Phase 3 - News and Changes

Please find below any news regarding the Phase 3 process and a record of the past evolution in reverse chronological order.

21 March 2016

New release of UltraVISTA Public Survey data via the ESO Science Archive Facility

UltraVISTA is an ultra-deep near-infrared survey of the central region of the COSMOS field. This third UltraVISTA data release comprises stacked images in YJHKs and NB118 narrow-band filters together with a five-band merged catalogue. The principal difference with respect to the DR2 release is a substantial increase in exposure time in all five bands (by a factor of 1.7-4.6) in the four "ultra-deep stripes" regions, corresponding to an increase in depth of 0.4 to 0.8 magnitudes.

The release is based on the observations carried out from December 2009 to May 2014, corresponding to 40250 individual images. The total exposure time contributing to this release is 898 hours, and the total survey area is 1.8 sq.deg. In Ks, the field is covered to a 5 sigma limiting AB magnitude of 24.9 (ultra-deep part) and 23.8 (deep part). Median seeing on all bands is around 0.8ò??ò??.

Images can be queried and downloaded from the ESO Science Archive Facility while the band-merged catalogue data, containing 433547 records, are accessible from ESOò??s catalogue facility query interface. The UltraVISTA Data Release 3 is accompanied by a comprehensive description.

By accessing the UltraVISTA DR3, the ESO community benefits from joint efforts by ESO, the PIs of the VISTA public survey projects and their collaborators, including the data centers at TERAPIX (Paris, http://terapix.iap.fr/), and CASU (Cambridge, http://casu.ast.cam.ac.uk).

20 January 2016

Emission maps and catalogues from the ATLASGAL APEX survey published via Phase 3

The APEX Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy (ATLASGAL) is an imaging survey covering 420 sq. deg of the inner Galactic plane at a wavelength of 870um. The observations were carried out between 2007 and 2010, using the LABOCA bolometer array at the APEX telescope. The current release consists of emission maps covering the full area surveyed, split in 3x3 deg tiles. The noise level reached is typically 60 mJy/beam, with an angular resolution of 19''. An other set of images, in which the LABOCA data have been combined with observations from the Planck satellite, in order to recover the most spatially extended emission, is also available. In addition to the source catalogues associated to each image, a compact source catalogue extracted in a different way is provided and searchable via the ESO Catalogue Facility.
More information regarding this release are given in the accompanying documentation.

20 January 2016

Final data release of the zCOSMOS-bright redshift survey (Published on 04.11.2015)

zCOSMOS (PI Simon Lilly, ESO Large Programme 175.A-0839) is a large redshift survey undertaken in the COSMOS field using the VIMOS spectrograph. About 600 hours were awarded to this large programme, which was executed between 2005 and 2010.

The survey was split into two parts: the first, zCOSMOS-bright, which is the subject of this release, aims to produce a redshift survey of about 20000 I-band selected galaxies at redshift z<1.2. It covers approximately 1.7 deg^2 of the COSMOS field and has a transverse dimension at z~1  of 75 Mpc. The second part, zCOSMOS-deep, observed a smaller number of galaxies at higher redshift in the range 1.5<z<3.0.

The current new release completes the zCOSMOS-bright survey. In details, it includes 20689 wavelength calibrated 1-d spectra and associated 5"x5" image cut-outs for each target (FITS and JPEG format) extracted from HST/ACS images in the F814W filter, available via the dedicated Phase 3 query interface. It also includes a spectroscopic catalogue that contains the determined redshifts and confidence classes. It is supported by a comprehensive description.

17 November 2015

First release of multi-band source catalogue data resulting from the VST Public Survey ATLAS published

The ESO/VST Public Survey ATLAS is targeting 4500 square degrees of the Southern sky in five filters u,g,r,i,z to depths comparable to those of the SDSS. This survey is also complemented by near-infrared data from the VISTA Hemisphere and VIKING surveys.

The catalogue was extracted from the reduced images which have been released in September 2015 and covers the time from the start of observations by VST in August 2011 through to end September 2013. The sky coverage is ~2000-3000 sq. degrees of sky depending on the band. The multi-band source catalogue contains 87 million entries. The catalogue was produced by the Wide Field Astronomy Unit (WFAU) at Edinburgh.

The new catalogue data are accessible from ESO's catalogue facility query interface, and are accompanied by a comprehensive release description.

16 September 2015

New release of stacked reduced images and source lists for the VST Public Survey ATLAS

New data products resulting from the ESO/VST Public Survey ATLAS are now available via the dedicated Phase 3 query interface at the ESO Science Archive Facility.
This second data release of ATLAS covers all the data collected from the start of observations in August 2011, through to end September 2013. The total sky coverage is ~2000-3000 deg² of sky depending on the band (SDSS u,g,r,i,z), out of the target of ~4000 deg2 at high Galactic latitudes.
Stacked reduced images, weightmaps, and single-band source lists are provided for a total volume of 5 TB. The ATLAS public survey data release is accompanied by a comprehensive description.

21 August 2015

New Data Release of VVV Photometric Catalogues via the ESO Science Archive Facility

VVV belongs to the suite of six public surveys being conducted at ESO's Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA). The VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea Survey (VVV) is a wide area (562 sq.degrees), near-infrared, multi-epoch imaging survey of the Milky Way bulge and disk. The initial survey in the five broadband filters Z, Y, J, H, Ks is followed by extensive multi-epoch observations in the Ks band.

The observations carried out up to 30 September 2011 with all the approved data from CASU v1.3 pipeline reduction are now complemented by three high-level photometric catalogues which therefore, supersede the previously released catalogues.

The five-band photometric catalogue records object coordinates, fluxes, color indices as well as associated quality information. In total, the catalogues contain 418,562,470 sources. All duplicates arising from the overlaps between adjacent tiles have been removed, leaving only primary detections.

Multi-epoch Ks band photometry of the sources is provided in a separate catalogue consisting of 2,561,652,334 flux measurements from 379,558,809 sources.

Sources classified as variable are recorded in a third catalogue, which contains mean magnitude, photometric amplitudes and probability of variability. In total, the catalogues of variable stars contain 13,266,759 sources.

The data are fully searchable and accessible (the entire data set or user-defined subsets) from ESO's catalogue facility query interface. Please use your personal ESO user portal credentials for login.

