Data Reduction Frequently Asked Questions
List of FAQs
The search will be performed in the questions and answers.
General
- What is the best way to reduce my VLT data?
- What operating systems are supported by the pipelines?
- How do I retrieve the pipeline version used to generate a product file?
- Where do I find reference data (e.g. line catalogs, configuration tables, etc.)?
- How do I find out the exposure time for a given observation?
- The calibration data for my observations look strange. Can you confirm that they look as the are supposed to look?
- I derived quantities related to the performance of an instrument. How do I know whether these numbers are "normal"?
Gasgano
- What documentation is available for Gasgano?
- What do I do if I get the messaged "CPL initialisation failed" in gasgano?
- I successfully ran the installation script to install the pipeline, but when I try to run gasgano I get the following error:...
- Gasgano hangs when adding new files, what do I do?
- What do I do if recipe fails because frames are not classified?
- The pipeline cannot find recipe files, what is the problem?
Instrument specific FAQs
- AMBER
- APEX
- CRIRES
- Are there any known problems with CRIRES data?
- How can I read in CRIRES reduced data using IDL or IRAF?
- Is there a script to associate science and calibration data, create master frames and do the data reduction?
- I have two objects in the CRIRES slit, and I want to extract both spectra, how do I do it?
- I have a very low S/N spectrum and/or just emission lines, how can I reduce my spectra?
- There are few ThAr lines in my wavelength calibration spectra, what do I do?
- How do I plot my reduced spectra?
- Can I run the ESO CRIRES pipeline with MacOS?
- FLAMES/GIRAFFE
- FORS1/FORS2
- Are there any known problems with FORS1 data?
- Are there any known problems with FORS2 data?
- How can I find the photometric zero point for my FORS images?
- What is the best way to reduce FORS2 data?
- When I run the fors_zeropoint recipe, it gives me the warning that no star can be found because of missing WCS functionalities. Should I be concerned?
- I have downloaded some FORS2 data from the archive. Why are there multiple fits files with the same start-time?
- Why do my flux-calibrated spectra not agree with independent photometric measurements?
- How does the pipeline choose where on the slit to extract the spectrum in long-slit mode?
- In reducing some FORS2 MXU spectra, we are using a star which was observed in MOS mode to flux-calibrate the spectra. For chip1, everything is OK, but chip 2 fails. Why?
- In reducing data from my MXU mask with overlapping spectra, slit tracing fails for a number of slitlets. What do I do?
- My target is faint and is not detected by the automatic detection algorithm for objects within the slit included in the pipeline. How can I change the detection threshold in the pipeline?
- Why are my spectra not flux calibrated, even though there are standard star observations in the data set?
- The sky subtraction of my long slit spectra seems to be poor. What can I do?
- Where can I find a line-list to use for the wavelength calibration of my data?
- Why do I get the message that "no slits could be detected", even though in the raw frames I can clearly see the slits?
- What do I need to enter for the RETARDER_WAVEPLATE_CHROMATISM table when running the pmos_science_recipe?
- In order to observe the range 4100-6800 A with GRIS_600B+22, we have shifted the slit itself. A bright feature appears in the spectrum. What is it?
- I prefer to subtract the sky with external routines (i.e. in the case of extended objects that cover most of the slit(s), or dedicated sky observations). What are the relevant files I should use for this purpose?
- HAWK-I
- ISAAC
- KMOS
- MIDI
- NACO
- Are there any known problems with NACO data?
- I am trying to reduce NACO data and found that my FowlerNsamp dark frames are negative. Is there any recommended procedure to subtract the dark from the flatfield frames in this mode? Is the dark current insignificant that it does not make a difference if it is not subtracted?
- SINFONI
- Are there any known problems with SINFONI data?
- What is the best way to reduce SINFONI data?
- Which pipeline data product are the important ones for quick inspection?
- Why is it that sometimes the pipeline only produces individual cubes but not the final co-added cube or the 2-D co-added image?
- How do I combine the individual 3-D cubes into a final mosaic?
- What software can I use to quickly visualise SINFONI reduced data?
- There seems to be an extraneous signal in my science image. Where does this come from?
- UVES
- I am using ESO REFLEX software to reduce the UVES data. Is there any option in the pipeline to save the 2D extracted spectra, as the pipeline must extract the spectra in 2D first, and wavelength calibrate it, before merging the spectra to 1D?
- I see unexpected boxy emission-like features in my REDL spectra - where do they come from?
- How can I get the two-dimensional rectified spectrum instead of the one-dimensional extracted one?
- VIMOS
- Are there any known problems with VIMOS data?
- I want to process MOS data of the same target from different nights together - how can I do that?
- How can I be sure that my fibres are correctly labeled?
- My MR+GG475 data show strong absorption features below 6000A. Where do they come from and how can I correct them?
- The spectrum of my MOS flux standard star is shifted in wavelength by several pixels. Why is that and how can I correct for it?
- VISIR (pre-upgrade)
- VISTA/VIRCAM
- VST/OmegaCAM
- Are there any known problems with OmegaCAM data?
- Where can I download the OmegaCAM pipeline to reduce my data?
- My data shows an extended, bright feature - what can this be?
- A number of OmegaCAM filters show vignetting in their central regions. What are the causes for this and what are the dimensions of these features?
- Some OmegaCAM detectors show an odd central stripe in the bias and master bias images.
- X-Shooter
- Are there any known problems with X-Shooter data?
- What is the best way to reduce X-Shooter data?
- Negative pixel values in the 2D spectrum image are not being ignored by the standard extraction procedure. How can I ignore them?
- The sky in my NIR SLIT STARE data is not well subtracted.
- The response curve leaves residual instrument features in my science.
- My NODDING data are not processed.
- My OFFSET data are not processed.
- Can I process offset or nodding mode data as stare mode data?
- My flux-calibrated data do not agree with independent photometric measurements.
- Where can I find reference file of tag "XSH_MOD_CFG_TAB_VIS" which is required as an input for xsh_util_physmod?
- We didn't find a parameter in the Reflex workflow to switch on the production of the flux calibrated sky spectrum.
- How is the sky spectrum for OFFSET data produced?
- I cannot find flux standard stars with the same readout mode and binning as my science data.
- Why isn't there any spectrum in any of the three windows that appears after running the "xsh_respon_slit_offset" recipe in Reflex?.
- There are 2 possibilities of data reduction: the polynomial and the physical mode, which one should I use?
- Why are there two arc line catalogs for each arm?
- The reduced science spectrum displayed in the Reflex window appears good but when I try to plot it, it is quite different. How can I get it?
- Processing of my NIR daytime calibration data fails - why?
- How can I correct telluric absorption lines in the Reflex science end products?
- Why do the flats in my data have different exposure times and how do I know which ones to use?
- Are there order definition frames with spatial information, i.e. using 9 pinholes instead of 1?
- How can I find acquisition camera skyflats?
- Is there an optimal extraction in nodding mode?
- How can I improve spectrum extraction?
- How can I improve the sky correction of my STARE data?
- How can I improve the flux calibration of my spectra?
- I heard about problems with the X-shooter wavelength calibration. Where can I find more information?
- All my STARE data are processed as individual files - how can I have them stacked by the pipeline?
- The MERGE2D spectrum shows lots of bad pixels. Why?