Good calibration is an essential requirement for DES science, so Sahar has volunteered to help in the calibration group by writing a code, which is being referred to as “expCalib” Express Calibration. It calculates the zero-point for each CCD in an exposure, and is useful for on-the-fly calibration of single-epoch exposures. After running expCalib on the Y3 data set, the estimated zero-points were used for the Y3 single-epoch catalog-level coadd, which will help many types of DES science.
Currently, Sahar is working on adding small changes, so that expCalib could work on data outside the main DES footprint. She thinks this new addition is so exciting – it will help with the science that she wants to do and it gives her the opportunity to learn more and more about our data management system.
We asked Sahar a few more questions — here’s what she had to say:
What is your favorite part of being a scientist?
Do you have any hobbies or play any sports?
If you weren’t a scientist, what would your dream job be?
Do you have kids? Do they want to be scientists too?
Any other fun fact you’d like to share?
Astronomy runs in my family, I married to another DES astronomer, Doug Tucker. We met over 20 years ago, when I was a PhD student at the Astrophysical Institute of Potsdam (Germany).
The highlight of this past week was learning that the ASP Volume 503, which we both helped edit, has just come out. It is about Calibration and Standardization of Missions and Large Surveys in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Any advice for aspiring scientists?