06 August 2015

New Release of PESSTO Spectroscopic Public Survey Data

New reduced data (spectra and images) resulting from the PESSTO Public Spectroscopic Survey are now available via the dedicated Phase 3 query interface at the ESO Science Archive Facility.

This release number 3 includes the EFOSC2 and SOFI spectra (1728 spectra in total) and the reduced SOFI images (392 images) obtained during the first two years (April 2012-April 2014) of PESSTO operations, for a total of 681 distinct transient objects. Also included in this release is the PESSTO Transient Catalogue, a catalogue of all PESSTO sources for which a meaningful spectral classification has been obtained so far (556 sources).

Furthermore, for the first time PESSTO photometric light curves are made available; this initial release of the PESSTO multi-epoch photometric catalogue provides light curves for 18 objects.

The PESSTO public survey data release (#3) is accompanied by a comprehensive description of spectra, images, and of the transient catalogue. A dedicated description of the lightcurve catalogue is also available. Instructions on how to read or display data in the ESO/SDP tabular data format can be found in the 1D spectrum data format help page.

30 July 2015

First release of the band merged catalogue for the VST Photometric H-alpha Survey of the Southern Galactic Plane (VPHAS+)

The first band- and field-merged science catalogue created from the imaging data obtained by the VST Photometric Ha Survey of the Southern Galactic Plane and Bulge (VPHAS+) has been released and it is available from the for download via the ESO Catalogue Facility. The catalogue is derived from the calibrated images that have been released as part of the VPHASplus/DR2 collection. It covers the first 21 months of data-taking (28/12/2011 through 30/09/2013), in which 24% of the survey footprint (629 sqaure degree) has been observed to sufficient quality. These observations were taken under ESO programme 177.D-3023(B,C,D,E).
The VPHAS+ public survey data release is accompanied by a comprehensive description.

21 July 2015

New Release of Gaia-ESO Spectroscopic Public Survey Data

New reduced data products resulting from the Gaia-ESO Public Spectroscopic Survey are now available via the dedicated Phase 3 query interface at the ESO Science Archive Facility.

The present data release includes wavelength calibrated 1-dimensional spectra of point-like sources obtained with FLAMES from 31.12.2011 to 31.12.2013 under ESO program ID 188.B-3002, as well as a catalogue containing photometry and derived quantities (radial velocities, astrophysical parameters, lithium line strength, HÞÁ emission) for a fraction of the stars for which spectra are delivered.

The total number of submitted data files is 27359 comprising spectra of 14947 unique targets. The Gaia-ESO public survey data release is accompanied by a comprehensive description. Instructions on how to read or display data in the ESO/SDP tabular data format can be found in the 1D spectrum data format help page.

18 May 2015

New user guide describing the reduced data products accessible via the ESO Science Archive Facility published

The Archive Science group has now published a user guide with the description of the reduced data product types that can be browsed and downloaded from the dedicated Phase 3 query forms of the ESO SAF. The user guide contains an overview of the data types, a description of their reduction/calibration levels and instructions on how to browse and access these products.

12 May 2015

Release of pipeline-processed Flames/Giraffe one-dimensional spectra by the ESO Science Archive Facility

All spectra obtained with the spectrograph FLAMES/GIRAFFE in the MEDUSA mode from June 2005 till December 2014 are now published via the ESO archive as reduced data. The extracted, wavelength calibrated, one-dimensional spectra are in tabular FITS format, see the ESO science data products standard for a description of the data format and metadata information. Their wavelength scale is in the heliocentric reference system. All 1D-spectra come with error estimates and signal-to-noise ratio per wavelength bin. There are a number of files associated at download time to each spectrum, including sky spectra when available. The GIRAFFE_MEDUSA data collection will grow with time, with new reduced spectra being added with monthly cadence. FLAMES GIRAFFE spectra acquired before June 2005 will also soon be added to the collection. The 1D spectra tagged "GIRAFFE_MEDUSA", can be queried and downloaded using the Phase 3 generic query form that provides access to all Phase 3 data or the Phase 3 query form dedicated to spectral data with query parameters suited to harvest spectral data.

More details about the data can be found in the associated Phase 3 data release description for GIRAFFE_MEDUSA data.

Instructions on how to read and display 1D spectra in the FITS tabular format can be found in the 1d spectrum data format help page.

12 May 2015

New release of images and source lists for the VST Photometric H-alpha Survey of the Southern Galactic Plane (VPHAS+)

New data products resulting from the ESO/VST Public Survey VPHAS+ are now available via the dedicated Phase 3 query interface at the ESO Science Archive Facility.

This second data release of VPHAS+ covers all the data collected during the first 21 months (from Dec. 2012 to Sept. 2013). The total combined area coverage amounts to  24% of the survey footprint, which was observed to desired image quality. The observations in this time span favoured the Galactic equator and some well-known open clusters of interest to the Gaia-ESO Survey. Reduced images weightmaps and single-band source lists are provided for a total volume of 1.7TB.

The VPHAS+ public survey data release is accompanied by a comprehensive description.

24 April 2015

Data format specification for APEX sub-millimetre sky maps available and LESS survey data added to the Phase 3 data releases

Phase 3 allows users to return their reduced data for publication via the ESO Science Archive Facility. Now, the Phase 3 data format specifications and the Phase 3 validator have been extended to astrometrically registered and flux calibrated sky maps in the sub-millimetre domain, in particular applicable to observations using the bolometer arrays LABOCA and ARTEMIS at the APEX 12-metre telescope, in addition to images and spectra in the optical to near-infrared regime covered so far.

APEX users who produce sky maps as part of their projects are now strongly encouraged to submit their reduced data via Phase 3. Please consult the format specification for APEX sub-millimetre sky maps here: www.eso.org/sci/observing/phase3/p3sdpstd-APEX-220415.pdf

As an example, interested users can now access and download the Phase 3 compliant products from the LABOCA Extended Chandra Deep Field South (ECDFS) Submillimetre Survey (LESS; P.I. I. Smail) which is a public legacy survey of the ECDFS at 870 ÞÌm using the LABOCA camera on the APEX telescope. More information on this data release is availbale here: www.eso.org/sci/observing/phase3/data_releases/less_b1.pdf

15 April 2015

Phase 3 Release Validator update version 2.3.0

The Phase 3 Release Validator is a java-based tool to be run locally on your system to validate the data before uploading them to ESO. The updated version 2.3.0 of the Phase 3 Release Validator, which is now available for download, is primarily a bug fix release and the verification of provenance information has been improved.

