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The Messenger The Messenger No. 172 – June 2018 Enhanced data discovery services for the ESO Science Archive Science services ESO the discovery data for Enhanced GRAAL using optics adaptive of HAWK-I Verification Science stars starburstin galaxies massive many too finds ALMA ALMA and VLTI with surface imaging Stellar The Messenger 172 – June 2018 1 Telescopes and Instrumentation DOI: 10.18727/0722-6691/5073 Enhanced Data Discovery Services for the ESO Science Archive Martino Romaniello 1 and the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment the characteristics and limitations of Stefano Zampieri 1 (APEX) antenna at Chajnantor. Also each collection of processed data. This Nausicaa Delmotte 1 available through the archive are data is particularly important, as it enables Vincenzo Forchì 1 from selected non-ESO instruments at users to decide whether the data are Olivier Hainaut 1 La Silla, for example, the Gamma-Ray suitable for their specific science goals. Alberto Micol 1 burst Optical/Near-infrared Detector The systematic archive publication of such Jörg Retzlaff 1 (GROND), the Fibre-fed Extended Range processed data dates back to 25 July Ignacio Vera 1 Echelle Spectrograph (FEROS) and the 2011, with the first products produced by Nathalie Fourniol 1 Wide Field Imager (WFI). It also includes the Public Surveys conducted with the Mubashir Ahmed Khan 1 raw data for UKIDSS, the infrared deep Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope Uwe Lange 1 sky survey using the wide-field camera for Astronomy (VISTA) infrared camera Devendra Sisodia 2 WFCAM at the United Kingdom Infrared VIRCAM (Arnaboldi & Retzlaff, 2011). Malgorzata Stellert 3 Telescope (UKIRT) in Hawaii. In addition, Processed data that were generated at Felix Stoehr 1 ESO hosts and operates the European ESO have been available since September Magda Arnaboldi 1 copy of the ALMA Science Archive 2013. An up-to-date overview of the Chiara Spiniello 1, 4 (Stoehr et al., 2017). The integration of released data is available online for con- Laura Mascetti 5 archive services for LPO and ALMA data tributed and pipeline processed data 2, 3. Michael Fritz Sterzik 1 is discussed here. The number of users accessing pro- Over the years, the archive has steadily cessed data in the archive has grown 1 ESO grown into a powerful scientific resource steadily over time (Figure 1). At the cur- 2 Pactum Limited, London, UK for the ESO astronomical community. rent rate, an average of 2.2 new users 3 TEKOM Industrielle Systemtechnik As processed data are routinely included, are added every working day, with each GmbH, Gautin, Germany they can be used directly for scientific user placing 11 requests on average. 4 INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di measurements, thus alleviating the need Given the growing popularity within the Capodimonte, Naples, Italy for users to carry out data processing community, and the increasing volume 5 Terma GmbH, Darmstadt, Germany on their own. An in-depth analysis of the and complexity of the archive holdings — archive usage and user community is and taking into account the recommen- presented in Romaniello et al. (2016). dations of advisory bodies, such as the The archive of the La Silla Paranal Users Committee, the Public Survey Observatory is a powerful scientific The archive is populated with processed Panel, and the results of the community resource for the ESO astronomical data through two channels. For the first working group report on science data community. It stores both the raw data channel, data-processing pipelines are management (STC Report 580 4) — it has generated by all ESO instruments and run at ESO for selected instrument modes become necessary to upgrade the ways selected processed data. We present to generate products that are free from in which users can access the ESO new capabilities and user services that instrumental and atmospheric signatures Science Archive in order to enhance data have recently been developed in order and that have been calibrated. They discovery and usage. to enhance data discovery and usage cover virtually the entire data history of in the face of the increasing volume the corresponding instrument modes and The trajectory of contemporary astro- and complexity of the archive holdings. are generated by automatic processing, nomical research increasingly involves Future plans to extend the new services with no knowledge of the associated multi-epoch, multi-messenger, multi- to processed data from the Atacama science case. Checks are in place to wavelength, multi-facility science, in Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array identify quality issues with the products. which data are plentiful and varied. At (ALMA) are also discussed. The second channel involves data prod- the same time, data acquired from ucts that have been contributed by the different facilities are becoming ever community, which have been generated more