The deadline for proposal submission for Cycle 6 was 19 April 2018. 1838 proposals were submitted, including 18 Large Programmes. This is a further increase on the 1661 proposals received for Cycle 5. The oversubscription rate remains high (over 6 on the 12-metre array for the European applicants). Detailed proposal submission statistics are available in a dedicated report. The report provides a summary of items such as the number of submitted proposals and time requested, subscription rates, and comparisons with the number of hours requested in previous Cycles.

ESO Headquarters, Garching, Germany, 3–6 December, 2018

The KMOS@5 workshop will bring together scientists working on all areas of star and galaxy formation using near-infrared IFU spectroscopy. KMOS's five-year milestone offers a perfect opportunity to assess the impact of this instrument on its core science cases and to develop new strategies and programmes, also in preparation for future IFU instruments.

GALACSI is part of the Adaptive Optics Facility (AOF), and is thus associated with the Deformable Secondary Mirror (DSM) and the 4 Laser Guide Star Facility (4LGSF). It defines an AO system developed to increase the performance of the MUSE instrument in narrow-field mode. Commissioning is proceeding and Science Verification is planned for August 2018, for which applications are invited.

The ESO research studentship programme provides an outstanding opportunity for PhD students to experience the exciting scientific environment at one of the world's leading observatories for a period of up to two years.

The deadline for proposal submission for Period 102 (1 October 2018 - 1 April 2019) was 28 March, 2018. 916 valid proposals were submitted, including 23 Large Programmes, of which four are GTO Large Programmes. The number of proposals for P102 is very similar to that of Periods 91 (893), 92 (892), 93 (898), 94 (901), 98 (901), 99 (887), 100 (895) and 101 (899). This confirms the levelling off observed after the peak of Periods 95 (934), 96 (960) and 97 (1024).

Warsaw University Library, Warsaw, Poland, 3–7 September 2018

The era of Gaia-enabled revolutions in almost all areas of astrophysics has started. In particular, and crucially, Gaia's exquisite astrometry and photometry combined with data from other large stellar surveys (ground- and space-based) will allow major progress in our understanding of stellar physics. The workshop will focus on the advances in our understanding of stellar physical processes made possible by combining the astrometry and photometry of Gaia with data from other large photometric, spectroscopic, and asteroseismic stellar surveys. Asteroseismology, in particular, has been essential to probe the interiors of stars. These combined data will permit detailed studies of stellar physics to a level that is unprecedented in the history of stellar astrophysics. More details are available on the workshop page or by email. The registration and abstract submission deadline has recently been extended to 5 May 2018.

The ESO Telescope Bibliography, telbib, connects ESO data papers with observations in the Science Archive and provides a variety of publication statistics. Search results can be visualised in various ways, resulting in "on-the-fly" graphs. In addition, telbib also provides a set of predefined charts. Following requests from telbib users, the underlying data tables of all charts are now also available for download via the web. This new download option gives users more flexibility to process data according to their needs. Note that all telbib charts are interactive and the data exported into CSV or XLS tables will correspond to the selection made by the user.

A data release has been published containing science data products from all science observations using the VIMOS instrument in imaging mode, from the beginning of regular operations in April 2003 until August 2015. The remaining data will be added in the near future. All image products were produced at the observing block level and no attempt was made to stack data between observing blocks. The image products come with a variance map that was propagated through the complete reduction cycle. These science products are now published via the ESO Science Archive Facility.

The Eclipsing Reflection Effect Binaries from the OGLE Survey (EREBOS) project investigates the interaction of low-mass and sub-stellar companions of low-mass stars (Large Programme 196.D-0214, PI Veronika Schaffenroth). Several post-common envelope eclipsing binaries, with a hot sub-dwarf primary and a cool low mass companion were selected using the photometric results of the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) and observed with FORS2 in long-slit mode.

The Call for Proposals for observations at ESO telescopes in Period 102 (1 October 2018 – 31 March 2019) has been released. Please consult the Period 102 document for the main news items and policies related to applying for time on ESO telescopes. All technical information about the offered instruments and facilities is contained on ESO webpages that are linked from the Call. The proposal submission deadline is 12:00 CEST 28 March 2018.