ESO Headquarters, Garching, Germany, 31 January–1 February 2018

Understanding the nature and results of black hole and neutron star mergers has become a hot topic in astrophysics. The combination of gravitational wave and electromagnetic observations of GW170817/GRB 170817A have triggered new and interesting science projects. In particular, these observations involved more than 50 observatories and highlight the importance of coordination between different instruments and facilities. The timeline for observations of gravitational wave events spans from seconds to days and coordinated observations of any electromagnetic radiation is critical to obtain relevant information.

The detection of the gravitational wave source GW170817 by the LIGO-VIRGO observatory network on 17 August 2017 has resulted in one of the largest Target of Opportunity campaigns at ESO (see announcement). This new data release adds reduced NACO images in the L' filter, centred at 3.80 microns, to the previously released VISIR reduced frames and finds no detection of the gravitational wave source within the derived sensitivity limits.

Schloss Ringberg, Tegernsee, Germany, 11–14 March 2018

The Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) 12-metre submillimetre telescope has been in operation for more than 12 years and has contributed to a wide variety of submillimetre astronomy science areas, from the discoveries of new molecules to deep imaging of the submillimetre sky. The telescope is currently undergoing a major upgrade to ensure reliable operations until at least 2022. In addition, a new suite of instruments is being commissioned, including new large cameras for wide-field continuum imaging and new heterodyne instruments highly complementary to ALMA. The conference venue at Ringberg Castle provides a unique setting for in depth discussions on new scientific results with APEX, synergies with other observatories, and the exploitation of the upcoming new APEX capabilities.

ESO Headquarters, Garching, Germany, 15–16 March 2018

Single dish submm facilities provide an essential complement to ALMA interferometry data, but require a set of special observing techniques and data reduction software that are different from radio and mm facilities. In this ESO-Radionet workshop, we will train both novice and more experienced users on how to optimally analyse data from telescopes such as APEX. The combination of interferometer data using short baselines and single dish data is required for sources containing emission on spatial scales larger than the largest recoverable scales. However the ALMA observatory does not yet provide such merged data products, and is not planning to do so in the near future. In the workshop, we will introduce different combination techniques such as feathering and joint deconvolution.

The User Support Department (USD) extends its thanks to all those Principal Investigators and their Phase 2 delegates who filled in this September's online Paranal Service Mode User Satisfaction Survey. A total of 194 responses were received from our targeted campaign. Where possible, we have contacted those respondents who provided detailed comments. A summary report based on this latest User Satisfaction Survey is now available.

ALMA Cycle 5 started successfully on 1 October 2017. Principal Investigator observations started with the longest configurations (~16 km). Progressively smaller baselines will be adopted over the course of next year, reaching the most compact configurations by July 2018. ALMA users may check the configuration schedule and the real-time observing status at any time.

The submillimetre/mm/cm QUESO Workshop 2017 (Centimetre-Sub-Millimetre Q&U (and V) European Southern Observatory Workshop) was held at ESO Garching from 25-27 October, 2017. The presentations are now available to download from the programme page.

Six months of observations have been added to the third catalogue release (DR3.2) from the ESO Public Survey VPHAS+ (VST Photometric H-alpha Survey of the Southern Galactic Plane and Bulge). The updated catalogue release version DR3.2 includes aperture-matched band measurements derived from all calibrated images of sufficient quality that were acquired until 30 September 2015 under ESO Programme 177.D-3023(B,C,D,E, F, G, H). The current catalogue release covers about 1200 square degrees, which correspond to over half of the VPHAS+ footprint targeting the Southern Galactic Plane.

The ESO Large Programme, GAs Stripping Phenomena in galaxies (GASP) with Principal Investigator, B.Poggianti, has released deep MUSE 3D cubes observed in wide-field mode and natural seeing plus ancillary products from all of the observations taken during the first three semesters of the programme (Periods 96–98).

ESO Headquarters, Garching, Germany, 12–14 March 2018

ESO's ground-based observatories located in Chile serve a very diverse astronomical community. The La Silla Paranal Observatory offers observations with a variety of telescopes, instruments and observing modes and a wide ranging level of user support. If you are a La Silla Paranal Observatory user and are interested in face-to-face contact with the various support services at ESO, this workshop is for you. The workshop will provide you with all the necessary knowledge to make the most out of ESO data and thereby provide a strong momentum to your science. Further details are available below and via the workshop website, which also has a preliminary programme.