AETC - Example 3 : Galaxy cluster

In this example we will simulate observations of a cluster of galaxy as would be observed by WCS mounted at the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT). simulation of WINGS (Fasano et al 2006)
central 1000x1000 pixels of INT V-band image of A119
Data are available through the Virtual Observatory and can be retrieved using TOPCAT as described in Moretti et al. 2014.

Input galaxy catalogue

The simulation is based on the results of the WINGS survey (Fasano et al 2006). We will simulate the galaxies in the central 1000x1000 pixels WINGS V-band image of A119, obtained with the WFC@INT.
WINGS data are available through the Virtual Observatory and can be retrieved using TOPCAT as described in Moretti et al. 2014.
We retrieved position and Sersic index parameters for all galaxies (details on WINGS surface photometry can be found in Bindoni et al. A&A, 2014).
A copy of the catalogue can be directly downloaded here

Image Generation

AETC does not provide the configuration for WFC@INT, so the user have to load an empty template and set all parameters.
In the AETC homepage select the "Empy template" and click "LOAD" button
Set all the parameters for the telescope and camera.
For the sky brightness and Atmospheric absorption -in this particular case- you can use the default values for La Palma.
For the Observations Parameters we set the parameters to reproduce WINGS observations, i.e. 1h total observing time and 0.8 arcsec seeing.
Be sure to set the correct filter (in this case V Johnson).
Set the size of the output image (1000x1000).
Select "Galaxies" checkbox and click on the "Browse" button next to it. A File Selection Dialog box will open. Use this to select the file with the input galaxies list that was saved before. Be sure that the checkbox "Upload" is selected.
Click "Send" to start the simulation.
On the left panel below shows the central 1000x1000 pixels (5.5'x5.5') region of the WINGS V-band image taken with WFC@INT. The panel on the right shows the simulated image.
Click on the images to see the full-resolution version.
Note that we did not simulated the stars observed in the WINGS image and that the faintest galaxies are not included in the WINGS surface brightness catalog.
Observed Simulated