Collaborative Research: A Data Reduction Tool for iSHELL

现代天体物理仪器对其能够产生的非常丰富的数据提出了固有的挑战：需要复杂的软件来补充硬件，以便在合理的时间长度内理解数据的含义。好的数据简化工具或程序对于研究的成功可能与它们所支持的工具一样重要。其中一台新仪器是ISHELL，这是夏威夷莫纳克亚的IRTF(红外望远镜设施)上的一台令人兴奋的近红外光谱仪，该望远镜有3米长。ISHELL将通过这个项目获得一个数据简化和分析工具，它将是在该光谱仪的前一代版本上得到验证的一个非常成功的软件包的修改。ISHELL将取代CSHELL，一种一阶梯形光谱仪。CSHELL在1993年实现了第一次亮化；尽管它的年龄和同时的波长范围很小(在2.2微米处约为0.006微米)，但CSHELL的平均望远镜时间仍约为可用望远镜时间的15%，因为它是北半球少数几个具有类似分辨率的1-5微米梯形光谱仪之一。利用光谱仪光栅和红外阵列的技术发展，ISHELL将提供比CSHELL更高的能力。CSHELL的单次波长抓取能力将是ISHELL的50倍，分辨率最高为ISHELL的两倍(R=70,000)。ISHELL拥有从行星大气和彗星到原恒星圆盘和恒星物理学的非常强大的核心科学论据。ISHELL的通用能力也使各种各样的其他科学成为可能。然而，要充分利用这一能力，需要计划中的数据简化系统有效地减少和校准复杂的交叉分散数据格式。IRTF为主要研究中心、大学和小型学院的广泛科学家社区提供服务，并有大量学生参与。前一代软件已经用于几个主要仪器的数据，根据这一奖项开发的软件预计也是如此。这个项目的资金由NSF的天文科学部通过其先进技术和仪器计划提供。

Modern astrophysical instrumentation presents a challenge inherent in the very wealth of data it is capable of producing: sophisticated software is needed to complement the hardware, in order to understand what the data mean in a reasonable length of time. Good data reduction tools, or programs, can be as important to research success as the instruments they support. One new instrument is iSHELL, an exciting near-infrared spectrograph at the IRTF (Infrared Telescope Facility), a 3-meter telescope on Mauna Kea, in Hawaii. iSHELL will receive through this project a data reduction and analysis tool that will be a modification of a highly successful software package proven on the earlier-generation version of this spectrograph. iSHELL will replace CSHELL, a single-order echelle spectrograph. CSHELL achieved first light in 1993; despite its age and small simultaneous wavelength range (about 0.006 microns at 2.2 microns), CSHELL still averages about 15% of available telescope time because it is one of only a few 1-5 micron echelle spectrographs of comparable resolution available to observers in the northern hemisphere. Capitalizing on technological developments in spectrograph gratings and infrared arrays, iSHELL will provide greatly improved capabilities over CSHELL. CSHELL will have up to 50 times the single-shot wavelength grasp of iSHELL, with up to twice the resolving power (R=70,000). iSHELL has a very strong core science case ranging from planetary atmospheres and comets, to protostellar disks and stellar physics. A wide variety of other science is also enabled with iSHELL's general-purpose capabilities. However, to fully exploit this capability requires the planned data reduction system to efficiently reduce and calibrate complicated cross-dispersed data format.The IRTF serves a broad community of scientists at major research centers, universities, and small colleges, with substantial student involvement. The earlier generation of software has been used on data from several major instruments, and the same is expected to be true for the software developed under this award.Funding for this project is being provided by NSF's Division of Astronomical Sciences through its Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation program.