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About the ESO Archive
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The ESO Science Archive Facility contains the description of all observations performed with:
Except for a few special cases, all science observations
have a proprietary period of one year.
After this period the archival datasets are available world-wide
to the general astronomical community.
Images and spectra are stored in the Archive in an unreduced (raw)
state together with the calibration and auxiliary data.
Please read the official ESO Data Access Policy
statement for more information.
The ESO Archive also contains information on the data from the
UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS) taken with the Wide Field Infrared Camera
(WFCAM).
Per agreement between ESO and the United Kingdom,
these data are made available to the astronomers from the ESO Member States.
Please note that WFCAM data stored in the ESO Archive are tile-compressed.
To retrieve data you have to have an ESO User Portal account.
Please acknowledge the use of archive data in your publications.
A section on Frequently Asked Questions
provides additional guidance on the use of the ESO/ST-ECF Science Archive Facility.
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ESO Optical, Infrared and Submm Instrumentation
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You may also query the database of ESO & HST Science Instrumental Characteristics
to find out, for example, which ESO filters fall within a standard bandpass.
Characteristic curves may also be accessed through the ESO Instrument Exposure Time Calculators.
Quality checks of data and instrument trendings are available from the ESO Quality Control pages.
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Searching for data in the ESO Archive
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You may use any of the following entry points to search for data in the ESO Archive:
Specify any number of
query constraints in the forms and press the
Search button.
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How to retrieve calibration frames?
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There are two different ways to retrieve calibration frames:
- Use the Calibration Selector tool:
this service provides raw and master calibration reference files associated with SCIENCE frames.
Instruments covered are FORS1, FORS2, ISAAC, UVES and WFI.
This tool is available in the 'CAL' column of the query result page and through a checkbox labeled
'Provide associated raw and master calibration reference files'
in the Request Submission Setup.
Note that the Calibration Selector tool is an experimental service which may not always return a result.
Alternatively, you can still browse manually the contents of the ESO Archive to find out calibration frames,
as explained below:
- Use the Main ESO Archive query form
or one of the ESO Instrument Specific query forms to browse
the contents of the Archive night by night, filter by filter, etc. with the observation category set to CALIB.
To request the calibration frames matching your provided criteria, mark the checkbox in the left-most column
of the results table, then press the button labeled Request Marked Datasets. Once you are done
with the Request Submission Setup
and if you still need some other calibrations for a different night or a different filter,
go back to the query form and specify your new criteria to run an additional search. Proceed as explained previously.
Master calibration files can only be retrieved via the Calibration Selector tool.
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Technical information about the web interfaces
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The ESO Archive query forms mentioned in the above section are based on the WDB interface.
If this is the first time you use this system please read the short WDB user guide
on how to specify queries and use operators to make full use of this system.
Some functionalities of the ESO web interfaces work only with Javascript enabled.
Please check the options of your browser.
The use of Javascript in the Main ESO Archive web interface makes it not entirely compatible with old versions
of web browsers (in particular Netscape 4.x).
Thus, we recommend that you install and use the latest version of your browser:
| Browser/Platform | Solaris/Linux | Windows | Mac OSX |
| Internet Explorer 6.x | - | KP | - |
| Konqueror 3.x | C | - | - |
| Mozilla 1.x | C | C | - |
| Firefox 1.0.2 | C | C | - |
| Netscape 7.x | C | C | - |
| Safari 1.2.4 | - | - | C |
C: Compatible
KP (Known Problems): the ShowAll, ShowNone, ALL and NONE buttons have a longer response time.
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Main ESO Archive Query Form
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The Main ESO Archive query form
is intended to aid first-time users of the ESO Archive and astronomers with no previous experience with ESO instruments.
This query form allows users to select observations from ESO observatory sites (La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor),
based on general criteria, which include:
- Coordinates/Input list of coordinates
- Target name/Input list of target names
- Night
- Instrument
- Category: science frames, calibration frames...
- Proposal information: PI/CoI names, program ID,
title of the proposal, program type
The Main ESO Archive Help Page provides guidance on how to
use and what to enter for the various query parameters offered in this query form.
Specify any number of
query constraints in the form and press the
Search button.
From the query result pages, links are provided to:
- Sky distribution of all the sources matching your request, via the
Aladin Java applet
- FITS header display
- Seeing conditions
- Cumulative exposure time for all the datasets returned by your query
- Underlying observing program information
- Instrument specific data, where applicable (see following section)
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ESO Instrument Specific Query Forms
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Instrument Specific query forms help in finding observations which are either specific to the observing strategy,
like stacks in the infrared, or to the detector or instrument setups.
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ESO Observation Schedule Query Form
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The schedule of observations is prepared for a six month period (April to September and October to March).
The schedule for the coming period is published after the selection procedure
by the ESO Observing Program Committee and is updated regularly to reflect changes and updates.
The ESO Observation Schedule query form is recommended
to select observing programs based on criteria which include:
- Period
- Date of scheduling
- Instrument, Telescope
- Proposal information: PI/CoI names, program ID,
title of the proposal, program type
From the query result pages, links are provided to:
- Abstracts of ESO proposals; they are made publicly available once the proprietary period of the associated data is over.
- Raw archival data produced during the observing programs
- Publications based on ESO observing program data
- Reduced data packages, which are at present only available
for a limited number of programs; they are being added to the Archive on a regular basis.
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ESO Ambient Conditions Database Server
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The ESO Ambient Conditions Database includes measurements of environmental parameters
(seeing, humidity, temperature, pressure, wind speed etc)
at both ESO observatory sites, La Silla and Paranal.
It is possible to query the database by night and site.
For more information, see the ESO Astroclimatology web pages.
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Public Data Packages
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Entry points to Advanced Data Products, VLT Commissioning and Science Verification data,
ESO Imaging Survey and other public surveys
are stored on the ESO Data Products web page.
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ESO User Publications
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ESO data-based refereed publications are recorded in the so-called
ESO Telescope Bibliography database.
It is compiled by scanning the major astronomical journals for scientific papers
based on data obtained with ESO telescopes.
The ESO Telescope Bibliography query form is recommended to select publications given the following criteria:
- Bibliographic details (author, title, journal, publication year etc.)
- Observatory site, telescope, instrument and program ID
From the query result pages, observing program information and archival data can be accessed.
Note that the ESO Telescope Bibliography can also be queried through a filter at the
NASA ADS from which
active links are provided to the ESO Archive. Just follow the D-links ("On-line Data").
Unlike the ESO interface, however, ADS does not cater for queries limited to specific telescopes or instruments,
and therefore the entire database is searched.
Lists derived from the ESO Telescope Bibliography are printed as an Annex to the ESO Annual Report.
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Retrieving ESO Archive Data
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- To retrieve data you have to have an ESO User Portal account.
- A request can be submitted following the instructions in the query result pages:
Submit your request. You will be driven to the Request Submission Confirmation web page,
and you will then receive an email with:
- your request ID, e.g. "USERNAME12345"
- the number of files you requested
- the corresponding size in MBytes
- Status of pending requests can be tracked with the check tool.
- Upon completion of your request, you will receive an email notification
with the list of all files belonging to the selected datasets.
The status values indicated next to each one have their meaning explained in the
FAQ web page.
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Publications related to the ESO Archive
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Various aspects of the ESO Science Archive Facility have been presented in many conferences. For more information, here is a
list of publications.
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