Mededelingen 2011

18 maart 2011: Life as an ESO astronomer is demanding, but working on one of the world’s most powerful telescopes is also immensely rewarding. In this episode of the ESOcast, come with us as we follow ESO astronomer Henri Boffin through his day-to-day life. Learn all about what it takes to be a professional astronomer producing top-notch science, and see what it’s like working in exotic locations and collaborating with astronomers from around the world. Get a glimpse behind the scenes at the Very Large Telescope at Cerro Paranal, and see the site’s famous Residencia, a home-from-home for staff on duty at the observatory. More episodes of the ESOcast are also available. Credits ESO. Visual design and editing: Martin Kornmesser and Luis Calçada. Editing: Herbert Zodet. Web and technical support: Lars Holm Nielsen and Raquel Yumi Shida. Written by: Herbert Zodet and Sarah Reed. Narration: Dr. J and Gaitee Hussain. Music: zero-project (zero-project.gr) ...

14 maart 2011: Deutsche Version unten On 14 April 2011, ESO will participate in Germany’s nationwide Girls’ Day activities, in which technical enterprises, universities and research organisations arrange open days for girls, to give female school students an insight into science and technology professions and to encourage more of them to choose such careers in the future. The ESO Girls’ Day, An Introduction to the Work of the European Southern Observatory, presents a series of talks in German and question-and-answer sessions with ESO staff and students. The topics covered include astronomy and engineering, administration and human resources. To complete this introduction to the world’s most productive astronomical observatory, there will be a live video-link to Cerro Paranal, home of ESO’s Very Large Telescope. The Girls’ Day visitors will be able to talk with an ESO astronomer working 11 000 km away on this 2600-metre mountaintop in Chile’s Atacama Desert. Places are limited for ...

11 maart 2011: The first light in the cosmos did not come from stars — it was emitted long before the first stars were formed, about 380 000 years after the Big Bang, when the matter had cooled just enough so that the Universe became transparent. The next Café & Kosmos 14 March 2011 (note: one week later than usual because of Rosenmontag) is all about this ancient image of the Universe: what does the cosmic microwave background tells us about the Universe as a whole and the formation of the structures it contains today? Dr. Torsten Ensslin of the Max-Planck Institute for Astrophysics will present new observations obtained with the Planck satellite, launched in May 2009. The discussion will consider not only the tiny fluctuations in this background radiation, but also the many different kinds of objects that are between us and the background and cast a “shadow” over it. In early ...

28 februari 2011: The ESO Call for Proposals for Period 88 has been released. The deadline is 31 March 2011.

9 februari 2011: Keeping up with the latest space news has just become a whole lot easier thanks to the new Portal to the Universe app, which gives iPhone and iPod Touch [1] users direct access to the Universe wherever they go. The Portal to the Universe app is a dynamic online news aggregator that showcases cutting-edge astronomy and space science breakthroughs gathered from hundreds of sources every day: news websites, blogs, video podcasts, audio podcasts, images, videos and more. With the release of the new app in iTunes, people on the go can now stay in the know. The free application allows users to: find out what’s new and exciting by reading posts featured by the editors of the Portal to the Universe access the portal offline watch and listen to astronomy podcasts search for articles on the Portal to the Universe Credit: ESO/Victor R. Ruiz Sponsored by ESO, the Portal to ...

2 februari 2011: After our recent discussion about dark matter, the Café & Kosmos will now concentrate on the other invisible component of the Universe, the dark energy. With its share of 73 percent of the total energy budget, the dark energy dominates the Universe. It is the driving force that causes it to expand faster and faster. The discovery of this accelerated expansion dates back to 1998; it is still a fairly young field of investigation.In his research, Prof. Stefan Hofmann (Excellence Cluster Universe) investigates the question of how the dark energy fits into existing physical models. The cosmologist will expose various scenarios: is the model by Einstein satisfactory, with a cosmological constant or a vacuum energy, or should the scientists consider an alternative theory of the gravitation to explain the physics of the very large distances in the Universe? He will discuss the implications with the Café & Kosmos guests. The ...

1 februari 2011: The barren landscape surrounding the Paranal Observatory in Chile is stunning, but for the ESO staff who work there, on-site recreational activities are important for entertainment and general wellbeing. In this episode of the ESOcast, we follow three staff members in a unique behind-the-scenes look at the Paranal Residencia at the observatory’s base camp — a remarkable hotel that has won architectural design awards — to see some of their leisure activities. More episodes of the ESOcast are also available. Credit ESO. Visual design and editing: Martin Kornmesser and Luis Calçada. Editing: Herbert Zodet. Web and technical support: Lars Holm Nielsen and Raquel Yumi Shida. Written by: Herbert Zodet. Narration: Dr. J and Gaitee Hussain. Music: zero-project (zero-project.gr) and movetwo. Footage and photos: ESO, Mineworks, Stéphane Guisard (www.eso.org/~sguisard) and José Francisco Salgado (josefrancisco.org). Directed by: Herbert Zodet. Executive producer: Lars Lindberg Christensen.

26 januari 2011: The ESO Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) has made its first observations that combine super-sharp imaging with measurements of motion. New pioneering data from the VLTI/AMBER instrument not only show extremely fine details of the gas and dust disc surrounding the brilliant supergiant star HD 62623, but also, by using spectroscopy, reveal the motions of the material in the disc for the first time. The origin of this disc has been a mystery, as such a bright star, which is near to the end of its life, is expected to blow away the material surrounding it, and not to be surrounded by a dusty disc similar to those around very young stars. A team of astronomers led by Florentin Millour (Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, Nice) has now found that the material is orbiting the star — just as the planets in the Solar System orbit the Sun. Surprisingly they ...

7 januari 2011: Articles include an overview of how Disney Television Italy worked alongside the Education and Public Outreach office of the INAF Astronomical Observatory of Padua in Italy to help promote astronomy to children. The authors discuss the differences between the working practices of an entertainment company and an astronomical observatory, and how these were overcome to form a successful partnership. This issue also tackles some difficult topics in science communication, such as the problems encountered when explaining complex scientific theories to a general audience and the misperceptions that can arise as a result, and how well the public interprets astronomical images. Also in this issue, how new and existing tools can be used by science communicators, including a look at the Virtual Observatory, which is an international project that provides an infrastructure for sharing vast amounts of astronomical data online. And how microblogging sites such as Twitter can be much more ...