Australian ESO Publications and Proposal Statistics

VLT/I papers based on Australian allocations

For a list of all refereed VLT/I publications from Australian-led ESO proposals (updated monthly)  since the start of the Strategic Partnership in 2017, please see the NASA/ADS link here.

VLT/I papers with Australian authors

For a list of all refereed VLT/I publications with 1 or more Australian authors (updated annually) since commissioning of the VLT, please see the NASA/ADS link here.

Note that to be included in the above lists, a paper has to meet the requirements of an ESO science paper as recommended by the Observatory Bibliographers Collaboration; namely it must be one where 1) data or data product(s) from ESO were used; and 2) the data or data product(s) formed the basis for reaching a new scientific conclusion.

Period101 (Apr - Sep 2018)102 (Oct 2018 - Mar 2019)103 (Apr - Sep 2019)104 (Oct 2019 - Mar 2020)105 (Apr - Sep 2020)106 (Oct 2020 - Mar 2021)108 (Oct 2021 - Mar 2022) [6]109 (Apr-Sep 2022)110 (Oct 2022 - Mar 2023)111 (Apr - Sep 2023)112 (Oct 2023 - Mar 2024)113 (Apr - Sep 2024)
No. of Australian-led proposals554344344958383131403030
Fraction of all ESO proposals6.1%4.7%4.8%3.7%5.8%5.4%4.0%3.5%3.6%4.8%3.4%3.8%
No. of runs requested [1]797271437174583961504739
No. of Large Programmes requested [2]1222N/A12N/A3N/A0N/A
Service Mode hours requested900793132512771082146211636931118656271299.5
Visitor Mode hours requested426584297160971888533101266225
VLT/I hours requested1136921129612511116119010646961121739369462.5
Top 3 requested instruments (Runs requested, Hrs requested)FLAMES (23, 361); MUSE (11, 173); X-shooter (11, 157)HARPS (13, 432); FLAMES (18, 290); MUSE (11, 192)MUSE (12, 475); FLAMES (19, 303); X-shooter (10, 187)MUSE (15, 810); X-shooter (10, 124); UVES/FLAMES (3, 96 each)UVES (11, 325); MUSE (16, 222); X-shooter (10, 212)MUSE (22, 537); X-shooter (8, 166); UVES (7, 116)X-shooter (8, 313); MUSE (12, 272); UVES (7, 174)MUSE (16, 227); UVES (6, 216); X-shooter (6, 83)MUSE (37, 762); ESPRESSO (13, 166); X-shooter (3, 47)X-shooter (10, 241.9); MUSE (19, 177); ERIS (4, 110.7)HARPS (8, 168); MUSE (14, 106.5); X-shooter (6, 102.1)MUSE (9, 120.1); X-shooter (7, 111.9); ERIS (2, 89.5)
SM Runs allocated201613112214211413171015
VM Runs allocated [7]734301000332
Total VLT/I time allocated348.5 hrs304 hrs144 hrs330 hrs493 hrs92 hrs [5]294 hrs278 hrs253 hrs375.3 hrs160.1 hrs234.5 hrs
Australian share of VLT/I time [4]7.5%7.2%3.2%7.0%10.4%~2.1% [5]8.4%6.4%6.1%8.3%3.8%4.7%

Notes to Table:

[1] A single proposal can request more than 1 run, e.g. 3 different instruments on 2 different telescopes = 3 runs.

[2] A Large Programme is one requiring a minimum of 100 hours of ESO telescope time, spread over 1 to 4 Periods. From Period 104 onwards, Large Programmes may only be submitted in even-numbered Periods.

[3] Since Australia has no set share of VLT time, the actual oversubscription is only known after the OPC has met.

[4] Fraction of all OPC-allocatable time on the 4 UTs (including VLTI time) allocated to Australian-led programmes, relative to the time allocated to ESO members states + Australia only. These fractions are calculated by the OPO in Dec each year for the 2 most recently completed Periods. For comparison Australia’s Net National Income is ~7.5% of the total for all ESO member states + Australia.

[5] New programs only; does not include the 114 hr of Australian Priority A programs from P105 carried over into P106 due to COVID shutdown, as well as the remaining 224 hrs of the MAGPI Large Program allocation from P104.

[6] The Period 107 Call for Proposals was canceled due to COVID-19 causing nearly all observing time in Period 105 to be lost.

[7] Due to COVID no Visitor Mode observations with observers traveling to Paranal were permitted in P105-109, though some Designated Visitor Mode runs were carried out.

ESO & AAL data collection and privacy notice

ESO supplies AAL with telescope/instrument demand and time allocation data relating to Australian astronomers only to furnish the above statistics. Australian ESO applicant data is used only for statistical purposes, and will only be published or made available to other third parties such as AAL member institutions, in aggregated and anonymised form. Any user who wishes that their data not be used for such purposes is encouraged to contact us.

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Personal Data Protection Notice
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ESO’s general privacy policy

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“There are various facilities accessible to the users on the ESO’s web pages. Some of these include forms where the user is requested to fill in some data or information on themselves (e.g. their e-mail address or name). In addition, our information services (www, ftp, mail/majordomo servers etc.) keep logs of certain information. ESO’s privacy policy can be stated simply:

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General
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