31 March 2015

IRAF Support for ESO Tabular FITS Format 1D Spectra

ESO one-dimensional (1D) spectra in tabular FITS format can now be displayed and processed with IRAF using the external package SPTABLE, thanks to a close collaboration between ESO and the IRAF developers. The popular IRAF ONEDSPEC package, including SPLOT, and the IRAF RV package are now able to process the 1D spectra from the spectroscopic ESO Public Surveys (PESSTO and Gaia-ESO), Large Programmes (ESSENCE, GOODS FORS2+VIMOS, and zCOSMOS) and internal data products (UVES ECHELLE, XSHOOTER ECHELLE, HARPS, soon GIRAFFE, etc.).

The IRAF external package SPTABLE can be easily installed following the IRAF-provided instructions. More information on using the 1D spectra tabular format can be found on the ESO spectroscopic data products help page.

26 March 2015

New data of the VISTA Deep Extragalactic Observations (VIDEO) Survey in the ELAIS-S1 field released

VIDEO is a deep near-infrared survey which targets ~12 square degrees over the ELAIS-S1, XMMLSS, and ECDFS extragalactic fields. VIDEO belongs to the suite of six public surveys being conducted at ESOò??s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA).

In this release (VIDEO-ES1 DR2) a total of 401 individual single-OB tile images and the associated single-band source lists are released. Those have been reprocessed using version 1.3 of the VISTA reduction pipeline. The data also include deep stacks in Z,Y,J,H, and Ks bands. To the 5ß? limit, the Ks-Ò-band selected catalogue contains 365,233 sources with Ks< 23.5 (AB) over ~3 square degrees (two tiles).

Images can be queried and downloaded from the ESO Science Archive Facility while the band-merged catalogue data are accessible from ESOò??s catalogue facility query interface. The VIDEO-ES1 Data Release 2 is accompanied by a comprehensive description.

09 March 2015

New imaging data for the VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea Survey released

The VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea Survey (VVV) is a wide area, near-infrared, multi-epoch imaging survey of the Milky Way bulge and disk. The initial survey in the five broadband filters Z, Y, J, H, Ks for a total sky coverage of 540 sq deg, is followed by extensive multi-epoch observations in the Ks band.

This new Phase3 release contains observation up to 30 September 2013 with all the approved data from CASU v1.3 pipeline reduction, and it includes images and single-band source catalogues. It replaces the previous releases that had been processed with previous versions of the pipeline and adds a large amount of new data mainly increasing the number of epochs for the Ks band.

Images and source lists can be Ò?Ò?queried and downloaded from the ESO Science Archive FacilityÒ?Ò?. For more information please refer to the comprehensive description.

26 February 2015

New data of the VISTA Deep Extragalactic Observations (VIDEO) Survey in the CDFS field released

VIDEO is a deep near-infrared survey which targets ~12 square degrees over the ELAIS-S1, XMMLSS, and ECDFS extragalactic fields. VIDEO belongs to the suite of six public surveys being conducted at ESOò??s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA).

In this release (VIDEO-CDFS DR2) a total of 159 individual single-OB tile images and the associated single-band source lists are released. Those have been reprocessed using version 1.3 of the VISTA reduction pipeline. The data also include ZJHKs deep stacks and a catalogue in the VIDEO-CDFS1 tile, along with J and Ks-band data for CDFS2 and CDFS3. To the 5ß? limit, the Ks-Ò-band selected catalogue contains 187,869 sources with Ks< 23.5 (AB) over ~1.5 square degrees (one tile).

Images can be queried and downloaded from the ESO Science Archive Facility while the band-merged catalogue data are accessible from ESOò??s catalogue facility query interface. The VIDEO-CDFS Data Release 2 is accompanied by a comprehensive description.

16 February 2015

New data of the VISTA Deep Extragalactic Observations (VIDEO) Survey in the XMM-LSS field released

VIDEO is a deep near-infrared survey which targets ~12 square degrees over the ELAIS-S1, XMMLSS, and ECDFS extragalactic fields. VIDEO belongs to the suite of six public surveys being conducted at ESOò??s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA).

In this release (VIDEO-XMM DR3) a total of 560 individual single-OB tile images and the associated single-band source lists are released. Those have been reprocessed using version 1.3 of the VISTA reduction pipeline. The data also include ZYJHKs deep stacks and catalogues in the VIDEO-XMM3 tile, along with YJHKs for XMM2. In the XMM1 tile the released data cover the Z and Y-band. To the 5ß? limit, the Ks-Ò-band selected catalogue contains 368,277 sources with Ks< 23.5 (AB) over ~3 square degrees (two tiles).

Images can be queried and downloaded from the ESO Science Archive Facility while the band-merged catalogue data are accessible from ESOò??s catalogue facility query interface. The VIDEO-XMM Data Release 3 is accompanied by a comprehensive description.

16 February 2015

New catalogue release from the VISTA Magellanic Survey published

The VISTA Magellanic Survey is now publishing the a new catalogue release based on the Point Spread Function (PSF) photometry in three bands Y, J and Ks,
in addition to the aperture matched catalogue, VMC Catalogue DR2, available since 07.01.2015. The PSF photometry catalogue is extracted from the deep tile images completed before October 2012. The VMC-PSF catalogue contains 12.7 million sources and covers an area of 7.5 sq. degrees in the LMC and 3.5 sq. degrees in the SMC. The extensive release description is available here.

06 February 2015

New releases of images and catalogues in the optical and near-infrared bands resulting from the VISTA Kilo-degree Infrared Galaxy Survey (VIKING) and Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS)

The VISTA Kilo-degree Infrared Galaxy Survey (VIKING) - one of the public surveys being conducted at ESOò??s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) - is a wide area (final coverage: 1500 sq. degrees), intermediate depth, near infrared imaging survey at high galatic latitudes, in five broadband filters Z, Y, J, H, Ks. Science goals include high-redshift quasars, extreme brown dwarfs, as well as multiwavelength coverage and identifications for a range of other imaging surveys, notably VST-KiDS and Herschel-ATLAS.

