Greetings all, This note announces the release of HIRedux v2.0, a rather significant upgrade to the IDL package I have developed for HIRES based on the MIKE pipeline that Scott Burles (MIT) and I have built in coordination with R. Bernstein (U Michigan). It is fair to say that IDL novices will have a steep learning curve to ride. Get ready for that.. I highly recommend the IDL Introduction Guide. It is about 100 pages of quick reading. If you want to skip straight to the chase, go here: http://www.ucolick.org/~xavier/HIRedux/index.html ----- What's new in V2.0: a. Non-parametric optimal extraction. The downside is that extraction is now quite slow. b. Significantly improved wavelength solutions. Especially for the red side. c. The code has been tested on many setups taken over the past year. d. Many v1.0 bugs have been identified and fixed. e. B-decker data is now reduced rather well f. Flux and coadding routines now exist (the former are suspect at best) g. New pixel flat files h. Improved cookbook with examples of the QA files. --------- Current serious concerns with HIRES reduction: A. I have noticed in at least one set of my data that the frames show a stretch in the cross-disperser direction between the flat and the science. That is, the flat is NOT an exact trace of the science frame (offset is more than 2 native pixels). The exposures were taken back to back and nothing changed in the setup. This is worrisome for any pipeline.. B. Images with significant scattered light (i.e. very bright stars) should be monitored a bit more closely. C. A few bad columns are present on the chips. I have not chosen to mask them yet and they lead to what appears to be 200km/s absorption features. The data is good otherwise. Will attack this before too long. --------- Here is the work that is currently in progress i. Extend the blue wavelength solutions to at least Order 118. Does anyone have a ThAr line list for wavelengths below 3100Ang?? ii. Improve the solutions for the red cross-disperser. This will probably develop as you use the code and tell me when it breaks. So pay attention on the red side and contact me with concerns. iii. Placing the output to the screen into a Log file. Or at least important WARNING messages. This was started but is not far along yet. Email hiredux@ucolick.org for questions/comments. Cheers, X