Announcements 2018

9 October 2018: Ireland has completed the ratification of its membership and joined ESO as the organisation’s sixteenth Member State. ESO is proud to welcome Ireland and looks forward to new opportunities to collaborate with the nation’s astronomers and industries. The formal ratification process for Ireland’s membership in ESO was completed when the instrument of ratification was deposited on 28 September at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris. The Accession Agreement that led to Ireland joining ESO was signed on 26 September 2018 by John Halligan T.D., Irish Minister of State for Training, Skills, Innovation, Research and Development, and Xavier Barcons, Director General of ESO. The ratification of Ireland’s membership in ESO solidifies the country’s long-standing position at the forefront of the world’s astronomical community. With ESO membership, Irish astronomers gain access to ESO’s suite of world-class telescopes and instruments, including the Very Large Telescope (VLT) on Paranal and the Atacama ...

8 October 2018: ESO, the world’s most productive ground-based observatory, will open its doors to the public on Saturday 13 October 2018 between 11:00 and 18:00 CEST. The ESO Open House Day event will be held at ESO’s Headquarters in Garching, near Munich, Germany. Visitors will have the opportunity to experience the world of ESO first hand by taking part in many different activities; the programme of activities for the day is set out below. Our Open House Day is part of the Tag der offenen Tür that is taking place across the Garching research campus, as well as at several other local institutes. If you need help finding your way around during the Open House Day, look out for our members of staff, who will be wearing name badges. As ESO is an international organisation, our staff speak several languages between them. Media representatives who wish to attend the event are asked ...

8 October 2018: ESO has signed an agreement with an international consortium led by INAF, the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics, to build and operate a cutting-edge spectrographic instrument known as Son Of X-shooter, SOXS [1]. Work on this innovative instrument’s design has been underway since 2017, meaning that SOXS could be installed at La Silla as early as 2020. SOXS will be installed on ESO’s 3.58-metre New Technology Telescope (NTT) at the La Silla Observatory in Chile, replacing SOFI, a venerable and highly productive ESO instrument that has been operating for over 20 years. Designed as a unique spectroscopic facility, SOXS will study transient sources following triggers and alerts from telescopes, satellites, and detectors worldwide. SOXS will provide vital spectroscopic follow-up observations to many transient surveys, and is poised to become the foremost transient follow-up instrument in the Southern hemisphere. The novel, highly specialized design of the instrument will ensure that it ...

5 October 2018: The latest edition of ESO's quarterly journal, The Messenger, is now available online. Find out the latest news from ESO on topics ranging from new instruments to the latest science discoveries. Highlights of this edition include: Service Mode and Visitor Mode at Paranal by M. Rejkuba et al. Rendezvous with `Oumuamua by O. Hainaut et al. Massive Star Formation and Evolution in the Galactic Centre by S. Clark et al. Resolving the Interstellar Medium at the Peak of Cosmic Star Formation by G. Calistro Rivera et al. Download The Messenger in PDF format or visit The Messenger website to subscribe and receive a free printed copy.

27 September 2018: Today, on 27 September 2018, the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft — DFG) announced the selection of 57 new clusters of excellence, including the cluster ORIGINS — From the origins of the Universe to the first building blocks of life, of which ESO is a partner institution. Starting on 1 January 2019, the competitively selected collaborative initiatives between German universities and scientific institutions will share funding in the amount of 385 million euros per year for an initial period of seven years. The ORIGINS Cluster will explore the creation of the Universe, one of the most intriguing topics of exploration in modern science. By continuing the internationally-acclaimed success of Munich’s Universe Cluster of Excellence (2006–2018), the new ORIGINS Cluster will strive to reveal the origins of the innermost structures of the Universe, as well as explore the way in which life formed. Answering these questions remains one of the greatest ...

27 September 2018: The 2018 winners of the prestigious European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) have been announced. Since 1989 the EUCYS has aimed to promote cooperation and interchange between young scientists and to guide their future careers in science and technology. This year, 135 young scientists from 38 countries and the European schools gathered in Dublin, Ireland to compete in the contest. The contest was judged by the EUCYS 2018 Jury, which comprised 19 expert judges with a wide range of scientific experience. The three first prizes of the EUCYS 2018 competition were presented by the Irish Minister of Higher Education Mary Mitchell O'Connor and Wolfgang Burtscher, the European Commission's Deputy Director General for Research and Innovation. The prizes each consisted of €7 000 and were awarded to Adrian Fleck (20) and Anna Amelie Fleck (16) for “FleckProtec — Body Protection Made From Starch”; Nicolas Fedrigo (17) for “ Improving Spinal ...

