GENERAL

Observing Runs performed in Service Mode (SM) on La Silla receive a set of data on media which presently are DVDs. Since February 2006 the structure and content of these data packages is aligned with the ones delivered for SM runs on the VLT and VLTI. The packages presently contain raw data only. The only exceptions are FEROS and HARPS packages which also contain reduced SCIENCE files which have been processed by the pipelines on-site. Contrary to VLT packages, there are no calibration products in the packages, and there are no quality control and certification processes in place.

For a given ESO run ID, e.g. 079.A-0123(A), the files included in the data package are selected as follows:

• All RAW files with DPR.CATG=SCIENCE and OBS.PROG.ID=prog-id
• All RAW files with DPR.CATG=CALIB and OBS.PROG.ID=prog-id
• All other RAW with DPR.CATG=CALIB and acquired within the noon-to-noon period(s) of the night during which each RAW SCIENCE of the program was acquired. This is on the basis of the operational paradigm that the relevant calibrations for each Service Mode program observed during a given night were either acquired in the afternoon immediately before or in the morning immediately following the SCIENCE observations.

• Any other RAW files with any other DPR.CATG, even if they have OBS.PROG.ID=prog-id
• Relevant calibrations acquired OUTSIDE the 24hr, noon-to-noon period(s) centered on the night(s) of the SCIENCE observations. This policy unfortunately often misses SKY-FLATs which are often difficult to acquire in advance or in the following morning.

If you feel you are missing calibrations, they have probably been acquired outside the 24hr, noon-to-noon period(s) centered on the night(s) of the SCIENCE observations. You should then look for such missing calibrations in the ESO Archive. If you are unable to locate suitable calibrations for your data in the ESO Archive, then please contact La Silla.

The following table summarises the instruments supported by this process:

Instrument	date of implementation
EFOSC (Notes)	April 2007
EMMI (Notes)	October 2006
FEROS (Notes)	February 2006
HARPS (Notes)	October 2006
SofI (Notes)	October 2006
SuSI2 (Notes)	October 2006

PACKAGE DIRECTORY STRUCTURE

The top-level structure of the data package is as follows:

<RUN_ID>
<OBS_ID1>	<OBS_ID2>	...	GEN_CALIB	GEN_INFO

For each observation block (OB) that has been executed on La Silla, you find all measured raw data (FITS files) in a directory named by the OB number (FITS key HIERARCH.ESO.OBS.ID). If pipeline products exist (FEROS and HARPS), these are also added in the OB directory.

The GEN_CALIB directory collects all those calibration files (raw data only) that have been measured as part of the regular calibration plan, and if any calibration frames of a general nature (like static line tables). The GEN_INFO directory has general information such as data reports.

The tree shown above is the logical structure, which means that this is the way the data have been organized before they have been put onto media. Depending on the size of your package, the directories may be distributed across several media. It is a good idea to create the original tree on your local disk and then copy all files from the media into this tree.

<OBS_ID> (e.g. 179211)

For each executed observation block of your run, the package contains a directory with all measured data from that OB. All data under <OBS_ID> carry your run ID.

Note that some of your OBs may have been executed more than once. In particular, if time permitted, observatory staff try to re-execute OBs which produced data clearly out of the specified constraints. All data from OBs that have been executed multiple times are found in the same directory.

Each OB directory is further subdivided into subdirectories for science frames, calibration frames (if any), and log files. In many cases, there will be science data only, but there may also be OBs with attached calibration data:

<OBS_ID>

acq sci_raw sci_proc cal_raw logs

<OBS_ID>/acq

All acquisition frames (DPR.CATG=ACQUISITION) from the OB are contained in this directory. This directory only exists if such data exist.

<OBS_ID>/sci_raw

All raw science frames (DPR.CATG=SCIENCE) from the OB are contained in this directory.

<OBS_ID>/sci_proc

Here you find the Pipeline Product Tarballs (PPTBs) produced by the online pipelines running at La Silla, HARPS and FEROS only.

This directory only exists if such data exist.

<OBS_ID>/cal_raw

If measured, raw calibration frames (DPR.CATG=CALIB) produced by the OB are contained in this directory ("attached calibrations"). These are the ones which have been taken upon user's request in addition to the ones from the calibration plan.

Calibrations measured as part of the regular calibration plan are stored under the GEN_CALIB directory.

This directory only exists if such data exist.

<OBS_ID>/logs

This directory has logging information about the packing of your data:

• Association Blocks (extension .ab)
• Association Logs (extension (.alog)

For VLT instruments, Association Blocks (ABs) are text files which contain all the information required to pipeline-process and pack data. This information includes the reduction recipe, the input raw file(s), the calibration products needed for processing, and the names of the final products. They are described here.
For La Silla packages, they are only used (and useful) for their packing information.

Association logs are delivered since P80. They are a simplified version of ABs, designed to provide the association information essential for the user. More ...

GEN_CALIB

This directory collects all calibration frames from the regular calibration plan that are associated to your science data and calibration frames of a general nature (like static line tables). Calibrations that have been measured by user-defined OBs from other programs may be included here in addition.

The directory has three subdirectories (gen, logs, raw), one of which has further fine-structure:

GEN_CALIB
raw	gen	logs
RAW_TYPE1, e.g. BIAS RAW_TYPE2, e.g. FLAT RAW_TYPE3, e.g. WAVE RAW_TYPE4, e.g. STD

GEN_CALIB/raw

Raw calibration files. In general, for La Silla pacakages they are currently all grouped together in one sub-directory called CALIB. At some point in the future they may be separated by RAW_TYPE, which would depend on the instrument used (e.g. BIAS, FLAT, WAVE, STD, etc.)

GEN_CALIB/logs

Association Blocks and association logs for the calibration files under GEN_CALIB.

GEN_CALIB/gen

General calibration data of static nature.

Additional or missing raw calibration files may be retrieved anytime from the generic ESO Archive form.

Calibration data are public immediately while SCIENCE data normally have a proprietary period of one year.