Oral presentation

Authors: Magda Arnaboldi, on behalf of EST and ASG

Title: The ESO public surveys: science goals, current status and policies
 
Abstract: We provide an overview of the eleven public survey projects
that are currently being carried out at the ESO facilities, their
scientific goals, and current progress after few years of telescope
operations.  The surveys include nine imaging projects at the VISTA
and VST telescopes, and two spectroscopic public surveys, with FLAMES
on VLT/UT2, and EFOSC/SOFI at the NTT, with several hundred
astronomers involved as PI/Co-Is.  An important aspect of the
management of the public surveys is the delivery of data products by
the survey teams to the ESO Science Archive Facility for access and
further scientific analysis by the astronomical community. The
policies that govern the data acquisition at the telescopes, the
reviews of the survey progress by the appointed Public Survey Panels
and the submission of data products will also be presented.