This second data release of VIKING data covers all of the highest quality data (images, weightmaps, single-band source lists) taken since the start of the survey in November 2009 up to September 2013. The current products are derived from an improved processing pipeline. This release contains 477 tiles and covers an area of 690 sq. degrees. The associated multi-band catalogue includes a total of 46 million sources.

The Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS) - one of public surveys being conducted with the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) - will image 1500 sq. degrees in four filters (u, g, r, i). It is designed to be a weak lensing shear tomography survey, but also to map the large-scale matter distribution in the universe and constrain the equation of state of Dark Energy. Secondary science cases include galaxy evolution to Milky Way structure and from the detection of white dwarfs to high-redshift quasars.

This second data release consists of coadded images, weight maps, masks and single-band source lists for 98 tiles that were completed between October 2012 and September 2013. The total combined area coverage of the KiDS releases is 148 sq. degrees. In addition to the image products, the release contains the associated multi-band source catalogue of 17 million sources.

Because the areas covered by KiDS and VIKING releases does overlap, the ESO Science Archive Facility offers source photometry in nine bands, from the near-UV to the near-infrared, for 17 million sources. The new catalogue data are accessible from ESOò??s catalogue facility query interface, and each one is accompanied by a comprehensive release description.

09 January 2015

Second release of photometric catalogue data resulting from the VISTA Magellanic Survey published

The VISTA Magellanic Survey (VMC) - one of the six public surveys being conducted at ESOò??s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy - aims at the determination of the spatially resolved star formation history and the three-dimensional geometry of the Magellanic system. The sensitivity is designed to reach sources below the oldest main-sequence turn off point of the stellar population and the multi-epochs to measure accurate Ks mean magnitudes for pulsating variable stars, e.g. RR Lyrae stars and Cepheids.

This second data release refers to five new images for VMC tiles (tiles LMC 5_5, 6_4, 8_3, and tiles SMC 3_3, 3_5) and the two re-processed tiles LMC 6_6 and 8_8 (covering 7.5 deg² in the LMC and 3 deg² in SMC). It consists of the band-merged YJKs photometric catalogue based on the deep co-added survey images of at least three epochs in Y and J filters and twelve epochs in Ks filter, the multi-epoch photometry in each of the three bands and the catalogue of known Cepheids including also periods and modes of pulsation from optical-band data. In addition, a new catalogue of eclipsing binaries in the LMC tiles contains Ks amplitudes together with periods from optical catalogues (OGLE-III, EROS-2) for each star. The catalogues were extracted from the reduced images which have been released under VMC Data Release 3 in October 2014.

The new catalogue data are conjointly accessible from ESOò??s catalogue facility query interface, each one accompanied by a comprehensive release description.

15 December 2014

The ESO-GOODS project is now entirely served via the Phase 3 infrastructure

The GOODS advanced data products are now available via the query forms for Science Data Products of the ESO Archive.
The ESO-GOODS project consists of a number of observing campaigns in the CDFS field (in particular in the GOODS-South central region), primarily with the VLT, designed to complement the capabilities of HST prior to SM4. The VLT campaign was conducted under the programme "The Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey: ESO Public Observations of the SIRTF Legacy/HST Treasury/Chandra Deep Field South", with PI Catherine Cesarsky, over the periods P68-P77. This programme includes:

• deep near IR coverage of the GOODS region in the JHK bands with ISAAC
• very deep U-band imaging of the entire CDFS area with VIMOS
• an extensive spectroscopic campaign with FORS2 and VIMOS which has yielded ~2700 secure source redshifts

The data were migrated to be compliant to the ESO standard regarding format and header keywords requirements, and ingested in the ESO Science Archive Facility via the Phase 3 infrastructure.
This migration enhanced the value of these products by adding useful information in the headers of the files. Furthermore the three associated catalogues (two spectroscopic redshift catalogues and one color catalogue) have also become accessible via the Catalog facility query interface.

21 October 2014

HARPS Pipeline Processed Data Available through Phase 3

The pipeline processed HARPS echelle data are now available as Science Data Products via the Phase 3 main and spectral query forms. The data consist of 1D spectra in the ESO/SDP standard format and tar files containing unaltered output of the HARPS pipeline (DRS v. 3.5). Please note that only the presentation of the data has changed; the scientific content remains the same.

The release covers the entire lifetime of HARPS (October 2003-present). Newly acquired and processed data are included as soon as they become available. Note, however, that most of the new data is protected and for the duration of the proprietary period is only accessible by the PIs and their delegates.

HARPS polarimetry data are currently not part of this release and have to be obtained from the dedicated query form, as previously. It is anticipated that polarimetry data will be available through Phase 3 in the foreseeable future.

The format and content of the HARPS 1D data is described in more detail in the release notes. Instructions on how to read or display data in the ESO/SDP tabular data format can be found in the 1D spectrum data format help page.

07 October 2014

New imaging data from the Vista Magellanic Clouds Survey released

New data products resulting from the VISTA Survey of the Magellanic system (VMC) are now available via the dedicated Phase 3 query interface. The current release is based on the observations of five new VMC survey tiles (three in the LMC and two in the SMC), as well as on improved reduction of two tiles released earlier on.
Observations are taken in three filters: Y, J and Ks for a total sky coverage of ~7.5 deg² in the LMC and ~3 deg² in the SMC.
179 reduced and calibrated tile images belonging to individual observations are provided together to the corresponding pawprints and deep co-added images. Weight maps and associated single band source lists are also provided.

For more details please refer to the associated release description.

29 September 2014

Ultra-deep Ks-band imaging data of the UDS and GOODS-South fields released

The HAWK-I Ultra Deep Survey and GOODS Survey is a new ultra-deep near-IR imaging survey executed with Hawk-I at the VLT lead by A. Fontana as principal investigator. It was designed to cover the two CANDELS (http://candels.ucolick.org) extragalactic fields accessible from Paranal that do not have suitably-deep K-band images: a sub area of UDS and GOODS-South. It delivers the deepest, highest quality images ever collected in the K-band. Deep Y-band images in the UDS field have also been acquired. The UDS field is covered to a limit of Ks=27.3 (at 1 sigma) and the GOODS-South data reach slightly deeper/shallower limits (Ks=27.8).

