[BUG] "Counts conversion factor" and "Flux scaling" are 0 by default instead of 1

[eteq]

Jdaviz component

Imviz

Description

"Counts conversion factor" and "Flux scaling" options of the aperture photometry plugin are 0 when you open up apphot. Both, though, seem like they should be 1 not 0 to be the case of "ignore those correction factors".

How to Reproduce

1. Install jdaviz
2. Open up aperture photometry plugin

Expected behavior

I would have expected these two scale factors to be 1 as the no-op case, since 0 should lead to divide-by-zero errrors. It does not, so I guess 0 must be a placeholder for "ignore", but that's confusing.

Browser

No response

Jupyter

IPython : 8.16.0
ipykernel : 6.25.2
ipywidgets : 8.1.1
jupyter_client : 7.0.6
jupyter_core : 5.3.2
jupyter_server : 1.24.0
jupyterlab : 4.0.6
nbclient : 0.8.0
nbconvert : 7.8.0
nbformat : 5.9.2
notebook : 7.0.4
qtconsole : 5.4.3
traitlets : 5.10.1

Software versions

Python 3.11.5 (main, Sep 2 2023, 14:16:33) [GCC 13.2.1 20230801]

import numpy; print("Numpy", numpy.version)
Numpy 1.26.0
import astropy; print("astropy", astropy.version)
astropy 5.3.1
import matplotlib; print("matplotlib", matplotlib.version)
matplotlib 3.8.0
import scipy; print("scipy", scipy.version)
scipy 1.11.3
import skimage; print("scikit-image", skimage.version)
scikit-image 0.21.0
import asdf; print("asdf", asdf.version)
asdf 2.15.0
import stdatamodels; print("stdatamodels", stdatamodels.version)
stdatamodels 1.6.0
import gwcs; print("gwcs", gwcs.version)
gwcs 0.18.3
import regions; print("regions", regions.version)
regions 0.7
import specutils; print("specutils", specutils.version)
specutils 1.11.0
import specreduce; print("specreduce", specreduce.version)
specreduce 1.3.0
import photutils; print("photutils", photutils.version)
photutils 1.8.0
import astroquery; print("astroquery", astroquery.version)
astroquery 0.4.6
import yaml; print("pyyaml", yaml.version)
pyyaml 6.0.1
import asteval; print("asteval", asteval.version)
asteval 0.9.30
import idna; print("idna", idna.version)
idna 3.4
import traitlets; print("traitlets", traitlets.version)
traitlets 5.10.1
import bqplot; print("bqplot", bqplot.version)
bqplot 0.12.39
import bqplot_image_gl; print("bqplot-image-gl", bqplot_image_gl.version)
bqplot-image-gl 1.4.11
import glue; print("glue-core", glue.version)
glue-core 1.12.0
import glue_jupyter; print("glue-jupyter", glue_jupyter.version)
glue-jupyter 0.17.0
import glue_astronomy; print("glue-astronomy", glue_astronomy.version)
glue-astronomy 0.10.0
import echo; print("echo", echo.version)
echo 0.8.0
import ipyvue; print("ipyvue", ipyvue.version)
ipyvue 1.9.2
import ipyvuetify; print("ipyvuetify", ipyvuetify.version)
ipyvuetify 1.8.10
import ipysplitpanes; print("ipysplitpanes", ipysplitpanes.version)
ipysplitpanes 0.2.0
import ipygoldenlayout; print("ipygoldenlayout", ipygoldenlayout.version)
ipygoldenlayout 0.4.0
import ipypopout; print("ipypopout", ipypopout.version)
ipypopout 1.0.0
import jinja2; print("Jinja2", jinja2.version)
Jinja2 3.1.2
import voila; print("voila", voila.version)
voila 0.4.1
import vispy; print("vispy", vispy.version)
vispy 0.13.0
import sidecar; print("sidecar", sidecar.version)
sidecar 0.5.2
import jdaviz; print("Jdaviz", jdaviz.version)
Jdaviz 3.5.0

[pllim]

There is actually a subtle difference between 1 and 0, and 0 is the default in the code on purpose. This is not a bug. If you look at Point 8 in https://jdaviz.readthedocs.io/en/latest/imviz/plugins.html#aperture-photometry , it says, "Setting this to 1 is equivalent to not applying any scaling. This field is only used if data has a valid unit. If this field is not applicable for you, leave it at 0."

tl;dr

• 0 (default) -- Do not even convert to magnitude.
• 1 -- Convert to magnitude but without any zeropoint scaling (usually this is raw instrumental magnitude).

This is because I want people to stop and think about what magnitude system they really want. I do not want people to blindly take an instrumental mag and think it is STMAG and so on.

[pllim]

Same deal with counts conversion factor. Counts can be ambiguous, so 0 means I do not do it at all. And if you request for it to be done, you better know what you are doing.

[kecnry]

Would it be more clear if we had a switch to enable/disable and if enabled, then you can access changing the value? Or we could just be more descriptive in the hint text in the UI.

[camipacifici]

I understand Erik's concern and I kind of agree (although it did not hit me before).
How about N/A (or some equivalent) instead of 0 when it is not in use?

[pllim]

Then we have to define it as "Any" instead of "Float", which is more processing for that one thing.

[pllim]

If the concern here is just about how it is presented in the GUI, then I prefer Kyle's way with the front-end toggles.

[kecnry]

Let's reopen this then, I think there is definitely some improvements we could make, right?

[pllim]

Once you decide how you want this done, please update the title and open a JIRA ticket. Thanks!