These pages are aimed at the ESO community astronomers and contain all the information required in order to prepare, execute, process and exploit observations with the ESO facilities. They also provide information on the scientific activities taking place at ESO

First Release of ESO/VST Public Survey Imaging Data

03 September 2013

The ESO Science Archive Facility now provides community access to the first data products from the VST public survey projects. Following one year and a half of successful scientific operations of the VST, the ESO/VST public surveys have returned nearly 1.5 TB of reduced data products, which can be queried for and downloaded by the international community via dedicated query interfaces at the ESO Science Archive Facility (http://archive.eso.org/wdb/wdb/adp/phase3_imaging/form)

These surveys projects started surveying the Southern sky since October 2011, following the successful commissioning of the VST at the La Silla-Paranal observatory. A summary of their scientific goals and observing strategies is available at the following URL: http://www.eso.org/sci/observing/PublicSurveys/sciencePublicSurveys.html.

The first release of data from the KiDS and VPHAS+ surveys (1.5 TB) covers mostly the period from October 2011 to September 2012 and consists of astrometrically and photometrically calibrated mosaiced and coadded images (each 1.0 deg²), weight maps and associated single band source lists in the different bands of each survey. Each public survey data release is accompanied by a comprehensive description that can be found at http://www.eso.org/sci/observing/phase3/data_releases.html By accessing the first VST public release, the ESO community benefits from joint efforts by ESO, the PIs of the VST public survey projects and their collaborators. More details can be found on Phase 3 - News and Changes.

The side menu will take you directly to the relevant pages:

• Observing Facilities links to La Silla Paranal Observatory and to the technical pages for the instruments and telescopes available at the two sites. Also you will find information on instrument development.
• Observing Information points to information needed at every stage of preparing a proposal for observing time - from the proposal preparation to submission - and for planning the observations in Visitor or Service Mode. In addition, you will find here information on observing policies and procedures and on observing time allocation.
• Via ESO Scientific Software and Tools you have access to a collection of ESO-supported software products for data reduction and analysis and to Scisoft, a project within ESO to provide a collection of astronomical software utilities. You will also find various useful tools and services for Phase 1 and Phase 2 preparation, like archives and catalogues, ETCs, weather information, and more.
• Data Handling and Products gives information on post-observing services provided by ESO. This includes quality control and data processing, information on data pipelines and instrument calibration.
• Science Archive Facility provides information and access to the ESO/ST-ECF Science Archive Facility and the European Virtual Observatory.
• Science Activities provides information about research done at ESO, including science verification programmes of ESO instruments.

Further you will find details about Scientific Meetings, IT Services, the ESO Library, Publications and Job Opportunities.

Science Announcements

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The Messenger

The Messenger No. 153 is now available. Highlights include:

• F. Pepe et al. ESPRESSO — An Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanets Search and Stable Spectroscopic Observations
• P. de Laverny et al. The AMBRE Project: Stellar Parameterisation of ESO Archived Spectra
• J. Walsh et al. Following the G2 Gas Cloud towards the Galactic Centre
• A. Fox et al. The Magellanic Stream — A Tail of Two Galaxies
• D. Rigopoulou et al. Report on the Workshop — Science with ALMA Band 11

You can subscribe to the hardcopy of The Messenger or browse the complete archive of issues.

The ESO Science Newsletter

The November 2013 issue is now available.

The ESO Science Newsletter replaces the ESO Electronic Newsletter (Enews) from 2013. Subscription is controlled through the Manage Profile link on the User Portal. Back issues of the Science Newsletter (2013 - ) and the Electronic Newsletter (2006-2012) are archived.