Data are grouped in three distinct data collections: HUGS_GOODSS_K, HUGS_UDS_K and HUGS_UDS_Y. Images can be queried and downloaded from the ESO Science Archive Facility with the three single-band catalogues being accessible from ESO's dedicated catalogue facility query interface (www.eso.org/qi).

18 September 2014

New imaging data of the Public ESO Spectroscopic Survey of Transient Objects (PESSTO) released

PESSTO (Public ESO Spectroscopic Survey of Transient Objects) is a public spectroscopic survey that targets supernovae and optical transients brighter than 20.5^m with the goal of classifying supernovae as close as possible to their explosion phase. Release version 1 contained more than 900 flux calibrated spectra for 298 distinct objects observed during the first year of the survey. Such spectra are now complemented with 234 reduced and calibrated near-infrared SOFI images for 22 transient objects. Images and spectra can be ò??queried and downloaded from the ESO Science Archive Facilityò??ò??.

The PESSTO Data Release 2 is accompanied by a comprehensive ò??descriptionò??ò??.

23/24 August 2014

Network maintenance affecting the ESO Science Archive Facility

Due to maintenance reasons, there may be a disruption of archive services on the weekend 23/24 August. Phase 3 file uploads could be affected. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

15 July 2014

First Data Release of VVV Photometric Catalogues via the ESO Science Archive Facility

VVV belongs to the suite of six public surveys being conducted at ESOò??s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA). The VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea Survey (VVV) is a wide area (562 sq.degrees), near-infrared, multi-epoch imaging survey of the Milky Way bulge and disk. The initial survey in the five broadband filters Z, Y, J, H, Ks is followed by extensive multi-epoch observations in the Ks band.

The first VVV data release, which is based on observations carried out until 1 October 2010, actually covers 404 square degrees of the Galactic disk and the bulge region and consists of 208 million sources (including duplicates). The previously announced release of astrometrically and photometrically calibrated mosaiced and co-added images, weight maps and associated single band source lists (DR1) is now complemented by three high-level photometric catalogues. The five-band photometric catalogue records object coordinates, fluxes, color indices as well as associated quality information, in total 95 parameters per object with a total data volume exceeding 81 GB. Multi-epoch Ks band photometry of these sources is provided in a separate catalogue consisting of more than 600 million individual measurements with a data volume over 36 GB. More than 6.7 million sources classified as variable are recorded in a third catalogue, which contains mean magnitude, photometric amplitudes and probability of variability with a data volume of 320 MB.

The data are fully searchable and accessible ò?? the entire data set or user-defined subsets ò?? from ESOò??s catalogue facility query interface. Please use your personal ESO user portal credentials for login.

By accessing the VVV public catalogue releases, the ESO community benefits from joint efforts by ESO, the VVV public survey team, led by D. Minniti (P.I.), and their collaborators.

11 July 2014

GOODS/FORS2 Advanced Data Products migrated to the Phase 3 infrastructure

The GOODS/FORS2 advanced data products are now available via the query forms for Science Data Products of the ESO Archive.
The data were migrated to be compliant to the ESO standard regarding format and header keywords requirements, and ingested in the ESO Science Archive Facility via the Phase 3 infrastructure.
This migration enhanced the value of these products by adding useful information in the headers of the files. Furthermore the associated  catalogue has also become accessible via the Catalog facility query interface.
More details about the GOODS/FORS2 release can be found in the associated Phase 3 release description.

27 May 2014

Phase 3 Release Validator update version 2.1.2

The Phase 3 Release Validator is a java-based tool to be run locally on your system to validate the data before uploading them to ESO. The updated version 2.1.2 of the Phase 3 Release Validator, which is now available for download, offers a considerable improved performance in case of large updating releases.

09 May 2014

ESSENCE/FORS1 Advanced Data Products migrated to the Phase 3 infrastructure

The ESSENCE/FORS1 advanced data products are now available via the query forms for Science Data Products of the ESO Archive. The ESSENCE data were migrated to be compliant to the ESO standard regarding format and header keywords requirements, and ingested in the ESO Science Archive Facility via the Phase 3 infrastructure. This migration enhanced the value of these products by adding useful information in the headers of the FITS files.

Part of the migration was devoted to recover the processing provenance and the association with the raw data which was successful for almost all of the migrated files. More details about the ESSENCE release can be found in the associated Phase 3 release description.

09 April 2014

New photometric catalogue data resulting from the VISTA Magellanic Survey released

The VISTA Magellanic Survey (VMC) - one of the six public surveys being conducted at ESOò??s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy - aims at the determination of the spatially resolved star formation history and the three-dimensional geometry of the Magellanic system. The sensitivity is designed to reach sources below the oldest main-sequence turn off point of the stellar population and the multi-epochs to measure accurate Ks mean magnitudes for pulsating variable stars, e.g. RR Lyrae stars and Cepheids.

This data release, covering the survey tiles LMC 6_6 (including the 30 Doradus star forming region) and LMC 8_8 (including the South Ecliptic Pole region), ca. 3.5 deg² in total, consists of the band-merged YJKs photometric catalogue based on the deep co-added survey images of at least three epochs in Y and J filters and twelve epochs in Ks filter, the multi-epoch photometry in each of the three bands and the catalogue of known Cepheids including also periods and modes of pulsation from optical-band data. The catalogues were extracted from the reduced images which have been released under VMC Data Release 2 in June 2013.

The new catalogue data are conjointly accessible from ESOò??s catalogue facility query interface^(*), each one accompanied by a comprehensive release description.

^{(*)Note: ESO User Portal authentication required.}

04 April 2014

First data of the VISTA Deep Extragalactic Observations Survey in the VIDEO-ES1 field released

VIDEO is a deep near-infrared survey which targets ~12 square degrees over the ELAIS-S1, XMMLSS, and CDFS extragalactic fields. VIDEO belongs to the suite of six public surveys being conducted at ESOò??s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA). This release (VIDEO-ES1 DR1) contains single-OB images in Z,H and Ks bands in the VIDEO-ES1 field along with the associated source lists taken between 06/10/2010 and 15/11/2011. Coverage of the full 3.0 square degrees of the ES1 field will be provided in future releases.

