Details of lead partners of the ARCHES Executive Board and institutions involved in the ARCHES project are provided below:

 

   Francisco Carrera - Website

   Universidad de Cantabria, Spain                                        

 

 

 

 

  Françoise Genova - Website

 CDS, Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg, University of Strasbourg,

 France 

 

 

 

     Enrique Solano Marquez - Website

    Observatorio Virtual Español, Centro de Astrobiología, Madrid, Spain

 

 

 

 
                                                                                    

  Christian Motch                                                                           

 SSC, Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg, University of Strasbourg,

 France  

 

 

  Axel Schwope - Website

  Leibniz Institut für Astrophysik, Potsdam (AIP), Germany

 

 

 

 

  Mike Watson

 University of Leicester, Department of Physik and Astronomy, UK

 

 

 

 

The ARCHES consortium is made of five institutional partners and four European countries:

• The University of Strasbourg with the Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg,         France - Website of the University of Strasbourg - Website of Strasbourg Astronomical Observatory
  

The Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg (OAS) is a Mixed Research Unit (UMR7550) between the Université de Strasbourg and CNRS. Two distinct OAS departmentsparticipate into this project with different expertise and responsibilities. The first participating group is the local XMM-Newton Survey Science Centre (SSC) team, part of the “High Energy” research team. The second group involved is the Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg (CDS), which has the status of a “Très GrandeInfrastructure de Recherche / Very Large Research Infrastructure” (TGIR) labeled by theMinistry of Higher Education and Research.

The CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) takes part in the ARCHES project as a third party linked to the University of Strasbourg.

• Leibniz Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam, Germany (AIP) - Website
  

The ‘Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP)’ is one of the leading astronomical research institutes in Germany.Founded in 1992 as successorof the East-German Central Institute for Astrophysics with 90 members, it hasgrown to more than 150 academic, research, technical and other staff.Research topics at the AIP range from experimental studies of the Sun to numerical cosmology, they involve theoretical and observational methods as well as hardware development for ground- and space-based instruments (like the LBT, the VLT, eROSITA and Solar Orbiter). The AIP is one of five nodes in the German Virtual Observatory (was PI of the first German VO proposal) and the German Astro-Grid, it is partner in the SDSS (hosting a German SDSS-mirror), the Large Binocular Telescope LBT and has built its own robotic observatory STELLA at Tenerife.

• The University of Leicester (Department of Physics and Astronomy), UK - Website
  

The Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University is a premier UK research and teaching institute with more than 130 academic, research, technical and other staff. Research activity in astrophysics is diverse, ranging from studies of extra-solar planets, through galactic binaries, active galactic nuclei and gamma-ray bursts, to surveys, and exploits many world-renowned ground and spacebased observing facilities. The department has a long track record in high-energy astrophysics and involvement in major space astrophysics missions going back to the 1960s. The associated Space Research Centre at the University has played a key role in many hardware and instrument packages for a number of space missions, recently including the EPIC cameras on XMM-Newton and the focal plane camera of the Swift XRT.

• Universidad de Cantabria (Instituto de Física de Cantabria CSIC-UC), Spain - Website
  

The Instituto de Física de Cantabria (IFCA, a joint institute of the Universidad de Cantabria and the Spanish Scientific Council for Scientific Research -CSIC-) is one of the main Astronomy institutes within CSIC, devoted to basic research in Astrophysics, Particle Physics and Statistical Physics. It includes about 90 people including academic, research, technical and clerical staff. About half of them belong to the Department of Astrophysics, which carries out research in many areas (from the Microwave Background to AGN, including radio galaxies) and wavelength ranges (from X-ray to microwaves, including a strong focus on infrared and optical astronomy), using data from many ground-based and space facilities. In addition to its "pure research" activities the Astrophysics department at IFCA is participating in Planck, QUIJOTE, EURECA (a prototype of a cryogenic X-ray detector for space astronomy), XMM-Newton and Gran Telescopio Canarias, at the instrument development level (former two cases), software development level (latter three cases) and quality control and catalogue creation (EURECA and XMM-Newton), and on the definition of the scientific case for Athena+.

The Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior De Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC) takes part in the ARCHES project as third party linked to the Universidad de Cantabria.

• Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial, Madrid, Spain - Website
  

INTA* (Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial) is a governmental organization for space based research and technology that possesses at Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB) the major Spanish Astronomical Data Centre which provides Virtual Observatory (VO)-compliant access to, among others, the Gran Telescopio CANARIAS (GTC) and Calar Alto archives. GTC is the largest optical-infrared telescope in the world whereas Calar Alto is the largest observatory in continental Europe.