Here’s a guest post from Mark Westmoquette at the University College London.
Do you currently work with, or are you thinking about applying for integral field unit (IFU) observations? If so, then the Integral Field Spectroscopy wiki is for you.
With IFS instruments installed on all the main optical telescope facilities around the world, it is likely that you will come across IFS data sooner or later. Unfortunately IFS continues to be avoided by large sections of the astronomical community due to perceived difficulties with data handling, reduction and analysis. There is no doubt that dealing with IFS data is more complicated than simple imaging or long-slit spectroscopy, but many of the problems that arise could benefit from the experience and knowledge of others. We have set up the IFS wiki in order to facilitate exchange of IFS knowledge, and to be a repository of information, tips, codes, tools, references, etc., accessible and editable by the whole community. The wiki is intended for use by IFS beginners for any questions or issues with IFS data and for more expert users. All are invited to contribute – tips, experience of particular instrumental quirks, pieces of code, etc, are particularly welcome.
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Topics covered by the wiki are:
- current and future integral field spectrographs;
- observational techniques and planning;
- data reduction, including overview of procedures for different types of IFS;
- more advanced tasks like mosaicing or differential atmospheric refraction (DAR) correction;
- analysis techniques, from visualisation to line fitting and source extraction.
The founders and maintainers of this site are currently Mark Westmoquette (University College London, UK) and Katrina Exter (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium). To access the wiki go to: http://ifs.wikidot.com.