Each LMT instrument, excluding the B4R (more information here), has an associated data analysis pipeline for producing reduced data products from the raw data collected at the telescope. It is important to note that the steps in the reduction of raw LMT data to a science-ready data product are very specific to the LMT’s instruments and not easily adapted to other data reduction software. The raw data volumes produced by LMT instruments can be quite large, and it is often impractical for users to transport raw data away from the LMT. Therefore, pipeline reductions will be carried out primarily at data centers established at UMass and in Mexico.
The LMT staff will provide users with a standard reduction of their raw data into scientifically useful data products. Data products will be written in standard formats, such as FITS, allowing users to access their data using third-party software tools that are commonly used in the astronomical community. The project PI will be informed via email when the pipeline reduction is complete and checked for quality, and the data products will then be made available for download.
LMT users will have a one-year period of proprietary use of the science data products resulting from their observing program. The proprietary time period will begin with the LMT project’s delivery of all pipeline-produced data products associated with the observing program. Following the one-year proprietary period, the pipeline-produced data products in the archive will be made accessible to all LMT user communities.
Proprietary use of data obtained during a scientific observing program will be limited to the science targets of the program and will not be extended to any calibration observations, such as pointing data, obtained during the time assigned to the specific project. Access to calibration observations by the LMT staff and the LMT stakeholders provides a means to monitor the performance of the telescope, and its regular and timely analysis is beneficial to all members of the community.
This stage of the process will all include quality checks by the LMT science team to make sure the data is science ready. Specific quality assurance processes are currently under development.
Re-reductions can be requested through the Helpdesk.
A joint project of the Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica and the University of Massachusetts.
The LMT is included in CONACYT's National Laboratories network.
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