¡Lo lamentamos! Esta página no está disponible en su lengua seleccionada, en su lugar le mostramos la versión original.
Page saved successfully
Couldn't save page :( Please try again.
Examples of ESO developments that have been used for other similar projects in external institutions of firms
Optical Design
ESO has a wide experience in the field of optical design, covering the wavelength range from UV to far infrared. Although most optical designs made for ESO instrumentation are not readily useable elsewhere, some ESO designs have been copied many fold for use at other observatories.
EFOSC (ESO Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera) was originally developed at ESO for the 3.6m telescope on La Silla. Since that time, some 15 copies of this design have been manufactured and put into service at other observatories around the world.
UVES (UV and Visual Echelle Spectrograph) was one of the first generation VLT instruments and was developed in-house at ESO. To date, about 10 additional copies of this design have since been produced for use at other observatories.
Apart from these specific examples, ESO has had a positive influence, through optical design proposals and design reviews, on the optical design of a very large number of instrumental developments in the ESO Member States over the last 30 years.
VLT Control Software
The control software developed by ESO for the VLT and its instruments has set new performance standards for large telescopes. Moreover, through the automisation of many of the processes that previously had to be carried out manually such as object acquisition, setting wind screens, finding guide stars, active optics correction, setting instrument parameters, etc, has also made the VLT the most efficient telescope of its class in the world. Many of the concepts developed for the VLT, such as observing templates and observation blocks, have been widely emulated elsewhere.
The VLT Common Control Software is currently distributed to some 26 external observatories and institutions. This has created pools of expertise within the ESO Member States that has allowed individual institutions to provide valuable contributions to the VLT observatory as well as other projects. The ideas and experience that accrued when developing the VLT CCS have also formed the basis for the ALMA Control Software.
Interactive Data Reduction Software Packages
With the advent of two-dimensional CCD image data and more powerful computers in the early 1980s, the IHAP interactive data reduction package was replaced by the ESO MIDAS system. MIDAS is conceptually similar to IHAP but is much more versatile and powerful. MIDAS is still in use today and is also included in SCISOFT package mentioned below. MIDAS is available to institutes and other users on the ESO web-site, and is currently downloaded about 400 times per year. Due to the availability of other similar packages and also commercial reduction software, its development today is essentially limited to VLT-related patches.
To support astronomers with data reduction in their home institutions, ESO has developed a software bundle known as SCISOFT. This is a unified collection of the major software packages for astronomical data-analysis packages currently in use today (including IRAF/STSDAS, MIDAS and IDL) as well as many smaller utilities.
VLT Data Flow System
In parallel to the VLT Control Software, the VLT Data Flow System was developed. This allowed, for the first time in a ground-based observatory, the complete end-to-end observing cycle to be condensed into a single homogeneous process. This process starts with the preparation of the observing programme, and continues through programme selection, observation simulation, programme execution (with or without the presence of the astronomer at the telescope), quality control, data archiving and finally the return of the calibrated data to the observer. Although at the outset it was difficult for many traditional astronomers to accept this revolutionary concept, it has today become a standard that has been copied by most of the world's major observatories.
Our use of Cookies
We use cookies that are essential for accessing our websites and using our services. We also use cookies to analyse, measure and improve our websites’ performance, to enable content sharing via social media and to display media content hosted on third-party platforms.
You can manage your cookie preferences and find out more by visiting 'Cookie Settings and Policy'.
ESO Cookies Policy
The European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO) is the pre-eminent intergovernmental science and technology organisation in astronomy. It carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities for astronomy.
This Cookies Policy is intended to provide clarity by outlining the cookies used on the ESO public websites, their functions, the options you have for controlling them, and the ways you can contact us for additional details.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small pieces of data stored on your device by websites you visit. They serve various purposes, such as remembering login credentials and preferences and enhance your browsing experience.
Categories of cookies we use
Essential cookies (always active): These cookies are strictly necessary for the proper functioning of our website. Without these cookies, the website cannot operate correctly, and certain services, such as logging in or accessing secure areas, may not be available; because they are essential for the website’s operation, they cannot be disabled.
Cookie ID/Name
Description/Purpose
Provider (1st party or 3rd party)
Browser session cookie or Stored cookie?
Duration
csrftoken
XSRF protection token. We use this cookie to protect against cross-site request forgery attacks.
