1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:04,000 This is the ESOcast! 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:07,500 Cutting-edge science and life behind the scenes of ESO, 3 00:00:07,500 --> 00:00:10,000 the European Southern Observatory, 4 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:17,000 exploring the ultimate frontier with our host Dr J, a.k.a. Dr Joe Liske. 5 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:23,000 Hello and welcome to this special episode of the ESOcast. 6 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:27,000 Leading up to ESO’s 50th anniversary in October 2012 7 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:31,000 we will showcase eight special features 8 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:35,000 portraying ESO’s first 50 years of exploring the southern sky. 9 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:43,000 This is the story of an epic adventure... 10 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:53,000 A story of cosmic curiosity, courage and perseverance... 11 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:01,000 The story of how Europe went South to explore the stars. 12 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:54,000 Going South 13 00:01:55,000 --> 00:02:00,000 Welcome to ESO, the European Southern Observatory. 14 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:06,000 Fifty years old, but more vital than ever. 15 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:15,000 ESO is Europe’s portal to the stars. 16 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:19,000 Here astronomers from fifteen countries 17 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:21,000 join forces to unravel the secrets of the Universe. 18 00:02:22,500 --> 00:02:23,500 How? 19 00:02:23,500 --> 00:02:27,000 By building the largest telescopes on Earth. 20 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:29,000 Designing sensitive cameras and instruments. 21 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:32,000 Scrutinising the heavens. 22 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:37,000 Their work has looked at objects near and far, 23 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:40,000 from comets traversing the Solar System, 24 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:44,000 to distant galaxies at the very edge of space and time, 25 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:49,000 giving us fresh insights and an unprecedented view of the Universe. 26 00:03:20,500 --> 00:03:23,000 A Universe of deep mysteries and hidden secrets. 27 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:26,000 And staggering beauty. 28 00:03:27,500 --> 00:03:29,500 From remote mountaintops in Chile, 29 00:03:29,500 --> 00:03:32,000 European astronomers are reaching for the stars. 30 00:03:32,500 --> 00:03:33,500 But why Chile? 31 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:37,000 What made the astronomers go South? 32 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:45,000 The European Southern Observatory has its Headquarters in Garching, Germany. 33 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:53,000 But from Europe, only part of the sky can be seen. 34 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:57,000 To fill in the gaps, you have to travel south. 35 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:10,000 For many centuries, maps of the southern sky showed extensive blank areas – 36 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:13,000 the Terra Incognita of the heavens. 37 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:16,500 1595. 38 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:21,000 For the first time, Dutch traders set sail to the East Indies. 39 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:31,000 At night, navigators Pieter Keyser and Frederik de Houtman 40 00:04:31,330 --> 00:04:36,390 measured the positions of more than 130 stars in the southern sky. 41 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:48,000 Soon, celestial globes and maps showed twelve new constellations, 42 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:52,000 none of which had ever been seen before by any European. 43 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:58,000 The British were the first to construct a permanent astronomical outpost 44 00:04:58,000 --> 00:04:59,000 in the southern hemisphere. 45 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:05,000 The Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope was founded in 1820. 46 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:10,500 Not much later, John Herschel built his own private observatory, 47 00:05:10,500 --> 00:05:13,000 close to South Africa’s famous Table Mountain. 48 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:17,000 What a view! 49 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:22,000 Dark skies. Bright clusters and star clouds high overhead. 50 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:27,000 Little wonder that Harvard, Yale and Leiden observatories 51 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:31,000 followed suit with their own southern stations. 52 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:34,000 But the exploration of the southern sky 53 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:38,000 still took lots of courage, passion and perseverance. 54 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:45,500 Until fifty years ago, 55 00:05:45,500 --> 00:05:50,000 almost all major telescopes were located north of the equator. 56 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:53,000 So why is the southern sky so important? 57 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:59,000 First of all, because it was largely uncharted territory. 58 00:05:59,500 --> 00:06:02,000 You just can’t see the whole sky from Europe. 59 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:07,000 A prominent example is the centre of the Milky Way, our home galaxy. 60 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:10,000 It can hardly be seen from the northern hemisphere, 61 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:12,000 but from the south, it passes high overhead. 