Using the PROS software

The PROS software is stored under the IRAF package xray, and is divided into several subpackages (e.g., spectral, spatial, timing, etc.). Once the xray package is loaded all the sub-packages are accessible. To load the PROS software:

cl> xray
         []----------------------------------------------------[]
         []            PROS RELEASE VERSION 2.4                []
         []                 October, 1995                      []
         []                                                    []
         []      Before using this version rerun mkiraf        []
         []                                                    []
         []           For answers mail hotseat                 []
         []----------------------------------------------------[]

The following general information is available via the "help" command:
        help topic:     description:

        pros            description of all help options available in pros
        bugs            description of known IRAF/PROS bugs
        coords          description of IRAF coordinates used in PROS
        exposure        description of PROS exposure correction support
        extensions      description of conventions for PROS file extensions
        explain_errors  description of PROS error computations for low 
                        count/bin data
        explain_xdata   description of new RDF file formats
        explain_screen  description of PROS support for temporal screening
        extensions      description of conventions for PROS file extensions
        file_compare    comparison of new/RDF formats to OLD formats in PROS
        filter          description of filtering options in PROS
        missions        list of missions and instruments support by PROS
        prf             information on the Point Response Function (or psf)
        qpoe            description of the QPOE data file and user interface
     *  rosat_files     description of ROSAT data files which can be input 
                        to PROS
        regions         description of PROS region masks
        release_xray    release notes for this build
        xspec_interface description of how to convert data into XSPEC 
                        PHA files

      xapropos    xdemo       xinstall    xobsolete.  xproto.     xspectral.
      xdataio.    ximages.    xlocal.     xplot.      xspatial.   xtiming.
xr>

After the xray package is loaded, the following IRAF logical variables are defined.

• xdata: is a directory containing Einstein and ROSAT sample x-ray data files which are available for testing the PROS tasks and their use.
• xdemo: is a directory containing demos that use the PROS software. These are useful in demonstrating the PROS software and may serve as templates for users.

IRAF uses $ as a delimiter between logical variables and physical names i.e. xdata$snr.imh addresses the image snr.imh in the directory pointed to by the IRAF variable, xdata.