Astronomical data collected with telescopes of the Isaac Newton Group are held in an archive at the RGO at Cambridge. Data tapes are normally copied on site before the observer leaves; the copy tape (C-tape) is taken by the observer, while the original is sent off (after observer and C-tape have arrived safely at his or her home institute) to be added to the archive.
The catalogue of observations, including details of telescope and instrumental setup, is kept on disc on the VAX node GXVG at Cambridge. This is accessible through INTERNET, JANET and STARLINK networks. Catalogue query software can be run from a captive account, ARCQUERY, or by using a mailserver access mode. Query functions are available to search the catalogue and make requests for the release of observations. For further information see La Palma User Manual No XXVI, La Palma Data Archive User Manual. If you are interrogating the catalogue for the first time, please register as an archive user with the ADDRESS_INFO command.
The proprietary period of the data is 1 year. During this time data will be released only with the explicit consent of the original principal investigator. Thereafter, the observations are in the public domain. However, observations remain the property of the observatory throughout.
Archive-related operations during the actual data acquisition are kept to a minimum, so as not to interfere with an efficient observing procedure. However, observers are requested to assign sensible names to their observing targets, in order to enable archive users later on to judge what the observations are about. Further, it is recommended that the initials of the principal investigator are used when logging on to the data acquisition computer, even if this is not the actual observer.
Apart from the ``electronic'' archive on the VAX, the collection of photographic plates from the ING telescopes is also kept at Cambridge.