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Дата изменения: Fri Apr 7 13:57:25 2000
Дата индексирования: Sun Dec 23 03:10:00 2007
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Support tools for the VLT operations: the NTT prototyping experience

Alberto Maurizio Chavana, Gino Giannoneb, David Silvaa, Tony Kruegerc and Glenn E. Millerc

a European Southern Observatory, D-85748 Garching, Germany

bSERCO GmbH, c/o ESO

cSpace Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA

Abstract:

One of the most important design goals of the ESO Very Large Telescope is efficiency of operations, to maximize the scientific productivity of the observatory. ``Service mode'' observations will take up a significant fraction of the VLT's time, with the goal of matching the best observing conditions to the most demanding scientific programmes. Such an operational scheme requires extensive computer support in the area of observation preparation and execution. In this paper we present some of the software tools developed at ESO to support VLT observers, both staff and external. Our Phase II Proposal Preparation system and the Operational Toolkit are prototype implementations of the final VLT systems and have been in use for over a year, while the Scheduling tool, based on the Hubble Space Telescope scheduler and integrated with the Toolkit, underwent field tests at ESO's New Technology Telescope. We report on our own and our users' experience in the area of observation preparation, and the application of software scheduling tools to support ``service mode'' operations.

Proposal preparation, scheduling, VLT, service observing