Images can be queried and downloaded from the ESO Science Archive Facility. The VIDEO-ES1 Data Release 1 is accompanied by a comprehensive description.

01 April 2014

First data of the VISTA Deep Extragalactic Observations Survey in the VIDEO-CDFS field released

VIDEO is a deep near-infrared survey which targets ~12 square degrees over the ELAIS-S1, XMMLSS, and CDFS extragalactic fields. VIDEO belongs to the suite of six public surveys being conducted at ESOò??s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA). This release (VIDEO-CDFS DR1) contains single-OB images in Z,H and Ks bands in the VIDEO-CDFS1 field along with the associated source lists taken between 06/12/2011 and 29/12/2011. The whole coverage over the full 4.5 square degrees of the CDFS field will be provided in future releases.

Images can be queried and downloaded from the ESO Science Archive Facility. The VIDEO-CDFS Data Release 1 is accompanied by a comprehensive description.

21 March 2014

zCOSMOS Advanced Data Products migrated to the Phase 3 infrastructure

The zCOSMOS-bright advanced data products are now available via the query forms for Science Data Products of the ESO Archive. The zCOSMOS data were migrated to be compliant to the ESO standard regarding format and header keywords requirements, and ingested in the ESO Science Archive Facility via the Phase 3 infrastructure.

This migration enhanced the value of these products by adding useful information in the headers of the files. Furthermore the associated zCOSMOS-bright catalogue has also become accessible via the Catalog Facility query interface.

Part of the migration was devoted to recover the processing provenance and the association with the raw data which was successful for 97% of the migrated files. More details about the zCOSMOS release can be found in the associated Phase 3 release description.

20 January 2014

First release of PESSTO spectral data products

The Public ESO Spectroscopic Survey of Transient Objects (PESSTO) is one of the two on-going ESO public spectroscopic surveys. It aims to deliver detailed, high-quality, time series optical and near infrared spectroscopy of 150 optical transients covering the full range of parameter space that the current synoptic surveys now deliver: luminosity, host metallicity, explosion mechanisms. This will build a comprehensive understanding of the exotic, explosive Universe.

Data products resulting from the first release of PESSTO are now available via the dedicated Phase 3 query interface at the ESO Science Archive Facility. This data release consists of optical (NTT/EFOSC2) and NIR (NTT/SOFI) wavelength-calibrated 1-dimensional spectra of supernovae and optical transients brighter than 20.5mag, observed between April 2012 and April 2013 under ESO program ID 188.D-3003. The total number of data files submitted in this release is 909 1-d spectra and the corresponding 909 2-d spectra (downloadable as ancillary files associated to the 1-d products), of 298 unique targets. The total data volume of this release is 3 GB.

The 1d spectra are published using the tabular format following the established standard for ESO science data products. The PESSTO public survey data release is accompanied by a comprehensive description.

Instructions on how to read or display data in the ESO/SDP tabular data format can be found in the 1D spectrum data format help page.

08 January 2014

New data of the VISTA Deep Extragalactic Observations Survey in the VIDEO-XMM field released

VIDEO is a deep near-infrared survey which targets ~12 square degrees over the ELAIS-S1, XMMLSS, and ECDFS extragalactic fields. VIDEO belongs to the suite of six public surveys being conducted at ESOò??s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA). The first public data release of the VIDEO programme via the ESO Science Archive Facility, the VIDEO-XMM Data Release Number 1, Date: 25.07.2011, contained 97 individual (i.e. single-OB) tile images in the VIDEO-XMM3 field and their associated single-band source lists. This release (VIDEO-XMM DR2) adds 156 single-OB images in the VIDEO-XMM fields 1, 2 and 3. DR2 is the first release that includes deep co-added images of the XMM3 field including the associated single-band source lists and the resulting deep photometric catalogue where the ZYJHKs data have been merged. To the 5ß? limit of Ks~23.8, the Ks-selected catalogue contains 198178 sources over ~1.8 deg².

Images can be queried and downloaded from the ESO Science Archive Facility while the band-merged catalogue data are accessible from ESOò??s catalogue facility query interface. The VIDEO-XMM Data Release 2 is accompanied by a comprehensive description.

16 December 2013

First Data Release of the VIKING five-band photometric catalogue via the ESO Science Archive Facility

VIKING belongs to the suite of six public surveys being conducted at ESOò??s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA). The VISTA Kilo-degree Infrared Galaxy Survey (VIKING) is a wide area (eventually ~1500 sq.degrees), intermediate-depth (5-sigma detection limit J~21 on Vega system) near-infrared imaging survey, in the five broadband filters Z, Y, J, H, Ks.

The first VIKING data release, which is based on observations carried out until mid February 2011, covers 226 square degrees in all five VIKING filters and consists of 14.7 million sources (including low-reliability single-band detections). The previously announced release of astrometrically and photometrically calibrated mosaiced and co-added images (each 1.5 square degrees), weight maps and associated single band source lists is now complemented by the VIKING five-band photometric catalogue recording object coordinates, fluxes, color indices, morphologic parameters as well as associated quality information, in total over 160 parameters per object with a total data volume over 9 gigabytes. The data are fully searchable and accessible ò?? the entire data set or user-defined subsets ò?? from ESOò??s catalogue facility query interface. Please use your personal ESO user portal credentials for login.

By accessing the first VIKING public catalogue release, the ESO community benefits from joint efforts by ESO, the VIKING public survey team, led by A. Edge (P.I.), and their collaborators.

Release of pipeline-processed UVES data by the ESO Science Archive Facility

The collection of pipeline-processed high-resolution spectral data obtained with the Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES) has been significantly extended, now also including the observations that make use of the image slicers in order to optimize the observing efficiency during sub-optimal seeing conditions. In addition to the UVES data announced on 24 October 2013, over 10,000 individual spectra, which have been acquired in the period between 2003 and 2013, are now available from the ESO Science Archive Facility. The data consist of extracted wavelength- and, whenever possible, flux-calibrated 1-dimensional spectra in tabular format following the established ESO science data products standard.

The data products, being tagged "UVES_ECHELLE", can be queried and downloaded from the ESO Science Archive Facility. More details about the data can be found in the updated Phase 3 data release description for UVES data.

According to ESOò??s data access policy, data products become publicly accessible once the proprietary period (usually one year) has expired; before that date, access to the data products is restricted to the P.I. of the observing programme and her/his collaborators.

