<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN"> <!--Converted with LaTeX2HTML 98.1p1 release (March 2nd, 1998) originally by Nikos Drakos (nikos@cbl.leeds.ac.uk), CBLU, University of Leeds * revised and updated by: Marcus Hennecke, Ross Moore, Herb Swan * with significant contributions from: Jens Lippmann, Marek Rouchal, Martin Wilck and others --> <HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Introduction</TITLE> <META NAME="description" CONTENT="Introduction"> <META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="vol1"> <META NAME="resource-type" CONTENT="document"> <META NAME="distribution" CONTENT="global"> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <LINK REL="STYLESHEET" HREF="vol1.css"> <LINK REL="next" HREF="node15.html"> <LINK REL="previous" HREF="node3.html"> <LINK REL="up" HREF="vol1.html"> <LINK REL="next" HREF="node5.html"> </HEAD> <BODY > <!--Navigation Panel--> <A NAME="tex2html499" HREF="node5.html"> <IMG WIDTH="37" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="next" SRC="icons.gif/next_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME="tex2html495" HREF="vol1.html"> <IMG WIDTH="26" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="up" SRC="icons.gif/up_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME="tex2html489" HREF="node3.html"> <IMG WIDTH="63" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="previous" SRC="icons.gif/previous_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME="tex2html497" HREF="node1.html"> <IMG WIDTH="65" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="contents" SRC="icons.gif/contents_motif.gif"></A> <A NAME="tex2html498" HREF="node216.html"> <IMG WIDTH="43" HEIGHT="24" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ALT="index" SRC="icons.gif/index_motif.gif"></A> <BR> <B> Next:</B> <A NAME="tex2html500" HREF="node5.html">How to use the</A> <B> Up:</B> <A NAME="tex2html496" HREF="vol1.html">No Title</A> <B> Previous:</B> <A NAME="tex2html490" HREF="node3.html">List of Tables</A> <BR> <BR> <!--End of Navigation Panel--> <H1><A NAME="SECTION00400000000000000000"> </A> <A NAME="introduction"> </A> <BR> Introduction </H1> ESO-MIDAS <A NAME="tex2html1" HREF="footnode.html#foot368"><SUP>1.1</SUP></A>is the acronym for the <B>E</B>uropean <B>S</B>outhern <B>O</B>bservatory - <B>M</B>unich <B>I</B>mage <B>D</B>ata <B>A</B>nalysis <B>S</B>ystem which is developed and maintained by the European Southern Observatory. The official name, ESO-MIDAS, is a registered trademark. In this manual the name MIDAS is used as an abbreviation of ESO-MIDAS. The MIDAS system provides general tools for image processing and data reduction with emphasis on astronomical applications including special reduction packages for ESO instruments at La Silla. The system is available for both VAX/VMS and UNIX systems. <P> A large number of contributions have been made to MIDAS by people inside and outside ESO. We greatly appreciate and acknowledge these efforts. A full list of acknowledgements can be found in Appendix <A HREF="node191.html#acknowledgements">B</A>. <P> This manual gives the necessary information to do useful data reduction with the system, whereas a detailed technical description of the design and software interfaces can be found in other documents (see Section <A HREF="node14.html#other-relevant-documents">1.6</A>). These documents also describe how users can write and add their own application programs to the system. <P> <BR><HR> <!--Table of Child-Links--> <A NAME="CHILD_LINKS"> </A> <UL> <LI><A NAME="tex2html501" HREF="node5.html">How to use the MIDAS Manual</A> <UL> <LI><A NAME="tex2html502" HREF="node6.html">New Users</A> <LI><A NAME="tex2html503" HREF="node7.html">Site Specific Features</A> </UL> <LI><A NAME="tex2html504" HREF="node8.html">General Concept of MIDAS</A> <LI><A NAME="tex2html505" HREF="node9.html">Distribution Policy</A> <LI><A NAME="tex2html506" HREF="node10.html">Support</A> <LI><A NAME="tex2html507" HREF="node11.html">Requirements for Running MIDAS</A> <UL> <LI><A NAME="tex2html508" HREF="node12.html">Hardware</A> <LI><A NAME="tex2html509" HREF="node13.html">Software</A> </UL> <LI><A NAME="tex2html510" HREF="node14.html">Other Relevant Documents</A> </UL> <!--End of Table of Child-Links--> <BR><HR> <ADDRESS> <I>Petra Nass</I> <BR><I>1999-06-09</I> </ADDRESS> </BODY> </HTML>
