MTPipeline (Moveing Target Pipeline) is an imaging pipeline for Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide-Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) images. It produces processed PNGs from FITS images (Flexible Image Transport System) MTPipeline was created for use by the CosmoQuest Planet Investigators project and the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI).

This is project is still under active development. This is not a stable release. Software license TBA.

MTPipeline is written in pure Python. The processing steps applied to each input are listed below followed by descriptions.

• Cosmic ray rejection
• Drizzling
• Scaling

Single-image cosmic ray rejection is performed using cosmics.py, a python implementation of the Laplacian cosmic ray detection algorithm (LA Cosmics). This step produces a new FITS product named filename_cr_c0m.fits.

cosmics.py: http://obswww.unige.ch/~tewes/cosmics_dot_py/
LA Cosmic: http://www.astro.yale.edu/dokkum/lacosmic/

Single-image drizzling is performed using the AstroDrizzle tool in STScI's DrizzlePac software. This step takes both the original FITS file and the CR-rejected FITS output of the CR-rejection step. Depending on the options the drizzling step will produce between 1 and 3 outputs for each input. These outputs at the "wide", "slice", and "zoom" scalings.

DrizzlePac: http://www.stsci.edu/hst/HST_overview/drizzlepac

The images are optimally scaled for the CosmoQuest web tool and then written to a PNG file. The scaling algorithm is still being refined. The PNG is produced using the Python Image Library (PIL).

• Software license
• Scaling algorithm description
• User's Guide

Alex C. Viana
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
http://acviana.github.com/
viana [at] stsci [dot] edu
alex [dot] costa [dot] viana [at] gmail [dot] com

Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
http://www.stsci.edu

CosmoQuest
http://cosmoquest.org/

Fast Cosmics is licensed under a 3-clause BSD style license:

Copyright (c) 2013, Space Telescope Science Institute.

All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

• Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
• Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
• Neither the name of Space Telescope Science Institute, CosmoQuest, nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.