XCSAO: A Radial Velocity Package for the IRAF Environment

Michael J. Kurtz, Douglas J. Mink, William F. Wyatt, Daniel G. Fabricant, and Guillermo Torres
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138
Gerard A. Kriss
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218
John L. Tonry
Department of Physics, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139

Abstract

XCSAO is a software package for obtaining radial velocities of stars and galaxies from optical spectra using the cross-correlation method. It has been written to work within the IRAF environment, and is compatible with other packages being developed at SAO for optical spectra. We discuss the individual components of the package in terms of the decisions required to set up the package for a new instrument/observing program. Using artificial spectra we show the procedures necessary to optimize the set up parameters, and demonstrate the robustness of the package when applied to spectra from both stars and galaxies.


Presented at the First Annual Conference on Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems (ADASS 91) in Tucson, Arizona November 1991
Published in Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems I, ASP Conf. Ser., Vol. 25, eds. D.M. Worrall, C. Biemesderfer, and J. Barnes, p. 432-438 (1992).
[full text] [rvsao] [rvsao references] [xcsao]