18 November 2013

First Release of Gaia-ESO Spectroscopic Public Survey Data

Data products resulting from the first release of the Gaia-ESO Public Spectroscopic Survey are now available via the dedicated Phase 3 query interface at the ESO Science Archive Facility.

This data release consists of wavelength calibrated 1-dimensional spectra of point-like sources in tabular format following the established standard for ESO science data products, and obtained with FLAMES from 31.12.2011 to 30.06.2012 under ESO program ID 188.B-3002. The total number of data files submitted in this release is 5654 comprising spectra of 3834 unique targets. The total data volume of this data release is 1.3 GB.

The Gaia-ESO public survey data release is accompanied by a comprehensive description. Instructions on how to read or display data in the ESO/SDP tabular data format can be found in the 1D spectrum data format help page.

First Release of VST Public Survey ATLAS Imaging Data

Data products resulting from the first release of the ESO/VST Public Survey ATLAS are now available via the dedicated Phase 3 query interface at the ESO Science Archive Facility.

This data release consists of the stacked reduced images and associated source lists taken from the start of observations in August 2011, through to end September 2012 under ESO program ID 177.A-3011. The imaging data comprises the combination of the two individual pawprint images which goes to make an ATLAS stacked pawprint in each field. The passbands covered are the SDSS u,g,r,i,z bands reaching approximately the same depth (r~22) as the SDSS survey in the Northern Hemisphere. The data release comprises a total of 32031 data files occupying ~3TB in its default Rice compression. The total area covered is ~1000 deg2.

The ATLAS public survey data release is accompanied by a comprehensive description.

24 October 2013

Release of UVES Echelle Science Data Products

The ESO archive now provides access to reduced scientific data obtained with the UVES spectrograph mounted on the VLT via the Phase 3 system. More than 75000 spectra of point-like sources obtained in "ECHELLE mode" from the beginning of 2000 until 2013 are now published. The data consist of extracted wavelength- and, whenever possible, flux-calibrated 1-dimensional spectra in tabular format following the established standard for ESO science data products. The UVES data collection will grow with time and includes the current stream of UVES data as they are acquired at the observatory, with the reduced products becoming available in monthly release cycles as soon as they are processed.

The data products, being tagged "UVES_ECHELLE", can be queried and downloaded using the Phase 3 query form dedicated to spectral data, or from the generic query form that provides access to all Phase 3 data but is lacking the fields specific to spectral data.

More details about the data can be found in the associated Phase 3 data release description for UVES data.

16 September 2013

Upgrade of the Phase 3 system, release validator version 2.0.0

The Phase 3 system has been upgraded to support the publication of new data products, particularly data to be processed by ESO in the course of data flow operations, so-called internal data products (IDPs). The upgrade includes the following general improvements.

• In order to catch problems earlier in the process, the integrity of the processing provenance information provided in the products is verified after data submission to ESO (i.e. when the release has been closed);
• The Phase 3 system now fully supports recording the processing provenance of data products within one dedicated FITS binary table extension (cf. ESO SDP Standard, Issue 5, Sect. 2.4.2, for details);
• Performance improvements and bugs fixes

Please upgrade to the new version of the Phase 3 release validator (v2.0.0) if you downloaded the Phase 3 release validator before.

20 August 2013

First Data Release of VST Public Survey VPHAS+ Imaging Data

Data products resulting from the first release of the ESO/VST Public Survey VPHAS+ are now available via the dedicated Phase 3 query interface at the ESO Science Archive Facility.

This data release covers the first 9 months of data-taking in which a tenth of the survey footprint was observed to desired quality. These first pointings have favoured the Galactic equator and some well-known open clusters of interest to the Gaia-ESO Survey. Reduced images and unstacked single-band source lists are provided. The total data volume of this data release is 749 GB.

The VPHAS+ public survey data release is accompanied by a comprehensive description.

15 July 2013

First Data Release from the MATISSE/OCA-ESO Project (AMBRE)

Stellar radial velocities, atmospheric parameters (effective temperature, surface gravity, mean metallicity [M/H]) and enrichment in alpha-elements ([alpha/Fe]) resulting from the automatic analysis of 21551 FEROS spectra from the ESO data archive with the MATISSE algorithm have been released. Go to the ESO Catalogue Facility(*) for data download and further information.

(*) Note: requires authentication through the ESO User Portal.

11 July 2013

First Release of VST Public Survey KiDS Imaging Data

Data products resulting from the first release of the ESO/VST Public Survey KiDS are now available via the dedicated Phase 3 query interface at the ESO Science Archive Facility.

This data release consists of the first 50 ò??tilesò?? of KiDS, each observed in all four filters (u,g,r,i), during the first year of regular operations (15 October 2011 to 31 September 2012) and during Early Science Time (13 August to 15 October 2011). A total of 800 files is included in this data release. The release consists of astrometrically and photometrically calibrated mosaiced and coadded images (each 1.0 degÒÂ), weight maps, FLAG mask images and associated single band source lists in the different bands of the survey. The total data volume of this data release is 702 GB.

The KiDS public survey data release is accompanied by a comprehensive description.

Deep HAWK-I J and Ks imaging of the X-Ò-ray luminous galaxy cluster XMMU J2235.3-2557

Data products resulting from ESO programme ID 60.A-Ò-9284(H) as part of the first HAWK-Ò-I science verification  are now available via the dedicated Phase 3 query interface at the ESO Science Archive Facility.

This data release consists of a mosaic of four pointings in two filters J and Ks, with the center of the X-Ò-ray luminous galaxy cluster XMMU J2235.3-Ò-2557 imaged in the four extreme corners of the HAWK-I detector mosaic. The deep image covers 13' by 13' on the sky with a pixel scale of 0.1065''. The image quality varies from 0.3'' to 0.7'' depending on filter and location.

The 60.A-Ò-9284(H) data release is accompanied by a comprehensive description.

28 June 2013

Second Release of ESO/VISTA Public Survey Imaging Data

New data products resulting from the ESO/VISTA public surveys are now available via the dedicated Phase 3 query interface at the ESO Science Archive Facility. The current release of data from the VVV, VHS, VIKING, and VMC surveys (6.2 TB) covers mostly the period from October 2010 to September 2011 and consists of astrometrically and photometrically calibrated mosaiced and coadded images (each 1.5 degÒÂ), weight maps and associated single band source lists in the different bands of each survey.