complex, yet have to be combined Background and motivation with processing schemes optimised to in order to tackle increasingly challenging serve specific science cases. In most scientific questions. In this context, the The ESO Science Archive 1 began oper- cases, they have already been used to role of science data archives is to lower ating in its current form in 1998, a few derive published results (see Arnaboldi the access threshold that separates months ahead of the start of science et al., 2014). These contributed datasets, researchers from acquiring and being operations of the Very Large Telescope, which are validated via a joint effort able to work with the data that they are the VLT (see Pirenne et al., 1998). It is between the providers and ESO before interested in. The average astronomer the operational, technical and science ingestion into the archive, often include cannot be expected to be intimately data archive of the La Silla Paranal advanced products like mosaiced familiar with the details of each archive Observatory (LPO). As such, it stores all images, source catalogues and spectra. and, even less, with the details of the of the raw data, including the ambient instruments that produced the datasets weather conditions, from the LPO, i.e., Thorough user documentation is also concerned. The access layer to the data the telescopes at Paranal and La Silla, provided for all data releases, detailing therefore has to be as self- explanatory as 2 The Messenger 172 – June 2018 2800 Figure 1. The growth include expanding the support to ALMA Distinct users of of distinct users of processed data and raw data from the archive processed data processed data in the archive as a function LPO. It is planned that these new access of time. The green line points will gradually replace the current 2100 displays access to prod- ones for La Silla Paranal data, while ucts contributed by the ALMA will keep maintaining a dedicated, community (deployed s on 25 July 2011), the separate access. user 1400 blue line shows access . to products generated No at ESO (deployed on The ESO Archive Science Portal 10 September 2013), and the orange line is 700 for access to either type The most immediate way to access the of products. new archive services is through a web application, the ESO Archive Science — Generated at ESO 7 0 — Contributed by the Portal , using any recent version of the 14 29 13 29 14 28 16 community most popular internet browsers. A 7- 0- 2- 1- 3- -06- -0 -09- -1 -1 -0 -0 — Either one screenshot of its landing page is shown 11 12 13 14 15 17 18 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 in Figure 2. The window is divided into Time three main sections: a sky view in which the content of the ESO archive is dis- possible so as to present the data in a discoverable and handled so that they played together with background imagery user-friendly way, rather than couched can be used together with datasets from such as the DSS; a table in which details in the technical terms used within the other observatories and data centres. of individual datasets are shown and from archive itself (for example, as calibrated The natural framework for this is within which further actions can be triggered, fluxes and wavelengths, rather than the Virtual Observatory (VO); compatibility such as accessing previews; and a section detector counts, or an engineering and interoperability with the VO is there- in which query constraints can be speci- description of the instrument setup). fore a high-level goal for this project. fied, by explicitly entering them and/or by selecting values or ranges of values In this first release, processed data from arranged in facets. Query results can be Access points to the data the LPO are supported. Future plans sent to suitable external applications for Different types of user interaction are Figure 2. The landing web page of the ESO Archive coordinate or name, as resolved by the CDS’s supported: Science Portal. The celestial sphere is colour-coded Sesame service 8. In order to serve different use – Interactive access: web pages through according to the types of ESO data contained at cases, they are a combination of physical charac- each position (the sky viewer is CDS’ AladinLite6, the teristics of the data (e.g., signal-to-noise ratio, which users can browse and explore web version of Aladin). The entire content of sen sitivity, spectral range covered, spectral reso- the assets with interactive, iterative the archive is presented through aggregations of lution), the observational setup (e.g. filter name, queries. The results of such queries 17 parameters, which can also be used to enter exposure time) and the ESO observing process are presented in real time in various query constraints, in addition to querying by object (e.g. PI name, Programme ID). tabular and/or graphic forms, allowing an evaluation of the usefulness of the data which can then be selected for retrieval.
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