A new spectroscopic dataset of the gamma-ray burst (GRB) 180728A and its associated supernova SN 2018fip is now publicly available through the ESO Science Archive Facility. The release comprises 13 epochs of observations obtained with the X-shooter instrument at ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT), covering the evolution of the GRB afterglow and the emergence of the associated supernova. The dataset provides a detailed time series that enables studies of the transition from afterglow-dominated emission to supernova-dominated spectra.

The VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at Paranal is now owned and operated by INAF, which is responsible for processing the data and releasing them via the ESO Archive. Imaging data products included in the current DR3 for a number of projects were obtained using the wide-field camera OmegaCAM with the g, r, i, and z filters. 

On 17 June 2026, ESO will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Fellowship Programme with events in Garching and Vitacura. The Director General, the Director for Science, and Fellows from across the years will come together to share memories, revisit moments and anecdotes, and reflect on the experiences that have shaped ESO from within.

The 2025 Chesneau prize for the best PhD thesis in High Angular Resolution Astrophysics has been awarded to two outstanding young researchers: Dr. Violeta Gamez Rosas (left image) and Dr. Manon Lallement (right image). Violeta Gamez Rosas is awarded the prize for her ground breaking observations and astrophysical results on the Active Galactic Nucleus NGC1068 with VLTI/MATISSE, VLTI/GRAVITY and ALMA, as featured in a previous ESO press release in 2022. Manon Lallement is awarded the prize for the development of the FIRST-PL instrument at the Subaru Telescope, using photonic lanterns, as well as the first astrophysical results she obtained using this instrument.

Observations with the VLT, VLTI, and ALMA have pioneered exoplanet science over the past decade. With upcoming results from ESA missions such as Gaia, PLATO, and Ariel, exoplanet research is entering a transformative era of population-scale characterisation surveys. This workshop will bring the community together to explore how current ESO facilities together with powerful archival resources, can best complement exoplanet demographics, atmospheres, and planet formation at the dawn of population-scale studies.