---
name: "mCatMap"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "montage"
version: "6.1+dfsg-1+b1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/mCatMap"
---

# mCatMap(1)

Point-source imaging program

## NAME

mCatMap - Point-source imaging program

## SYNOPSIS

mCatMap \[-c *column*\] \[-m *refmag*\] \[-d *level*\] \[-w *size*\] in.tbl out.fits hdr.template

## DESCRIPTION

**mCatMap** is a point-source imaging program.  The user defines a general output FITS image, and its pixels are populated from a table of point sources.  The source fluxes (or just source counts) from the table are added into the appropriate pixel to create an output image.

## OPTIONS

- \-c *column*

  Name of the table column that contains flux levels.  If not specified, pixels will be populated with source counts rather than summed flux values.

- \-m *refmag*

  Set a reference magnitude to use when calculating fluxes.

- \-d *level*

  Turn on debugging to the specified level (1-3)

- \-w *size*

  Set a spread size for point sources (default is to use no spread).  Allowed values are 3 or 5.

## ARGUMENTS

- in.tbl

  Input table of source metadata.

- out.fits

  Path of output FITS file.

- hdr.template

  ASCII header template defining output FITS file.

## RESULT

**\[struct stat="OK", time=***seconds***\]**

## MESSAGES

- *OK*

  *\[struct stat="OK", time=seconds\]*

- *ERROR*

  *Can't open input table in.tbl*

- *ERROR*

  *Can't find column 'ra'*

- *ERROR*

  *Can't find column 'dec'*

- *ERROR*

  *Can't find column 'column'*

- *ERROR*

  *Output wcsinit() failed*

- *ERROR*

  *Template file not found*

## EXAMPLES

*To create an image showing the 2MASS point source fluxes (***2mass\_pt.tbl***) in a 2 square degree area defined by* **2mass\_pt.hdr***:*

- *mCatMap -c flux 2mass\_pt.tbl 2mass\_pt.fits 2mass\_pt.hdr*

  *\[struct stat="OK", time=4\]*

*Output image:*

## BUGS

*The drizzle algorithm has been implemented but has not been tested* *in this release.*

*If a header template contains carriage returns (i.e., created/modified* *on a Windows machine), the cfitsio library will be unable to read it* *properly, resulting in the error: \[struct stat="ERROR", status=207,* *msg="illegal character in keyword"\]*

*It is best for the background correction algorithms if the area* *described in the header template completely encloses all of the input* *images in their entirety. If parts of input images are "chopped off"* *by the header template, the background correction will be affected. We* *recommend you use an expanded header for the reprojection and* *background modeling steps, returning to the originally desired header* *size for the final coaddition. The default background matching assumes* *that there are no non-linear background variations in the individual* *images (and therefore in the overlap differences). If there is any* *uncertainty in this regard, it is safer to turn on the "level only"* *background matching (the "-l" flag in mBgModel.*

## COPYRIGHT

*2001-2015 California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California*

*If your research uses Montage, please include the following* *acknowledgement: "This research made use of Montage. It is funded by* *the National Science Foundation under Grant Number ACI-1440620, and* *was previously funded by the National Aeronautics and Space* *Administration's Earth Science Technology Office, Computation* *Technologies Project, under Cooperative Agreement Number NCC5-626* *between NASA and the California Institute of Technology."*

*The Montage distribution includes an adaptation of the MOPEX algorithm* *developed at the Spitzer Science Center.*