The latest edition of ESO's journal for science and technologies, The Messenger, is now available online. Issue 188 opens with an overview article by ESO’s Director General on the forward look of the organisation 60 years after its creation. Next, our readers will find articles summarising the latest results in the search for variations in the fine-structure constant, what can we learn from spatially resolving active galactic nuclei, and whether young stellar quadruples could be the progenitors of supernovae Ia.  Issue 188 also features an overview of the Additional Representative Images for Legacy (ARI-L) Development Project for the ALMA Science Archive and a presentation of CUBES, the upcoming Cassegrain U-Band Efficient Spectrograph for the VLT.

Many aspects of modern peer review have not changed from its inception in the 18th century despite drastic changes in the scientific community. Specifically, contrary to the early days of peer review, it has become a significant challenge to identify experts who can effectively review the more and more specialised fields of science.

The problem is exacerbated by the ever-rising number of researchers (having grown by 15% between 2014 and 2018 according to a UNESCO report), also seen through the staggering increase of publications and proposals (doubling every 14 years in astronomy). Some say that peer review has not adequately innovated as technology has advanced and the dissemination of publications has surged, creating a space for stagnant and biased reviews. ESO is organising a workshop to discuss these issues.

The workshop will take place at the ESO Headquarters in Garching (Germany) from February 6 to 10, 2023. In the workshop, we aim at bringing together experts from a large number of organisations and facilities (ESO, ESA, ALMA, STScI, NASA, NOIRLab) to discuss the state of peer review and the ways forward for a digital and interconnected science community. The workshop will be divided into 4 main sessions (Peer review at large; Methodologies; Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in peer review; and Concrete examples) and it will include ample time for discussion.

To commemorate its first decade of science operations, the ALMA partnership is organising a conference that will take a look back at the observatory accomplishments, highlight its latest results and look forward to future technical developments. The conference will be held in Puerto Varas, Chile on 4-8 December 2023. More information will be posted on the conference web page as it becomes available. Registration for the conference will open in early 2023.

A detailed report on the results of the ACA Standalone Cycle 8 2021 Supplemental Call is now available. The report details the proposal statistics and regional distributions, as well as the proposal distribution across science categories and receiver bands.

The report can be downloaded as a pdf document.

As announced in the P110 Call for Proposals, VIRCAM at VISTA is used to complete surveys and approved programmes. VIRCAM is available for Director’s Discretionary Time proposals until 15 December 2022 for observations to be conducted until March 2023 when VIRCAM will be dismounted. Only a fraction of the observing time during January and February 2023 will be available for science observations.

Technical activities to prepare VISTA for the arrival of the 4MOST spectroscopic survey instrument will take place starting from January.