The new data largely complement the first release of VISTA public survey data products from 2011 adding up to 12 TB of (compressed) imaging data. Each public survey data release is accompanied by a comprehensive description.

14 May 2013

Phase 3 validator is ready to verify data submissions from spectroscopic surveys

The configuration of the Phase 3 validator has been updated and is now ready to be used for the verification of 1D spectra and generic images. No user action is needed to activate the new configuration. The Java code itself (validator.jar) remains unchanged. Next time validator.jar is launched, the updated configuration will be taken into account automatically.

Revised version of the Frequently Asked Questions

A revised version of the Questions and Answers is available, with a more detailed description of the metadata for the characterisation of 1D spectra and support for the "ANCILLARY.2DSPECTRUM" and "ANCILLARY.IMAGE" data formats.

Revised version of the Phase 3 policies

A revised version of the Phase 3 policies has been published, which now include specific information on VST, spectroscopic surveys and catalogue information, in addition to VISTA public survey policies.

14 March 2013

Phase 3 validator supports the "ANCILLARY.MASK" data format.

The configuration of the Phase 3 validator has been updated now including support for the "ANCILLARY.MASK" data format, which allows to describe the data quality of image arrays. Next time validator.jar is launched, the updated configuration will be taken into account automatically.

26 February 2013

Phase 3 validator is ready to verify VST OmegaCAM DR1 data.

The Phase 3 validator has been reconfigured and is now ready to be used for the verification of the VST OmegaCAM DR1 data.

No user action is needed to activate the new configuration. Next time validator.jar is launched, the updated configuration will be taken into account automatically. The Java code itself (validator.jar) remains unchanged.

11 January 2013

Phase 3 data format standard for OmegaCAM data products available.

To support the VST Public Surveys in their Phase 3 preparations the format standard for data products to be submitted via Phase 3 has been expanded and now includes OmegaCAM data products (Issue 5, Date 11/01/2013).

15 October 2012

Phase 3 data format standard for spectroscopic data available.

To support ESO spectroscopic surveys in their Phase 3 preparations the format standard for data products to be submitted via Phase 3 has been expanded and now includes spectroscopic data, i.e. extracted, calibrated, and fully characterized one-dimensional spectra.

The new ESO Science Data Products Standard (Issue 4, Date 15/10/2012) is based on the standard definitions, which were previously published in the External Data Products Standard, Issue 3 (25/05/2012). Note that the data format standard for VISTA public survey products (images and catalogues) remains unchanged, meaning that issue 3 still may be used for the preparation of these data.

As the scope of the new standard was enlarged to science data products in general, the document title has been adjusted accordingly. External data providers are not affected by this modification.

ESO Science Data Products Standard (Issue 4, Date 15/10/2012)
Please consult the CHANGE RECORD on p.2 for further details.

02 July 2012

Phase 3 Validator is ready to verify VISTA DR2 data.

DR2 images and source lists require a few modifications with respect to DR1 (see below). To this end the Phase 3 validator has been reconfigured and is now ready to be used for the verification of the VISTA DR2 data.

No user action is needed to activate the new configuration. Next time validator.jar is launched, the updated configuration will be taken into account automatically. The Java code itself (validator.jar) remains unchanged.

Here is a brief summary of changes to the data requirements with respect to DR1:

1. PROV keys were recommended for image data products (tile, pawprint etc.) submitted in 2011. The upgrade of the Phase 3 infrastructure that took place in May 2012 entails the requirement saying that processing provenance is compulsory metadata for Phase 3 data products delivered thereafter. Now the validator also checks the existence of the PROV keyword for VISTA tiles and pawprints.
   
2. RA, DEC keywords are required to point to the actual center of the image. For tiles RA/DEC should be set to the image centre (based on the WCS) instead of the previously tolerated telescope pointing of the first pawprint /offset position. Alternatively, the tile coordinates as defined by SADT can be copied (once converted to decimal degree format).
3. PRODCATG tokens are upper case, eg. SCIENCE.IMAGE. Although, the previous lower case format is still accepted for DR2, it is recommended to change the software in view to future releases.

Pls. see also: ESO External Data Products Standard (Issue 3, Date 22/05/2012), CHANGE RECORD on p.2. The validation of VISTA DR1 catalogue data products is unaffected by this update.

12 June 2012

Phase 3 FTP server: SSL/TLS encryption requirement dropped.

As of 12 June 2012 any standard FTP client can be used to transfer Phase 3 data including the clients previously suggested like lftp and FileZilla. The requirement to use the SSL/TLS encryption layer for connections to the Phase 3 FTP server at ESO has been dropped. phase3ftp.eso.org now accepts plain FTP connections (port 21) whereas the support for FTP over TLS has been removed.

Normally, the change is fully transparent to the user. If you have previously saved the details of the connection to phase3ftp.eso.org using FileZilla's site manager for instance, you may need to update your setting. In this case encryption needs to be disabled by selecting "Use plain FTP".

25 May 2012

Adding support for catalogue data submission with improved validation of data products

This is a major upgrade of the Phase 3 Infrastructure that entails the following changes:

• ESO External Data Products Standard updated (Issue 3, Date 22/05/2012)
  • Please consult the CHANGE RECORD on p.2
• Guidelines for the Data Release Description updated: template extended; submission as PDF document;
  
• Upgrade of the Phase 3 release validator (version 1.1.1) that now:
  
  • supports the submission of science catalogue data;
  • supports the submission of the Phase 3 release description as PDF document;
  • improves checks on FITS keywords  and their content to identify problems as early as possible in the validation process;
  • provides support for PRODCATG tokens in uppercase;
  • User documentation/manual updated.
• The Phase 3 release manager prompts the user for the title, i.e. a brief human-readable content description, when a new Phase 3 data collection is being created. Uniqueness of the data collection name is enforced.

10 March 2011

Initial roll-out of the Phase 3 infrastructure

Phase 3 operations started supporting the validation, transfer and publication of the first data products from ESO/VISTA public surveys.

30 November 2010

Public Surveys Phase 3 Workshop, Garching

Click here to find workshop programme, list of participants and slides of presentations.