SALTICAM Simulator

Last update: 29 June 2022
Latest version: 1.8

You can download the RSS Simulator from the software download page.

Version History

  • Version 1.8 uses a more conservative telescope throughput.
  • Version 1.6.0 updates the solar properties.
  • Version 1.5.0 adds new source spectra.
  • Version 1.4.4 extends the range of allowed blackbody temperatures to [30 K, 100,000 K].
  • Version 1.4.3 allows you to export plot data as an ASCII file.
  • Version 1.4.2 fixes a bug which implied that for an imported simulation setup always the point source button was shown as selected.
  • Version 1.41 has some different default values.
  • Version 1.4 fixes a bug which resulted in the flux of an emission line spectrum not being saved.
  • Version 1.3 allows you to save and load simulation setups. Normalisation is possible in U, B, V, R and I. Flux values in user supplied spectra may be given in units of erg/cm^2/s/A.
  • Version 1.2 improves the throughput model used.
  • Version 1.1 adds missing throughput curves for the SALTICAM filters.
  • Version 1.02 fixes some bugs.
  • Version 1.01 fixes memory leaks.
  • Version 1.0 improves the memory usage, reducing the risk of out-of-memory errors. It also improves the calculation of the airglow background.

As of version 0.9 the SALTICAM Simulator is distributed for Windows and Mac OS X as a standalone application and for Linux as a jar file. (You still need Java on your computer, though.) The installation works in the same way as that for the PIPT Manager; see the PIPT installation instructions.

Also note that from version 0.64 onwards, the PIPT Manager includes the functionality of the Salticam Simulator Tool, so that you may simulate your exposure from within the PIPT Manager as well.

The SALTICAM Simulator allows a user to simulate a SALTICAM observation. It calculates the count rate (for both target and sky spectrum), signal-to-noise ratio, pixel saturation and readout time for a chosen target spectrum and detector setup. This calculation can be performed for several filters at once.