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 μm) 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.
Author
Nidever, David L.; Holtzman, Jon A.; Allende Prieto, Carlos; 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.
Journal
Astronomical Journal
Paper Publication Date
December 2015
Paper Type
Astroinformatics