Paper II: Calibration of the Swift ultraviolet/optical telescope

Abstract

The Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) is one of three instruments onboard the Swift observatory. The photometric calibration has been published, and this paper follows up with details on other aspects of the calibration including a measurement of the point spread function with an assessment of the orbital variation and the effect on photometry. A correction for large scale variations in sensitivity over the field of view is described, as well as a model of the coincidence loss which is used to assess the coincidence correction in extended regions. We have provided a correction for the detector distortion and measured the resulting internal astrometric accuracy of the UVOT, also giving the absolute accuracy with respect to the International Celestial Reference System. We have compiled statistics on the background count rates, and discuss the sources of the background, including instrumental scattered light. In each case we describe any impact on UVOT measurements, whether any correction is applied in the standard pipeline data processing or whether further steps are recommended.

Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 15 pages, 21 figures, 4 tables

References in corpus (3)

• SDSS Standard Star Catalog for Stripe 82: the Dawn of Industrial 1% Optical Photometry
• The First Swift Ultra-Violet/Optical Telescope GRB Afterglow Catalog
• The measurement errors in the Swift-UVOT and XMM-OM

Cited by in corpus (87)

• Light Curves of the Neutron Star Merger GW170817/SSS17a: Implications for R-Process Nucleosynthesis
• SOUSA: the Swift Optical/Ultraviolet Supernova Archive
• Early Blue Excess from the Type Ia Supernova 2017cbv and Implications for Its Progenitor
• ASASSN-14ko is a Periodic Nuclear Transient in ESO 253-G003
• A Unicorn in Monoceros: the $3M_{\odot }$ dark companion to the bright, nearby red giant V723 Mon is a non-interacting, mass-gap black hole candidate
• Multiwavelength observations of GRB 110731A: GeV emission from onset to afterglow
• XMMSL1 J074008.2-853927: a tidal disruption event with thermal and non-thermal components
• Shock Cooling and Possible Precursor Emission in the Early Light Curve of the Type II SN 2023ixf
• The progenitor and early evolution of the Type IIb SN 2016gkg
• The Curious Case of ASASSN-20hx: A Slowly-Evolving, UV and X-ray Luminous, Ambiguous Nuclear Transient
• The Long Term Evolution of ASASSN-14li
• IC 3599 did it again: A second outburst of the X-ray transient Seyfert 1.9 Galaxy
• Short gamma-ray bursts within 200 Mpc
• GRB 090417B and its Host Galaxy: A Step Towards an Understanding of Optically-Dark Gamma-Ray Bursts
• The Evolving Activity of the Dynamically Young Comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd)
• The Swift-UVOT ultraviolet and visible grism calibration
• Revealing the dust attenuation properties on resolved scales in NGC628 with SWIFT UVOT data
• A timing study of MAXI J1820+070 based on Swift/XRT and NICER monitoring in 2018/19
• X-ray spectral components of the blazar and binary black hole candidate OJ 287 (2005-2020)
• GRB171010A / SN2017htp: a GRB-SN at z=0.33
• The Swift UVOT Stars Survey: I. Methods and Test Clusters
• A Bright Ultraviolet Excess in the Transitional 02es-like Type Ia Supernova 2019yvq
• A Swift Fix for Nuclear Outbursts
• The Rapid X-ray and UV Evolution of ASASSN-14ko
• Testing two-component models on very-high-energy gamma-ray emitting BL Lac objects
• The Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury. VII. The Steep Mid-Ultraviolet to Near-Infrared Extinction Curve in the Central 200 pc of the M31 Bulge
• Investigating the multiwavelength behaviour of the flat spectrum radio quasar CTA 102 during 2013-2017
• VHE gamma-ray detection of FSRQ QSO B1420+326 and modeling of its enhanced broadband state in 2020
• Extinction and the Dimming of KIC 8462852
• Modeling accretion disk emission with generalized temperature profile and its effect on AGN spectral energy distribution
• The awakening of the gamma-ray narrow-Line Seyfert 1 galaxy PKS 1502+036
• Investigating the Nature of the Luminous Ambiguous Nuclear Transient ASASSN-17jz
• Swift and Fermi observations of X-ray flares: the case of Late Internal Shock
• A multiwavelength study of the Magellanic-type galaxy NGC 4449 - I. Modelling the spectral energy distribution, the ionization structure and the star formation history
• The Loudest Stellar Heartbeat: Characterizing the most extreme amplitude heartbeat star system
• Short-Timescale monitoring of the X-ray, UV and broad double-peak emission line of the nucleus of NGC 1097
• PTF 14jg: The Remarkable Outburst and Post-Burst Evolution of a Previously Anonymous Galactic Star
• Chasing the break: Tracing the full evolution of a black hole X-ray binary jet with multi-wavelength spectral modeling
• Tracking the year-to-year variation in the spectral energy distribution of the Narrow-line Seyfert 1 Galaxy Mrk335