62 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:16,000 And then there are the Magellanic Clouds – 63 00:06:16,280 --> 00:06:19,600 two small companion galaxies to the Milky Way. 64 00:06:20,500 --> 00:06:25,000 Invisible from the North, but very conspicuous if you’re south of the equator. 65 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:27,000 And then finally, 66 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:31,300 European astronomers were hindered by light pollution and poor weather. 67 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:34,500 Going south would solve most of their problems. 68 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:42,000 A scenic boat trip in the Netherlands, June 1953. 69 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:44,500 It was here, on the IJsselmeer, 70 00:06:44,500 --> 00:06:47,500 that the German/American astronomer Walter Baade 71 00:06:47,500 --> 00:06:50,000 and the Dutch astronomer Jan Oort 72 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:53,000 told colleagues about their plan for a European observatory 73 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:55,000 in the southern hemisphere. 74 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:04,500 Individually, no one European country could compete with the United States. 75 00:07:04,500 --> 00:07:06,500 But together, they might. 76 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:12,000 Seven months later, twelve astronomers from six countries gathered here, 77 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:14,500 in the stately Senate Room of Leiden University. 78 00:07:14,500 --> 00:07:17,000 They signed a statement, 79 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:22,000 expressing the desire to establish a European observatory in South Africa. 80 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:25,000 This paved the way for the birth of ESO. 81 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:29,000 But hang on!… South Africa? 82 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:31,500 Well, it made sense, of course. 83 00:07:31,500 --> 00:07:37,000 South Africa already had the Cape Observatory, and, after 1909, 84 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:40,000 the Transvaal Observatory in Johannesburg. 85 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:44,500 Leiden Observatory had its own southern station in Hartebeespoort. 86 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:49,000 In 1955, 87 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:54,500 astronomers set up test equipment to find the best possible spot for a big telescope. 88 00:07:54,500 --> 00:08:01,000 Zeekoegat in the Great Karoo. Or Tafelkopje, in Bloemfontein. 89 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:05,000 But the weather was not all that favourable. 90 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:12,000 Around 1960, the focus shifted to the rugged landscape of northern Chile. 91 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:16,000 American astronomers were also planning 92 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:18,500 their own southern hemisphere observatory here. 93 00:08:18,500 --> 00:08:25,000 Harsh horseback expeditions revealed much better conditions than in South Africa. 94 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:30,000 In 1963, the die was cast. Chile it would be. 95 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:33,000 Six months later, Cerro La Silla was picked 96 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:36,000 as the future site of the European Southern Observatory. 97 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:40,000 ESO was no longer a distant dream. 98 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:47,500 In the end, five European countries signed the ESO Convention, on 5 October 1962 — 99 00:08:47,500 --> 00:08:53,000 the official birthday of the European Southern Observatory. 100 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:56,500 Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Sweden 101 00:08:56,500 --> 00:09:01,000 were firmly committed to jointly reach for the southern stars. 102 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:07,000 La Silla and its surroundings were bought from the Chilean government. 103 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:10,000 A road was built in the middle of nowhere. 104 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:16,500 ESO’s first telescope took shape, at a steel company in Rotterdam. 105 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:21,000 And in December 1966, 106 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:26,000 the European Southern Observatory opened its first eye on the sky. 107 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:32,000 Europe had embarked on a grand voyage of cosmic discovery. 108 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:40,500 This is Dr J, signing off from this special episode of the ESOcast. 109 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:44,000 Join me again next time for another cosmic adventure. 110 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:48,500 ESOcast is produced by ESO, 111 00:09:48,500 --> 00:09:50,000 the European Southern Observatory. 112 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:52,000 ESO, the European Southern Observatory, 113 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:54,000 is the pre-eminent intergovernmental science and technology organisation in astronomy, 114 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:56,000 designing, constructing and operating the world’s most advanced ground-based telescopes. 115 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:05,000 Transcription by ESO; translation by — 116 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:21,000 Now that you've caught up with ESO, 117 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:27,000 head 'out of this world' with Hubble. 118 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:32,000 The Hubblecast highlights the latest discoveries 119 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:36,000 of the world´s most recognized and prized space observatory, 120 00:10:37,500 --> 00:10:42,000 The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.