Absolute flux distribution of BD +17 4708

Secondary flux standards are established by measuring their brightness relative to primary standard stars. The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) primary standards are the three pure-hydrogen white dwarf (WD) flux standards that determine the sensitivity calibration for the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. STIS observations have defined the flux of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS, sdss.org) standard BD+17 4708 from 0.17 to 1.0{mu}m with an uncertainty of less than 0.5% relative to the HST primary standards, as verified by two independent sets of photometry.