Pan-STARRS Photometric and Astrometric Calibration
E. A. Magnier, Edward F. Schlafly, Douglas P. Finkbeiner, J. Tonry, B. Goldman, S. Röser, E. Schilbach, Stefano Casertano, K. C. Chambers, H. Flewelling, M. E. Huber, P. A. Price, William E. Sweeney, C. Waters, L. Denneau, P. W. Draper, K. W. Hodapp, Robert Jedicke, N. Kaiser, Rolf‐Peter Kudritzki, N. Metcalfe, C. W. Stubbs, R. J. Wainscoat
Abstract
Abstract We present the details of the photometric and astrometric calibration of the Pan-STARRS1 3 π 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 deg 2 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 ( σ g , σ r , σ i , σ z , σ y ) = (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.