1st party
Stored
1 year
user_privacy
Your privacy choices. We use this cookie to save your privacy preferences.
1st party
Stored
6 months
_grecaptcha
We use reCAPTCHA to protect our forms against spam and abuse. reCAPTCHA sets a necessary cookie when executed for the purpose of providing its risk analysis. We use www.recaptcha.net instead of www.google.com in order to avoid unnecessary cookies from Google.
3rd party
Stored
6 months
Functional Cookies: These cookies enhance your browsing experience by enabling additional features and personalization, such as remembering your preferences and settings. While not strictly necessary for the website to function, they improve usability and convenience; these cookies are only placed if you provide your consent.
Cookie ID/Name
Description/Purpose
Provider (1st party or 3rd party)
Browser session cookie or Stored cookie?
Duration
Settings
preferred_language
Language settings. We use this cookie to remember your preferred language settings.
1st party
Stored
1 year
ON | OFF
sessionid
ESO Shop. We use this cookie to store your session information on the ESO Shop. This is just an identifier which is used on the server in order to allow you to purchase items in our shop.
1st party
Stored
2 weeks
ON | OFF
Analytics cookies: These cookies collect information about how visitors interact with our website, such as which pages are visited most often and how users navigate the site. This data helps us improve website performance, optimize content, and enhance the user experience; these cookies are only placed if you provide your consent. We use the following analytics cookies.
Matomo Cookies:
This website uses Matomo (formerly Piwik), an open source software which enables the statistical analysis of website visits. Matomo uses cookies (text files) which are saved on your computer and which allow us to analyze how you use our website. The website user information generated by the cookies will only be saved on the servers of our IT Department. We use this information to analyze www.eso.org visits and to prepare reports on website activities. These data will not be disclosed to third parties.
On behalf of ESO, Matomo will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage.
ON | OFF
Matomo cookies settings:
Cookie ID/Name
Description/Purpose
Provider (1st party or 3rd party)
Browser session cookie or Stored cookie?
Duration
Settings
_pk_id
Stores a unique visitor ID.
1st party
Stored
13 months
_pk_ses
Session cookie temporarily stores data for the visit.
1st party
Stored
30 minutes
_pk_ref
Stores attribution information (the referrer that brought the visitor to the website).
1st party
Stored
6 months
_pk_testcookie
Temporary cookie to check if a visitor’s browser supports cookies (set in Internet Explorer only).
1st party
Stored
Temporary cookie that expires almost immediately after being set.
Additional Third-party cookies on ESO websites: some of our pages display content from external providers, e.g. YouTube.
Such third-party services are outside of ESO control and may, at any time, change their terms of service, use of cookies, etc.
YouTube: Some videos on the ESO website are embedded from ESO’s official YouTube channel. We have enabled YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode, meaning that no cookies are set unless the user actively clicks on the video to play it. Additionally, in this mode, YouTube does not store any personally identifiable cookie data for embedded video playbacks. For more details, please refer to YouTube’s embedding videos information page.
Cookies can also be classified based on the following elements.
Regarding the domain, there are:
First-party cookies, set by the website you are currently visiting. They are stored by the same domain that you are browsing and are used to enhance your experience on that site;
Third-party cookies, set by a domain other than the one you are currently visiting.
As for their duration, cookies can be:
Browser-session cookies, which are deleted when the user closes the browser;
Stored cookies, which stay on the user's device for a predetermined period of time.
How to manage cookies
Cookie settings: You can modify your cookie choices for the ESO webpages at any time by clicking on the link Cookie settings at the bottom of any page.
In your browser: If you wish to delete cookies or instruct your browser to delete or block cookies by default, please visit the help pages of your browser:
Please be aware that if you delete or decline cookies, certain functionalities of our website may be not be available and your browsing experience may be affected.
You can set most browsers to prevent any cookies being placed on your device, but you may then have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a site/page. And some services and functionalities may not work properly at all (e.g. profile logging-in, shop check out).
Updates to the ESO Cookies Policy
The ESO Cookies Policy may be subject to future updates, which will be made available on this page.
Additional information
For any queries related to cookies, please contact: pdprATesoDOTorg.
As ESO public webpages are managed by our Department of Communication, your questions will be dealt with the support of the said Department.