DRAGONS v3.0 Release

We are happy to announce the v3.0 release of DRAGONS. This new version includes several new features, new support, and several bug fixes. This major update of DRAGONS has two big changes over v2:

• New “quicklook” reduction support for GMOS longslit data
• Python 3 compatibility only; Python 2 is no longer supported.

With this release, DRAGONS now offers support for science-quality reduction for all facility imagers and quicklook reduction of GMOS long-slit spectroscopy.

For imaging data, DRAGONS should be used instead of the Gemini IRAF package. However, for GMOS long-slit data and all other Gemini spectrographs, the Gemini IRAF package remains the only software approved for science-quality reduction. This version of DRAGONS offers a quicklook reduction only. A quicklook reduction is intended to check the overall quality of the data, such as confirming the presence of the target(s) and whether the expected signal-to-noise ratio has been achieved. It is particularly useful for assessing Target of Opportunity observations quickly.

We are continuing to develop DRAGONS and the next major release will support science-quality reduction of GMOS long-slit data, with optional interactive tools for key reduction steps as well as additional routines such as flagging cosmic rays and performing the slit function correction.

We encourage you to download DRAGONS and try it out. Please submit feedback or questions through the DRAGONS category in the Gemini Helpdesk.

For information and tutorials on DRAGONS, see the official documentation on readthedocs.