IA/U.Porto Seminar - A general tool to correct telluric absorption lines - 26 março 2018

Absorption lines formed in the Earth atmosphere are a common feature of spectra obtained by ground-based telescopes. Correcting for these lines, mostly affecting the red and infrared region, usually relies on observations of specific stars obtained close in time and airmass to the science targets, therefore using precious observing time. Molecfit is a versatile tool to correct for telluric absorption lines based on synthetic modelling of the Earth’s atmospheric transmission and can be used with data obtained with various ground-based telescopes and instruments. I will discuss the various ingredients of the method, its applicability, and its limitations. I also show examples of telluric line correction on spectra obtained with a suite of ESO VLT instruments. Finally, I will present recent and foreseen developments.