Explaining how "Z" works (mosdef)

So there is an automatic redshift guess command, Z. Pressing this is kind of dangerous if you do things wrong. Well, dangerous as in it will simply put the wrong redshift in 00_redshift_catalog_bmep.txt.

Anyway, so this uses the order in which you clicked around lines in the 2D image to guess the redshift of an object. It uses the 3rd character in the maskname and the filter to guess which lines should be in this image. For instance a z1 mask in the H band will have Ha and NII.

The only lines this program knows about are:

• OII
• OIII5008, OIII4960, HB4863
• HA6565, NII6585

The Z guess for OII is not working (nor is it working for X command). The program goes through and assumes that you clicked on lines in order of decreasing brightness. So if you have something in the H band at z2, the program will assume the lines clicked correspond to OIII5008, then OIII, and then Hbeta.

You can add more columns to your profile after clicking on all of the lines with no repercussions. For instance, if you also see SII in a band with HA6565 and NII6585, you can add that to the profile. HOWEVER, if you add HA6565 and SII, the program will assume that the SII is the NII line and try to calculate the redshift accordingly.

This function is not very explicit in throwing error messages. Just fit the lines using X if it returns without any indication that anything happened or it looks like something went wrong or whatever. Also, check your 00_redshift_catalog_bmep.txt to see if it added anything.