• MOMO IV: The complete Swift X-ray and UV/optical light curve and characteristic variability of the blazar OJ 287 during the last two decades
• A $Chandra-Swift$ View of Point Sources in Hickson Compact Groups: High AGN fraction but a dearth of strong AGNs
• Spectroscopic classification, variability and SED of the Fermi-detected CSS 3C 286: the radio-loudest NLS1 galaxy?
• Long-term monitoring of Ark 120 with Swift
• The "Giraffe": Discovery of a stripped red giant in an interacting binary with a $\sim 2M_{\odot }$ lower giant
• Periodic Gamma-ray Modulation of the blazar PG 1553+113 Confirmed by Fermi-LAT and Multi-wavelength Observations
• The Early Light Curve of SN 2023bee: Constraining Type Ia Supernova Progenitors the Apian Way
• Flares in the changing look AGN Mrk 590. I: The UV response to X-ray outbursts suggests a more complex reprocessing geometry than a standard disk
• Peculiarities in the horizontal branch stars of globular cluster NGC 1851: Discovery of a Blue straggler companion to an EHB star
• MOMO V. Effelsberg, Swift and Fermi study of the blazar and supermassive binary black hole candidate OJ 287 in a period of high activity
• Multiple Flares in the Changing-Look AGN NGC 5273
• A Partial Eclipse of the Heart: The Absorbed X-ray Low State in Mrk 1048
• Investigating the {Origin} of the Absorption-Line Variability in Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxy WPVS 007
• A MeerKAT, e-MERLIN, H.E.S.S. and Swift search for persistent and transient emission associated with three localised FRBs
• Unveiling the broadband spectral and temporal properties of PKS\,0903-57 during its brightest flare
• Luminous Type II Short-Plateau SN 2023ufx: Asymmetric Explosion of a Partially-Stripped Massive Progenitor
• Multiwavelength Follow-up Observations of the Tidal Disruption Event Candidate 2XMMi J184725.1-631724
• The ultraviolet luminosity function of star-forming galaxies between redshifts of 0.6 and 1.2
• A catalog of optical to X-ray spectral energy distributions of z~2 quasars observed with Swift. I: First results
• Gamma-ray-emitting narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies: the Swift view
• The Extremely Metal-Poor SN 2023ufx: A Local Analog to High-Redshift Type II Supernovae
• AstroSat/UVIT observations of IC4329A: Constraining the accretion disc inner radius
• Rapidly Rotating, X-ray Bright Stars in the Kepler Field
• Multiwavelength study of the gravitationally lensed blazar QSO B0218+357 between 2016 and 2020
• Multiwavelength variability of gamma-ray emitting narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies
• Collimation of the kiloparsec-scale radio jets in NGC 2663
• Swift J201424.9+152930: discovery of a new deeply eclipsing binary with 491 s and 3.4 h modulations
• Investigating the nature of INTEGRAL Gamma-ray Bursts and sub-threshold triggers with Swift follow up
• The NGC 454 system: anatomy of a mixed on-going merger
• NICER, NuSTAR, and Swift follow-up observations of the $\gamma$-ray flaring blazar BL Lacertae in 2020 August-October
• Radio VLBA polarization and multi-band monitoring of the high-redshift quasar S5 0836+710 during a high activity period
• First detection of VHE gamma-ray emission from TXS~1515--273, study of its X-ray variability and spectral energy distribution
• An optical-ultraviolet flare with absolute AB magnitude of -39.4 detected in GRB 220101A
• Optical photometry and spectroscopy of the low-luminosity, broad-lined Ic supernova iPTF15dld
• Modelling the variable emission states of $\gamma$-ray emitting Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 galaxies
• Near-ultraviolet detections of four dwarf nova candidates in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae
• A study of gamma-ray burst afterglows as they first come into view of the Swift Ultraviolet and Optical Telescope
• Short time-scale variability of $\gamma$-ray-emitting narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies in optical and UV bands
• Is HE 0436-4717 Anemic? A deep look at a bare Seyfert 1 galaxy
• Measuring Dust Attenuation Curves of SINGS/KINGFISH Galaxies Using Swift/UVOT Photometry
• Insights into the Long-Term Flaring Events of Blazar PKS 0805-07: A Multi-Wavelength Analysis over the 2009-2023 Period
• The Awakening Beast in the Seyfert 1 Galaxy KUG 1141+371 I
• A Method to Measure Photometries of Moderately-Saturated UVOT Sources
• Insights into the evolution of five isolated galaxies
• Extragalactic transient candidates in the Second Swift-XRT Point Source catalogue
• Swift, NuStar and XMM-Newton observations of the NLS1 galaxy RX J2317.8-4422 in an extreme X-ray low flux state
• The Stripped-Star Ultraviolet Magellanic Cloud Survey (SUMS): The UV Photometric Catalog and Stripped Star Candidate Selection
• Circumstellar Medium Constraints on the Environment of Two Nearby Type Ia Supernovae: SN 2017cbv and SN 2020nlb