Wayne - A Simulator for HST WFC3 IR Grism Spectroscopy

TL;DR

Wayne is an open-source simulator that generates realistic HST WFC3 IR grism spectroscopic frames, including noise and systematics, to aid in testing data analysis methods and optimizing observation strategies.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed simulation tool for HST WFC3 IR grism data that incorporates realistic systematics, enabling better method validation and planning.

Findings

Simulations closely match real data from HD 209458 b

Effective for testing data analysis techniques

Helps optimize observing strategies

Abstract

Wayne is an algorithm that simulates Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) grism spectroscopic frames including sources of noise and systematics. It can simulate both staring and spatial scan modes, and observations such as the transit and the eclipse of an exoplanet. Unlike many other instrument simulators, the focus of Wayne is on creating frames with realistic systematics in order to test the effectiveness of different data analysis methods in a variety of different scenarios. This approach is critical for method validation and optimising observing strategies. In this paper we describe the implementation of Wayne for WFC3 in the near-infrared channel with the G102 and G141 grisms. We compare the simulations to real data, obtained for the exoplanet HD 209458 b to verify the accuracy of the simulation. The software is now available as open source at https://github.com/ucl-exoplanets/wayne.