Quality control of the ESO-VLT instruments

Reinhard W. Hanuschik; Wolfgang Hummel; Paola Sartoretti; David R. Silva

doi:10.1117/12.460616

2 January 2002 Quality control of the ESO-VLT instruments

Reinhard W. Hanuschik, Wolfgang Hummel, Paola Sartoretti, David R. Silva

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 4844, Observatory Operations to Optimize Scientific Return III; (2002) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.460616
Event: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, 2002, Waikoloa, Hawai'i, United States

Abstract

Currently four instruments are operational at the four 8.2m telescopes of the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope: FORS1, FORS2, UVES, and ISAAC. Their data products are processed by the Data Flow Operations Group (also known as QC Garching) using dedicated pipelines. Calibration data are processed in order to provide instrument health checks, monitor instrument performance, and detect problems in time. The Quality Control (QC) system has been developed during the past three years. It has the following general components: procedures (pipeline and post-pipeline) to measure QC parameters; a database for storage; a calibration archive hosting master calibration data; web pages and interfaces. This system is part of a larger control system which also has a branch on Paranal where quick-look data are immediately checked for instrument health. The VLT QC system has a critical impact on instrument performance. Some examples are given where careful quality checks have discovered instrument failures or non-optimal performance. Results and documentation of the VLT QC system are accessible under http://www.eso.org/qc/.

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Reinhard W. Hanuschik, Wolfgang Hummel, Paola Sartoretti, and David R. Silva "Quality control of the ESO-VLT instruments", Proc. SPIE 4844, Observatory Operations to Optimize Scientific Return III, (2 January 2002); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.460616

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