News

On this page, we list the main news/changes that affect the instrument and telescope and point at science results with the instrument.

  • 2012-05-09     Note on Chip 82. As mentioned in the OmegaCAM user manual, CCD#82 shows day-to-day gain variations of a few percent, since start of operations. Please be aware of this instability, which occasionally manifests itself in the form of pronounced horizontal step patterns.
  • 2012-03-22 to 2012-03-31 There was an increased occurence of image quality degradation, likely due to a focal plane tilt. About 15 hours of science observations have had to be repeated. The situation has improved after changing M2 positioning parameters, but the root cause is still under investigation.
  • 2012-03-06 to 2012-03-11 Six nights technical time by INAF to work on PAC action items.
  • 2012-02-03 to 2012-02-08 Six nights downtime due to OmegaCAM vacuum problem. No significant changes of detector performance have been spotted within the two weeks after recovery. Nevertheless, it is advised that calibrations from after Feb. 8 are not applied blindly to data from before Feb. 3. Please contact usd-help@eso.org in case of doubts.
  • 2012-01-27 to 2012-02-03 A total of 2 nights technical time to work with consortium on OmegaCAM Software action items remaining from PAC.
  • 2012-01-17     The measured seeing distribution on OmegaCAM images from August to December 2011 is linked under the Tools section.
  • 2012-01-06 to 2012-01-10 VST intervention by Paranal engineering for repair and maintenance of rotator brakes, encoders and cooling system.
  • 2011-12-22    Updated version of User Manual and Template Manual for P89 Phase II. See Manuals Page
  • 2011-12-15    Press Release on Science Verification imaging of the spiral galaxy NGC 253.
  • 2011-12-05 to 2011-12-12 VST intervention by INAF to work on remaining Action Items after PAC.
  • 2011-11-05    Preliminary Acceptance Chile is officially granted to VST, retroactively for October 15.
  • 2011-10-15    Official Start of Science Operations, P88
  • 2011-09-14    Updated versions of User Manual and Template Manual, to be used for P88 Phase II and for P89 Phase I. See Manuals Page
  • 2011-08-29 to 2011-09-04    Science Verification, targetting NGC 253 in u+g+r+i and Halpha (NB659).
  • 2011-08-13    Start of Public Surveys with Early Science and Dry Runs in parallel to technical activities
  • 2011-07-28 to 2011-08-12   OmegaCAM commissioning 3
  • 2011-07-13   First Version of Template Manual available from the Manuals Page. Name of User Manual document changed to be in line with ESO standards (no change in contents).
  • 2011-06-29   First version of User Manual available from the Manuals Page.
  • 2011-06-08   Press Release on 'First Images from the VLT Survey Telescope'
  • 2011-06-06 to 2011-06-22   OmegaCAM commissioning 2
  • 2011-04-29 to 2011-05-09   OmegaCAM commissioning 1b
  • 2011-03-21 to 2011-03-31   OmegaCAM commissioning 1a