1. IntroductionΒΆ

SCAMP (Software for Calibrating AstroMetry and Photometry) is a computer program that computes astrometric projection parameters from source catalogues derived from FITS images. The computed solution is expressed according to the WCS standard. The main features of SCAMP are:

  • Compatibility with SExtractor FITS or Multi-Extension FITS catalogue format in input,
  • Generation of WCS-compliant and SWarp-compatible FITS image headers in output,
  • Automatic grouping of catalogues on the sky
  • Selectable on-line astrometric reference catalogue
  • Automatic determination of scale, position angle, flipping and coordinate shift using fast pattern-matching
  • Various astrometric calibration modes for single detectors and detector arrays
  • Combined astrometric solutions for multi-channel/instrument surveys
  • Highly configurable astrometric distortion polynomials
  • Correction for differential chromatic refraction
  • Proper motion measurements
  • Multi-threaded code that takes advantage of multiple processors.
  • VOTable-compliant XML output of meta-data.
  • XSLT filter sheet provided for convenient access to metadata from a regular web browser.