The Archive Science group has now published a user guide providing a description of the reduced data products that can be browsed and downloaded from the dedicated Phase 3 query forms of the Science Archive Facility. 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.

New VST Public Survey data products resulting from the VST Photometric Hα Survey of the Southern Galactic Plane (VPHAS+) are now available via the dedicated Phase 3 query interface at the Science Archive Facility.

All spectra obtained with the FLAMES/GIRAFFE spectrograph in the multi-object (MEDUSA) mode, from June 2005 until December 2014, are now published via the Science Archive as reduced data. The extracted, wavelength calibrated, one-dimensional spectra are in tabular FITS format, using the science data products standard.

ESO's recommended environment to run data reduction pipelines ESO Reflex is now much easier to install on Apple computers. Under Apple Mac OS X 10.9 or newer, a substantially simplified installation procedure using MacPorts is now available. This procedure should resolve most of the installation problems users experienced in the past.

The proposal submission for ESO Period 96 (1 October 2015 – 31 March 2016) closed on 26 March 2015. 958 proposals were received, including 27 Large Programme and 46 Target of Opportunity proposals, for a total of 2450 nights. This is some 30 proposals more than last period, but for a similar number of nights.

Two large infrastructure projects are currently taking place on Paranal. The combined Coudé room that will merge the light from the incoherent foci of the VLT is being prepared for the arrival of ESPRESSO. The other project concerns the preparation of the infrastructure of the VLT Interferometer (VLTI) for the arrival of the second generation instruments GRAVITY and MATISSE.

Phase 3 allows users to return their reduced data for publication via the ESO Science Archive Facility. The Phase 3 data format specifications and Phase 3 validator have now been extended to astrometrically registered and flux calibrated sky maps in the submillimetre domain. This format is relevant to the Phase 3 data release for the LESS extra-galactic submillimetre survey.

The User Support Department (USD) would like to thank all those Principal Investigators and their Phase 2 delegates who filled in the on-line User Satisfaction Survey. As of mid-March 2015, 140 responses were received from our targeted campaign. We have contacted, where possible, those respondents who provided detailed comments. A summary report of the latest User Satisfaction Survey is now available.

New versions of the available science pipelines have been have been released and are available here. The FORS pipeline has been upgraded and results in substantially improved extracted spectra compared to previous versions. The MUSE pipeline now comes with an ESO Reflex workflow that includes a python script for alignment of individual datasets, an essential step for deep exposures.

Reference spectra for six southern spectrophotometric standard stars observed with X-shooter are now available and the tables can be downloaded. The flux distribution over the full X-shooter range 3000 – 25000Å is tabulated.