width AND shape) will be needed at some point...
> 


I understand that the Resolution and Accuracy elements are on a
per data point basis. They are sub-elements of the Point element.


> Probably we should do like that: guess the resolution from what we are
> giving
> you (use sampling, or a general info about resolution, like FWHM).


I raised this point in relation to fitting mixed-type data.
For instance, high-resolution spectra mixed with photometry
data. No data source I know provides a hint on what the bandpasses
or FWHM are. Even when folks start adding these to their data,
there will be still older files hanging around, and for these,
what we do? 

> Philippe.

-Ivo