Image Selection Parameters

Many of the image analysis tasks contain a set of parameters that can be used to define a sub-section of an image that the task works on. This includes selection in the spatial coordinates, typically RA/DEC or GLON/GLAT (or image axes 0,1) which can be defined by the box parameter. Spectral selection can be achieved by the chans parameter (typically axis 3) and Stokes selection with the stokes parameter (typically axis 2). These parameters are described below and are a quick way to select sub-images. For more complicated selections, we recommend the usage of the CASA region file (CRTF file).    

 

Region Selection (box)

Direction (e.g. RA, Dec) areal selection in the image analysis tasks is controlled by the box parameter or through the region parameter. Note that one should either specify a region (recommended) or any of box/chans/stokes parameters. Specifying both at the same time will give priority to the command line inputs in 'chans' and 'stokes' but will keep the region file specification for the spatial region selection.

The box parameter selects spatial rectangular areas:

E.g. for right ascension and declination. Boxes are specified by their bottom-left corner (blc) and top-right corner (trc) as follows: blcx, blcy, trcx, trcy. At the moment, CASA only accepts pixel values. The default (empty string) is to select all pixels of an image.

Example:

selects a square with 50 pixels on the side starting at 0.

selects two regions at a time.

Plane Selection (chans, stokes)

The channel, frequency, or velocity plane(s) of the image is chosen using the chans parameter:

Using channel numbers, it is possible to also set ranges, e.g.

Sometimes, as in the immoments task, the channel/plane selection is generalized to work on more than one axis type. In this case, the planes parameter is used. This behaves like chans in syntax.

chans can also be set in the CASA region format to allow settings in frequency and velocity, e.g.

This example would even define a new velocity system independent of the one in the image itself. If the rest frequency and velocity frame within the image are being used, the latter two entries are not needed. The parentheses are needed when the call is in a single command.

A frequency selection looks like:

The polarization plane(s) of the image is chosen with the stokes parameter:

stokes parameters to image, may or may not be separated by commas but best if you use commas. Options are: 'I','Q','U','V', 'I','IV','QU','IQUV', 'RR','RL','LR','LL', 'XX','YX','XY','YY',...

Examples: