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.
