The Messenger 113
September 2003

Four years of Service Mode observing at the VLT performance and user feedback

F. Comeron[1], M. Romaniello[1], J. Breysacher[2], D. Silva[3], G. Mathys[4]

[1]ESO, User Support Group, Data Management Division;
[2]ESO, Visiting Astronomers Section, Office of the Director General;
[3]ESO, Data Flow Operations Group, Data Management Division;
[4]ESO, Paranal Science Operations

Abstract On the night of 3rd April 1999 the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) started regular scie nce operations with Service Mode (SM) observations using ISAAC at Antu, the first Unit Telescope. Nineteen days later, SM observations were executed for the first time with FORS1. Over the four years following that date, three more Unit Telescopes have joine d Antu, five more instruments (FORS2, UVES, NACO, FLAMES and VIMOS) have joined ISAAC and FORS1, and SM observations are now being carried out during more than 50% of the o bserving time available on Paranal. It thus seems timely to present an overview of the performance of SM at the VLT, and h ow it is judged by its users. In this article we provide such an overview, discuss som e lessons learned during the last four years, and present a summary of the main result s collected from the VLT SM users community through the extensive questionnaire that E SO released in September 2002, where a broad range of the aspects of SM observing, fro m the Phase 1 proposal preparation to the scientific evaluation of the results obtaine d, is covered.

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The Messenger 113September 2003

Four years of Service Mode observing at the VLT performance and user feedback

F. Comeron[1], M. Romaniello[1], J. Breysacher[2], D. Silva[3], G. Mathys[4]

The Messenger 113
September 2003