Collaborative Research: A Data Reduction Tool for iSHELL

现代天体物理仪器在其能够产生的大量数据中提出了一个固有的挑战：为了在合理的时间长度内理解数据的含义，需要复杂的软件来补充硬件。好的数据简化工具或程序对于研究的成功和它们所支持的工具一样重要。其中一种新仪器是iSHELL，它是一种令人兴奋的近红外光谱仪，位于夏威夷莫纳克亚山的红外望远镜设施（IRTF）上，是一种3米长的望远镜。iSHELL将通过该项目获得一个数据缩减和分析工具，该工具将是对该光谱仪上一代版本的一个非常成功的软件包的修改。iSHELL将取代CSHELL，一种单阶梯级光谱仪。CSHELL于1993年首次发光；尽管它的年龄和同时波长范围很小（约为0.006微米至2.2微米），CSHELL仍然平均约占可用望远镜时间的15%，因为它是北半球观测者可获得的为数不多的具有相当分辨率的1-5微米梯队光谱仪之一。利用光谱仪光栅和红外阵列的技术发展，iSHELL将提供比CSHELL更好的能力。CSHELL的单次波长把握能力是iSHELL的50倍，分辨率是iSHELL的两倍（R=70,000）。iSHELL有一个非常强大的核心科学案例，从行星大气和彗星，到原恒星盘和恒星物理。各种各样的其他科学也可以使用iSHELL的通用功能。然而，要充分利用这种能力，需要有计划的数据约简系统对复杂的交叉分散的数据格式进行高效的约简和校准。IRTF为主要研究中心、大学和小型学院的科学家提供广泛的服务，并有大量的学生参与。较早一代的软件已经用于几个主要仪器的数据，预计根据该合同开发的软件也将如此。该项目由美国国家科学基金会天文科学部通过其先进技术和仪器计划提供资金。

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.