Topics

Many topics have been transferred to the ISAAC Data Reduction Guide. Users should consult this guide. As the data reduction guide becomes more complete, this page will disappear.

Tilted lines and variable resolution

• Tilted Absorption Lines
• Variable Spectroscopic Resolution

Ghosts, artifacts, non-Poissonian noise, etc,

• Pupil Ghosts
• Scattering feature in LW spectroscopy

Tilted Absorption Lines

There is significant astigmatism in the spectroscopic arm. This can lead to tilted absorption lines, if the FWHM of the images produced by the telescope is significantly smaller than the slit width. In this situation, accurate velocity measurements (eg. for rotation curves) may be difficult to achieve.Partial correction may be obtained from the atmospheric lines. This effect is present for data during the period March to September 2000. For data taken after September 2000, the effect has been minimised by optimising the position of the collimator of ISAAC

Variable SpectroscopicResolution

Since February 2000, the spectroscopic arm of ISAAC shows a variable spectroscopic resolution. In the high resolution mode (the 0.3" slit) the resolution degrades from 10,000 at low x values to around 6,000 at high xvalues. The degradation is probably caused by astigmatism in the spectroscopic arm. This effect is present for data during the period March to September2000. For data taken after September 2000, the effect has been minimised by optimising the position of the collimator of ISAAC.

Pupil Ghosts

Imperfections in the optics of ISAAC cause background sensitivity variations when the background is high and when the paralactic angle is changing rapidly.The later occurs when the telescope crosses the meridian near Zenith. The ghosts are generally not a serious limitation if the jitter frequency high enough (about once a minute) when the object is crossing the meridian nearZenith. The ghosts are strongest in the Ks band.

Scattering feature in LW spectroscopy

There is a feature in the L2 objective (used in LW spectroscopy only) that causes light to be scattered. This feature can be avoided by placing the target in the lower 1 arc minute of the slit and by keeping the chopping throw to less than 30".