How to use ESO - The life-cycle of an ESO observing program

Principal contact: Bruno Leibundgut (bleibundgut@eso.org )

In this session, practical information on how to use ESO will be given. The end-to-end operation model of ESO will be presented, starting from the proposal submission and ending with the ingestion of advanced data products in the ESO archive. The OPC process will be described providing a glance behind the scenes. First-hand information on the daily and nightly work on Paranal will be given. The construction of the night schedule and how the user-defined observation blocks are observed will be explained. Tips on how an observation strategy can be improved will be presented. The ESO archive not only contains the raw data of all observations but also advanced, science-ready data products. The content and functionalities of this precious resource will be demonstrated. And finally, the users perspective of ESO will be presented.

In summary, this session covers all of what you always wanted to know about observing at ESO, but never dared to ask.

Scientific Programme

Tuesday 21st April
16:00	Overview of the End-To-End Cycle of an ESO Observing Programme	Fernando Comeron
16:18	OPC - behind the scenes	Elias Brinks
16:36	Spotlight on Paranal Operations: How are Your Observations Made?	Christophe Dumas
16:52	Data Products in the ESO Archive	Martino Romaniello
17:10	You and Your Observatory: The ESO Users Committee	Jacco van Loon