Data Management & Operations Division

The Data Management and Operations Division (DMD) has the responsibility to design, implement, and operate the Data Flow Systems for the VLT and VLTI.
The division consists of four main departments:

- the Data Flow Operations Department,

- the User Support Department,

- the Data Flow Systems Department (ESO internal access only),

- and the Virtual Observatory Systems Department.

The VLT Data Flow System

The Data Flow System is the scientific operating system that enable the components of the Very Large Telescope to work together in an efficient manner, and to realise its full scientific potential. With the DFS as a science operating system, the VLT can be scheduled and can make use of redundancy, pipeline and aggregation of resources to maximise throughput.

The following list of links provides information about the DFS modules and services relevant to the DFS design and operation. Complete and up to date information is also available from the DFS Group website (ESO internal access only). Access can be had also to some dfs related papers.

Service Observing Information, including:

General Philosophy of Service Observing and Scheduling
Information about Service Mode Observations

User Support Tools and Services, including:

ESO Exposure Time Calculators

Data Processing and Quality Control, including:

Science Archive Facility, including:

Other Projects and Activities

Common Pipeline Library

ESO-MIDAS data processing software (see also the Science Software Collection)

ESO Web Project (ESO Internal only)