ESO Archive Frequently Asked Questions
The search will be performed in the questions and answers.
User Portal
- I don't have access to the ESO User Portal yet. How do I register?
- How do I login into the system?
- I forgot my password. What can I do?
- I have taken up a new position. How do I ensure uninterrupted access to your archive services?
- Is there a way to have a quick look at an exposure prior to submitting a request for the whole data set?
Query Forms
- Hints on how to improve your search strategy
- How do I export search results?
- How does SIMBAD resolve the target name?
- How is the DIMM seeing measured? Do you store the FWHM measured on the image itself?
- Ranges can be given as value1..value2, does this apply only to numbers? What about dates?
- What is a DP ID and what is Orig Filename?
- What is the coding scheme for ESO Programme IDs?
- What is the meaning of the check-box located left of most query fields?
- What is the relation between instrument IDs and prefixes of archival dataset identifiers for raw data?
- When I use the wild-card on some queries (e.g. Filter: R*), the results take much longer to show up. Why?
- When should I use the main ESO Archive interface and when the instrument specific ones?
Getting Data
- General
- Are all data from ESO Archive available worldwide?
- Can I read the CD/DVD-Rs you produce on my Windows PC?
- How can I display the 9 Gb fits files of the stacked UltraVISTA images?
- How can I get the seeing data for a given night from the ambient conditions server in ASCII format?
- How can I monitor the progress of my request?
- How do I convert ESO FITS headers to be understood by IRAF?
- Will I be notified once my data become available in the Archive ?
- How is the proprietary period of data regulated? (changed April 2013)
- CalSelector
- Can I customize the association by specifying the nature and number of calibration files?
- How do I access the user documentation in addition to these FAQs?
- How do I trigger the CalSelector tool, i.e. the association of science and calibrations?
- I am denied access to calibrations, which should always be public. Why is that?
- In some cases the association is marked as incomplete, but it seems to me that all the necessary files are there. Could you, please, advise?
- Is CalSelector available together with delivery option "FTP or Media delivery"?
- My request is split over several pages and the “Select All” button allows me to select for download only the files listed in one single page. Is there a way to download the entire request at once?
- What do all those icons in the request page mean?
- What do file types MASSOC and RASSOC mean?
- What is the content of the association package?
- What is the time coverage of the CalSelector?
- What is the xml file that comes in each dataset?
- When do associations become available?
- Why are sometimes more science files associated than requested?
- Why are there fewer xml files than datasets as the result of my request?
- Why does my query with CalSelector return a lot of incomplete associations?
- Why is the category of a file not displayed for some files?
- FTP
- Can I retrieve processed data from the Archive ?
- FTP problem with special characters in filenames?
- How do I easily download the whole directory at once?
- How long will the service of my request last?
- On my HP workstation the filenames are truncated and have a ";1" at the end. Why?
- What do the status values in the completion message mean?
- What kind of output media are supported for receiving the data?
- Instant Download
- How come some files in my request can be downloaded now whereas before they showed the "Denied Access" icon?
- Why is my request in "OK" status (green checkmark) although I have received a message stating that my request failed?
- Can I have my requested data written to media with the new system?
- Can I retrieve the Advanced Data Products with this new service?
- Does data delegation also work with the former system?
- How does the download script work?
- My WFCAM files fail to process.
- My download manager window opens, but nothing else happens.
- The download manager does not seem to work. Can I still retrieve the files requested?
- What are the requirements on Operating Systems (OS), Java and Browsers for use of the applications?
- What are the services I can access from the ESO Archive Request facility?
- What does the DONT_EXIST/"question mark" flag mean for recent VST/OmegaCAM and VISTA/VIRCAM data?
- What shall I do when a file download fails?
- Where can I get more information about ESO Archive Requests new facility
- I am a Mac user and have problems using the Download Manager (changed May 2013)
- PI Pack
- Why is the content of my PIPack not updated?
- Can I get my data on a hard medium (DVD, USB disks, etc.)?
- How are the data in the packages organized?
- How are the data products generated?
- How do I enter dates when requesting PI Packages?
- How do I request PI Packages?
- How do I retrieve the package?
- How do I select which files to download?
- How is the proprietary period regulated?
- I am the PI of an ESO Service Mode observing run. Can I get my data before the official end of the run or before the end of the current Period?
- I have entered the correct User Portal credential, but the system returned the following error message: "The server encountered an unexpected condition which prevented it from fulfilling the request". Could you, please, advise?
- I have forgotten my User Portal credentials! Do I need to register again?
- I have made my file selection, but the system told me that it is too large a volume. What is this about?
- I just realized that exposures of my approved service mode program have been acquired. When will I receive my data?
- What are the differences between obtaining my proprietary data here or from the main archive interface?
- What data are available through this service?
- What do the data packages contain?
- When can I expect my data to be available?
- Why can't I download again the data from my old PI Pack request?