ESO Archive Frequently Asked Questions
What is the relation between instrument IDs and prefixes of archival dataset identifiers for raw data?
An archival dataset identifier (also known as DP ID) for raw data is composed of a prefix, followed by a timestamp up to the millisecond.
The prefix usually corresponds to the instrument ID (ins_id parameter in the main archive query form).
Example: instrument ID = UVES, archive filename = UVES.2009-03-20T09:22:28.489
However, there are a few exceptions which are listed below:
The prefix usually corresponds to the instrument ID (ins_id parameter in the main archive query form).
Example: instrument ID = UVES, archive filename = UVES.2009-03-20T09:22:28.489
However, there are a few exceptions which are listed below:
| instrument ID | DP ID prefix(es) |
| CRIRES | CRIRE |
| EMMI | ONTT |
| ESPRESSO | ESPRE |
| FORS | FORS1, FORS, or OFORS |
| GIRAFFE | GIRAF |
| GRAVITY | GRAVI |
| ISAAC | ISAAC or OISAAC |
| MATISSE | MATIS |
| NAOS+CONICA | NACO |
| PIONIER | PIONI |
| SINFONI | SINFO |
| SOFI | ONTT |
| SPHERE | SPHER |
| SUSI, SUSI2 | ONTT |
| VIRCAM | VCAM |
| SHOOT XSHOOTER |
SHOOT XSHOO |
| OmegaCAM | OMEGA |
The query forms take care of the equivalence between instruments and their different DP ID prefixes and instrument IDs, but the user should take into account that for some instruments it is not possible in all cases to tell, just from the DP ID or file name, which instrument was used to generate a particular FITS file.