PyWiFeS: a rapid data reduction pipeline for the Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS)

• Published in: Astrophysics and space science Vol. 349; no. 2; pp. 617 - 636
• Main Authors: Childress, Michael J., Vogt, Frédéric P. A., Nielsen, Jon, Sharp, Robert G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.02.2014; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Astrobiology; Astronomy; Astrophysics; Astrophysics and Astroparticles; Cosmology; Data analysis; Data processing; Data reduction; Observations and Techniques; Original Article; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Space Exploration and Astronautics; Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics; Spectrum analysis; Wavelengths; Instrumentation: spectrographs; Methods: data analysis
• ISSN: 0004-640X; 1572-946X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10509-013-1682-0

We present PyWiFeS, a new Python-based data reduction pipeline for the Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS). PyWiFeS consists of a series of core data processing routines built on standard scientific Python packages commonly used in astronomical applications. Included in PyWiFeS is an implementation of a new global optical model of the spectrograph which provides wavelengths solutions accurate to ∼0.05 Å (RMS) across the entire detector. The core PyWiFeS package is designed to be scriptable to enable batch processing of large quantities of data, and we present a default format for handling of observation metadata and scripting of data reduction.