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The following sections describe the sequence of steps required for reducing FIRE data from scratch.
Data Preparation and Launching FIREHOSE
Initial Setup
Locating the Order Boundaries
Generating Flat Fields
Generating the FIRE Structure
Arc Solutions and Object Extraction
Data Preparation and Launching FIREHOSE
Assuming you have properly installed FIREHOSE and its dependent packages, you are ready to start.
First, you should prepare your data by copying all raw files into a directory named "Raw" (if you prefer you can change this later, but firehose uses this as a default). Create a second directory named "redux" in the same parent directory as Raw and "cd" into the redux directory. From there, start an idl session and type "firehose" to bring up the GUI.
unix> mkdir Raw
unix> cp <path>/fire*.fits Raw
unix> mkdir redux
unix> cd redux
unix> idl
IDL> firehose
Initial Setup
You are now presented with the firehose GUI. It is organized into a series of tabs which guide you through the linear process of reduction steps.
By default, you are started in the "setup" tab, which requires only two simple operations. First, you can choose the directory where firehose looks for the raw data, if you did not use the default value suggested above. Firehose will never overwrite files in this space, so your raw data will remain safe.
Next you can enter your Magellan-formatted observing catalog into the second box. This is used by the software to match exposures of the same object when organizing for the reduction process. It is more efficient than using header information since it groups objects by where the telescope was pointing and matching that to your object list, thereby avoiding operator errors at the telescope. It also checks against the FIRE list of known telluric standards to determine which exposures are science targets versus calibrators. If you choose not to enter the catalog, firehose will attempt to organize based on header information. All settings can be over-ridden manually later in the process.
Generating Flat Fields
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Generating the FIRE Structure
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Object Extraction
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Telluric Correction / Flux Calibration
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Combining Orders and Exposures to 1D
Special Topics
Accessing 2D sky subtracted/Wavelength calibrated images
Using "Blank Sky" fields for Sky Subtraction on Extended Objects"
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