THE DATA REDUCTION PIPELINE FOR THE APACHE POINT OBSERVATORY GALACTIC EVOLUTION EXPERIMENT

ABSTRACT The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III, explores the stellar populations of the Milky Way using the Sloan 2.5-m telescope linked to a high resolution (R ∼ 22,500), near-infrared (1.51-1.70 m) spectrograph with 300 optica...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astronomical journal 2015-12, Vol.150 (6), p.1-23
Main Authors: Nidever, David L., Holtzman, Jon A., Prieto, Carlos Allende, Beland, Stephane, Bender, Chad, Bizyaev, Dmitry, Burton, Adam, Desphande, Rohit, Fleming, Scott W., García Pérez, Ana E., Hearty, Fred R., Majewski, Steven R., Mészáros, Szabolcs, Muna, Demitri, Nguyen, Duy, Schiavon, Ricardo P., Shetrone, Matthew, Skrutskie, Michael F., Sobeck, Jennifer S., Wilson, John C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY
Apogees
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
Atmospherics
CORRECTIONS
DATA ANALYSIS
Data reduction
ELEMENT ABUNDANCE
EMISSION SPECTROSCOPY
Galactic bulge
GALACTIC EVOLUTION
galaxies: abundances
galaxies: halos
galaxies: kinematics and dynamics
IMAGE PROCESSING
Local Group
methods: data analysis
MILKY WAY
NEAR INFRARED RADIATION
OPTICAL FIBERS
RED GIANT STARS
RESOLUTION
SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO
Spectra
techniques: image processing
TELESCOPES
Three dimensional
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Summary:ABSTRACT The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE), part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III, explores the stellar populations of the Milky Way using the Sloan 2.5-m telescope linked to a high resolution (R ∼ 22,500), near-infrared (1.51-1.70 m) spectrograph with 300 optical fibers. For over 150,000 predominantly red giant branch stars that APOGEE targeted across the Galactic bulge, disks and halo, the collected high signal-to-noise ratio (>100 per half-resolution element) spectra provide accurate (∼0.1 km s−1) RVs, stellar atmospheric parameters, and precise ( 0.1 dex) chemical abundances for about 15 chemical species. Here we describe the basic APOGEE data reduction software that reduces multiple 3D raw data cubes into calibrated, well-sampled, combined 1D spectra, as implemented for the SDSS-III/APOGEE data releases (DR10, DR11 and DR12). The processing of the near-IR spectral data of APOGEE presents some challenges for reduction, including automated sky subtraction and telluric correction over a 3°-diameter field and the combination of spectrally dithered spectra. We also discuss areas for future improvement.
ISSN:0004-6256
1538-3881
1538-3881
DOI:10.1088/0004-6256/150/6/173