The scientific objectives and targets were selected from a number of suggestions solicited from astronomers at ESO and the Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte. Please consult the list of available exposures for more details. The SV database contains only raw data. The frames are recorded in FITS format with 8 image extensions, namely one for each of the 8 CCD's of the 8k x 8k science mosaic. The FITS headers are entirely unedited and, therefore, suffer from a number of errors, omissions and insufficiencies.
All negative declinations appear with a positive sign.
In many files only the slot number in the filter storage ring is given but not the filter name. The database comprises only very few bias files. Because it depends on the exposure level in the corresponding light sensitive rows, increases roughly logarithmically over the first couple of hundred rows, and can jump after every re-start of the control software, dedicated bias frames would be of very little use. But this does not affect the validity of the data. During the SV run, the 2.2-m telescope suffered from significant astigmatism.