Pan-STARRS Photometric and Astrometric Calibration
Price, P. A.; Chambers, K. C.; Stubbs, C. W.; Denneau, L.; Huber, M. E.; Finkbeiner, Douglas P.; Goldman, B.; Tonry, J. L.; Metcalfe, N.; Kaiser, N.; Wainscoat, R. J.; Casertano, S.; Draper, P. W.; Hodapp, K. W.; Röser, S.; Schilbach, E.; Kudritzki, R. -P.; Waters, C. Z.; Sweeney, W. E.; Flewelling, H. A.; Jedicke, R.; Magnier, Eugene. A.; Schlafly, Edward. F.
United States, Germany, United Kingdom
Abstract
We present the details of the photometric and astrometric calibration of the Pan-STARRS1 3π Survey. The photometric goals were to reduce the systematic effects introduced by the camera and detectors, and to place all of the observations onto a photometric system with consistent zero-points over the entire area surveyed, the ≈30,000 deg2 north of δ = -30°. Using external comparisons, we demonstrate that the resulting photometric system is consistent across the sky to between 7 and 12.4 mmag depending on the filter. For bright stars, the systematic error floor for individual measurements is (σg, σr, σi, σz, σy) = (14, 14, 15, 15, 18) mmag. The astrometric calibration compensates for similar systematic effects so that positions, proper motions, and parallaxes are reliable as well. The bright-star systematic error floor for individual astrometric measurements is 16 mas. The Pan-STARRS Data Release 2 (DR2) astrometric system is tied to the Gaia DR1 coordinate frame with a systematic uncertainty of ∼5 mas.