An improved spectral extraction method for JWST/NIRSpec fixed slit observations

Abstract

The James Webb Space Telescope is performing beyond our expectations. Its Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) provides versatile spectroscopic capabilities in the 0.6–5.3 µm wavelength range, where a new window is opening for studying Trans-Neptunian objects in particular. We propose a spectral extraction method for NIRSpec fixed slit observations, with the aim of meeting the superior performance on the instrument with the most advanced data processing. We applied this method on the fixed slit dataset of the guaranteed-time observation program 1231, which targets Plutino 2003 AZ84. We compared the spectra we extracted with those from the calibration pipeline.