Chandra announcement: Chandra CalDB version 4.9.6, Version 4.13.3 of the Contributed Scripts and Modules package released
Tara Gokas
* ACIS T_GAIN updates affecting recent OBS_IDs (since 2020-11-01T00:00:00).
* HRC-S T_GMAPs version N0004 (improves HRC-S/LETG PI-filtering for OBS-IDs taken since late 2017).
For details, please see the CalDB 4.9.6 Release Notes located at:
https://cxc.cfa.harvard.edu/caldb/downloads/Release_notes/CALDB_v4.9.6.html
See also "How CalDB 4.9.6 Affects Your Analysis" at
https://cxc.cfa.harvard.edu/ciao/releasenotes/ciao_4.13_release.html#HowCALDB4.9.6AffectsYourAnalysis
To download and install CalDB 4.9.6 on your system, you may use the ciao-install script available at the CIAO web page:
https://cxc.cfa.harvard.edu/ciao/download/
You may also use the Conda installation procedure which is provided here:
https://cxc.cfa.harvard.edu/ciao/download/conda.html
Manual download and installation instructions are also available at http://cxc.harvard.edu/caldb/downloads/
Users who do not wish to download the full CalDB, but would rather access it via the web for their specific observations only, may use the CIAO contributed script "download_obsid_caldb". Note that the web-accessible CalDB may take a day or two to be upgraded to this latest CalDB release.
As always, please send questions and requests for enhancements to the CXC HelpDesk (http://cxc.harvard.edu/helpdesk/).
Version 4.13.3 of the Contributed Scripts and Modules package is available
Version 4.13.3 of the Contributed Scripts and Modules package has been released (September 22, 2021). CIAO 4.13 users reprocessing HRC-S observations are encouraged to update to this version of the contributed scripts (upgrade instructions are included below).
The release is driven by the HRC-S time-dependent gain maps and PI region filters introduced in CalDB 4.9.6 and compatibility with chandra_repro. Reprocessing HRC-S observations made after May 14, 2021 with chandra_repro should be run with "pi_filter=no" until appropriate gain maps are available. Details of the changes can be found in the $ASCDS_CONTRIB/Changes.CIAO_scripts file and at the "Scripts Package: Version History" page.
What version of the contributed package do I have installed?
The following command gives the installed version of the contributed package and the method of the CIAO installation:
% ciaover -v | grep -i contrib
For CIAO installations made with ciao-install the output will look like:
Contrib : Package release 3 Wednesday, September 22, 2021
For conda installations the output will look like
ciao-contrib 4.13.3 py_0 https://cxc.cfa.harvard.edu/conda/ciao
How do I upgrade (or install) the package?
For CIAO installed with the ciao-install script, the contributed package can be upgraded with the same script: please see http://cxc.harvard.edu/ciao/download/
Users of the conda installation of CIAO 4.13 can update the contributed scripts package by running:
% conda update -n <env> -c https://cxc.cfa.harvard.edu/conda/ciao ciao-contrib
where <env> is the name of the conda environment where CIAO is installed.