DS9 Reference Manual
Table of Contents

Preferences

Allows the user to customize the appearance and behavior of the GUI .

Information Panel
Panner
Magnifier
Buttons
Colorbar

Frame Menu
Bin Menu
Zoom Menu
Scale Menu
Color Menu
Region Menu
Analysis Menu
Help Menu

Information Panel Contents
WCS
Panner
Magnifier
Truecolor Colorbar
Dialog Box
Pan
Print Coordinates
Examine
URL
Misc

Save Preferences
Clear Preferences

Information Panel

Show/Hide the Information Panel. The contents of the panel may be specified below.

Panner

Show/Hide the Panner.

Magnifier

Show/Hide the Magnifier.

Buttons

Show/Hide the Button Control Panel. These buttons duplicate some of the functions available from the menus.

Colorbar

Show/Hide the Colorbar. Colorbar functionality is available, even when the colorbar is not visible.

Frame Menu

  • Tile

    • Configure the tiling pattern to be used while in Tile mode.
  • Blink Interval

    • Set the blink interval while blinking between frames.
    Sets the size of the display frame, within DS9.
  • Auto Size

    • Sets the frame size to be as big as possible, given the current window size.
  • 256x256

    • Sets the frame size to be 256x256, centered in the window.
  • 512x512

    • Sets the frame size to be 512x512, centered in the window.
  • 1024x1024

    • Sets the frame size to be 1024x1024, centered in the window.

    Bin Menu

    Set the default bin function, factor, and buffersize.

    Zoom Menu

    Set the default Zoom factor, Orientation, and Rotation, along with WCS Alignment.

    Scale Menu

    Set the default Scale Mode and Limits.

    Color Menu

    Set the default Colormap.

    Region Menu

    Specify default region parameters such as radius and width and height.

    Analysis Menu

  • Horizontal Graph
  • Grid

    • Show/Hide the grid on the Horizontal graph.
  • Linear

    • Configure the graph for linear data.
  • Log

    • Configure the graph for log data. IMPORTANT: your data min value must be >=1 for it to display properly.
  • Vertical Graph
  • Grid

    • Show/Hide the grid on the Vertical graph.
  • Linear

    • Configure the graph for linear data.
  • Log

    • Configure the graph for log data. IMPORTANT: your data min value must be >=1 for it to display properly.
  • DSS Server

    • Configure the default DSS server. Used by the Analysis Menu item DSS Server Dialog.
  • Name Server

    • Configure the default Name server. Used by both the Analysis Menu Items Name Server Dialog and DSS Server Dialog.

    Help Menu

  • Reference Manual URL

    • Set the URL for the reference manual documentation. To set to a local file, use: FILE://.
  • Users Manual URL

    • Set the URL for the users manual documentation. To set to a local file, use: FILE://.

    Information Panel Contents

    Controls what information is displayed in the Information Control Panel.
  • Filename

    • Show/Hide base name of the current FITS image.
  • Object

    • Show/Hide the contents of the FITS keyword OBJECT, if present.
  • Min Max

    • Show/Hide the min and max values for the current FITS image.
  • Frame Info

    • Show/Hide the frame number, zoom, and angle of the current frame.
  • WCS

    • Show/Hide WCS coordinate values, for the current FITS image, if present.
  • Detector

    • Show/Hide Detector coordinate values, for the current FITS image. Requires the DTV/DTM keywords be present in the header. See NOAO IRAF Mosaic Data Structures for more information.
  • Amplifier

    • Show/Hide Amplifier coordinate values, for the current FITS image. Requires the ATV/ATM keywords be present in the header. See NOAO IRAF Mosaic Data Structures for more information.
  • Physical

    • Show/Hide Physical or CCD coordinate values, for the current FITS image. Requires the LTV/LTM keywords be present in the header. See NOAO IRAF Mosaic Data Structures for more information.
  • Image

    • Show/Hide Image or Logical coordinate values, for the current FITS image.

    WCS

    Sets the current WCS in degrees or Sexagesimal.

    Panner

  • Orientation Compass

    • Show/Hide the image orientation compass.
  • WCS Compass

    • Show/Hide the WCS compass.
  • WCS Compass Tangent Point

    • Display the WCS compass at the tangent point or the center of the panner.

    Magnifier

  • Graphics

    • Show/Hide regions  and crosshair in the magnifier window. This is not available for the 'Fast' display algorithm.
  • Cursor

    • Show/Hide the cursor in the center of the magnifier window. This cursor displays the size and orientation of one pixel, given the current zoom, angle and orientation of the frame.
  • Display Algorithm

    • Two algorithms are available for the magnifier.
  • Fast

    • This algorithm is a fast method, best for slow machines and images that are not rotated.
  • More Accurate

    • This algorithm renders the image for the magnifier in the most accurate manner as possible. This is the default algorithm. This method is best for non factor of 2 zooms and orientations of angle other than zero.
  • Magnification

    • Current magnification factor of the image rendered into the magnifier.

    Truecolor Colorbar

    To optimize adjusting the colorbar contrast and bias on slower truecolor machines, the user may select a subsection of the image to be manipulated.

    Dialog Box

  • Motif

    • All Standard Dialog boxes will be in Motif style.
  • Windows

    • All Standard Dialog boxes will be in Microsoft Windows style.
  • Blue Plate Special

    • All Standard Dialog boxes will be in the John Roll, Blue Plate Special style.

    Pan

    Configure the interactive pan method.
  • Click to Center

    • Center image at click point. Same method as SAOimage.
  • Drag to Center

    • Click, drag, and release to pan the image in the current frame

    Print Coordinates

    Specify which coordinates are printed when the 'C' key is pressed. The format of WCS coordinates are also specified. Also, the value of the closest pixel may also printed.

    Examine

    Configure the Examine function. While in examine mode, the user may indicate that all new examine operations go to one frame, or create a new frame each time. Also, the user may indicate the scale factor to be used in the examine frame. If the base frame is an image, the zoom factor is changed, if the base frame is a FITS Binary Table, the block factor is changed.

    URL

  • Show FTP Log

    • Show/Hide the FTP log window when using FTP to access an FITS image.
  • Show HTTP Log

    • Show/Hide the HTTP log window when using HTTP to access an FITS image.

    Misc

  • User Cursors

    • Change the current mouse cursor to reflect the current state of DS9. As the mouse cursor is placed over region handles, the cursor will indicate the type of function that is possible. If you wish to disable this function, unselect this item.
  • Scan for Min Max on Load

    • When an image is first loaded, indicate if the entire image is to be scanned to determine the min and max data values. This function can slow down the process of loading images greatly, so be default, it is disabled.

    Save Preferences

    Saves the current values of all preference items in the preference file name ~/.ds9.prefs. DO NOT EDIT this file, since it will be overwritten the next time preferences are saved.

    Clear Preferences

    Clears all current preferences. Actually deletes the ~/.ds9.prefs file, if present. The next time DS9 is started, default settings are used.