Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility

Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility

The Space Telescope - European Coordinating Facility (ST-ECF) was an institution which provided a number of support and service functions primarily for European observers of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (HST). It was established in 1984 by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Southern Observatory (ESO), and was located at the ESO headquarters in Garching bei München, Germany. The ST-ECF ceased operations on 31 December 2010.

The ST-ECF provided detailed technical information about the HST and its science instruments, supported European astronomers who were preparing HST observing proposals and coordinated the development of computer software tuned to the specific data analysis needs of HST users. In all these duties the ST-ECF staff maintained close contacts with the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, which is charged with the scientific operation of the HST observatory.

The ST-ECF was last headed by Robert (Bob) Fosbury. Deputy was Jeremy Walsh.

Read more about Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility:  User Support, Instrument Science, Science Archive, Public Outreach and Education

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