The Hubble Advanced Spectral Product (HASP) Program

TL;DR

HASP automates the coaddition of HST spectral data, improving data quality, coverage, and accessibility for astronomers by reprocessing archival and new observations with updated calibrations.

Contribution

HASP introduces an automated, multi-stage filtering process for coadding HST spectra, ensuring high-quality, up-to-date spectral products for the community.

Findings

Automated coadditions improve signal-to-noise ratios.

HASP reprocesses data with updated calibrations automatically.

Enhanced wavelength coverage and data quality for archival spectra.

Abstract

The Hubble Advanced Spectral Products (HASP) program is designed to robustly coadd Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) spectra within the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) in an automated fashion such that coadds are available for new data or archival data with updated calibrations. For each target within a visit or program, HASP employs a meticulous multi-stage filtering process to ensure data quality and creates coadded products for all central wavelengths (CENWAVEs) within specific gratings, as well as combined products using different gratings and instruments. The project also emphasizes making the code accessible to the user community for custom coaddition. As calibrations improve and new data are added to the archive, HASP products are re-created automatically so that they represent the best reduction of a given visit or program. Automated coadditions like those achieved by HASP can significantly enhance the combination of different CENWAVES, increase signal-to-noise ratios, and increase wavelength coverage. These properties make HASP a vital resource for astronomers using archival spectroscopic data from HST.