ESO's Exposure Time Calculator 2.0

TL;DR

ESO's Exposure Time Calculator 2.0 is a modernized, Python-based tool with a programmatic interface, designed to integrate with observatory workflows and support automated observation planning and quality control.

Contribution

The paper introduces a new version of the ESO Exposure Time Calculator with a Python backend and API, enabling automation and integration with observatory systems.

Findings

First release for 4MOST instrument

Enhanced instrument descriptions in the new version

Planned updates for all La Silla, VLT, and ELT instruments

Abstract

Users of the La Silla Paranal Observatory have to rely on the ESO Exposure Time Calculator (ETC) to prepare their observations. A project has been started at ESO to modernise the ETC, based on a python backend and an angular-based front-end. The ETC 2.0 will have a programmatic interface to enable the results to be included in an automated quality control loop and to communicate with the Phase 1 proposal preparation and the Phase 2 observation preparation tools, the ESO science archive, as well as with scripts runs by external users or instruments. The first version of an ETC 2.0 has been released for the 4MOST instrument and further versions will be released over the next years for all new La Silla, VLT and ELT instruments. The ETC of the current La Silla and VLT instruments will also be migrated progressively, with improved instrument description.