18 September 2018: The pioneering work of ESO’s Adaptive Optics Facility (AOF) team has been recognised by the Optical Society (OSA). The AOF team have been awarded the 2018 Paul F. Forman Team Engineering Excellence Award. They received the OSA prize during the Frontiers in Optics (FiO) + Laser Science (LS) Awards Ceremony held on 17 September, in Washington DC, USA. The team was awarded the prize for equipping Yepun, the 8.2-metre Unit Telescope 4 of ESO’s Very Large Telescope, with Adaptive Optics. The AOF was a major project to improve the vision of the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) and the High Acuity Wide-field K-band Imager (HAWK-I) instruments by providing them with the ability to compensate for the blurring effect of the Earth’s atmosphere [1]. The precise and complex engineering behind the AOF has now been recognised with the Paul F. Forman Team Engineering Excellence Award, which was received by Elise Vernet, ...

13 September 2018: On Saturday 13 October 2018 between 11:00 and 18:00 CEST, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) will open its doors to the public at its headquarters in Garching bei München, Germany. This event forms part of the Open House Day activities taking place across the whole Garching research campus, when several other research institutes also open their doors to the public. The ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre will also be open on the day with its usual programme, which can be found here. ESO can be found at location number 39 on this map of the campus. Information on how to travel to ESO’s Headquarters in Garching can be found here. Some of the highlights of the 2018 programme are: See the ESO Headquarters buildings — join guided tours through the innovatively styled office building and the technical building. Learn how ESO creates artificial stars, see what mirror prototypes for ...

6 September 2018: ESO is proud to announce a brand new addition to its collection of free high-quality planetarium materials produced by world-renowned astrophotographers, artists, technicians and musicians. The Sun, Our Living Star tells the story of our nearest star — our planet’s powerhouse, the source of energy that drives Earth’s winds and weather, and the ball of light that allows the very existence of life. The Sun, Our Living Star will be shown in the planetarium of the ESO Supernova from 7 September and is also available to download for free from the ESO website. The Sun, Our Living Star reveals the impact our star has on every aspect of our lives here on Earth. Explore the Sun’s role in allowing and maintaining life, from photosynthesis to humanity. Discover how the Sun dictates our days, seasons and years. Delve into the history of the Sun’s impact on human religion and culture. Learn ...

3 September 2018: The ESO Supernova team have been working hard to prepare the final programme for 2018, which includes exciting events and shows for our Planetarium & Visitor centre. We are delighted to announce that our October–December programme is now available online. Featuring the latest ESO Supernova activities, the programme contains all you need to know about our forthcoming planetarium shows, guided tours and educational workshops. It also features special public events such as science talks, and much more. Since its official inauguration on 26 April 2018, the ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre has entertained and educated over 30 000 visitors with its range of captivating activities. The programme of shows, tours and events at the ESO Supernova changes every three months, giving audiences the chance to experience new aspects of astronomy with each visit. With the latest version of the programme, we are looking forward to welcoming even more visitors ...

10 August 2018: A recent update to the ESO Science Archive has made accessing ESO’s vast collection of astronomical data more intuitive and easier than ever before. The highlight of this update is the launch of the ESO Archive Science Portal — an interactive, browser-based sky interface allowing anyone to quickly search for, and obtain, astronomical data from ESO’s telescopes. ESO builds and operates some of the world's most advanced ground-based astronomical telescopes, and competition to use these instruments is fierce, with successful proposals gaining access to pristine astronomical data. However, this data doesn’t permanently belong to the researchers who gathered it. After a proprietary period, which usually lasts one year, the gathered data becomes publicly available from the ESO Science Archive. The ESO Science Archive has been providing astronomers around the world with access to data since 1988. The goal of the latest update was to ensure that this data is available ...

10 August 2018: On 2 July 2019, the Moon will cover the face of the Sun, turning day to night in a total solar eclipse covering a 100 km-wide swathe of northern Chile, including ESO’s La Silla Observatory. Thousands of visitors from around the globe will travel to the region to experience this phenomenon against the beautiful backdrop of the dramatic Chilean landscape. As part of a wider campaign in Chile, ESO is organising a 2019 Total Solar Eclipse event at the La Silla Observatory on the day of the eclipse. ESO is now inviting members of the press from around the world to attend the event, which will offer an unparalleled view of the solar eclipse in unique surroundings. As the solar eclipse will occur during the late afternoon, the rest of the day will be devoted to many different activities, including interviews, tours of the La Silla telescopes, talks and workshops. ...

8 August 2018: ESO and its Science Outreach Network are collaborating with the science education event organiser Sterrenlab and the Astronomical Observatory of the Autonomous Region of the Aosta Valley (OAVdA) to organise the sixth ESO Astronomy Camp. The camp will take place from 26 December 2018 to 1 January 2019, in the Aosta Valley, Italy. The camp will explore the theme of exoplanets in several astronomical sessions, including lectures, hands-on activities and nighttime observations with the telescopes and instruments at the observatory. Social activities, winter sports and excursions will contribute to making the camp a memorable experience for the participants. ESO and OAVdA will be responsible for the scientific programme of the ESO Astronomy Camp, and together with several other partners will provide lecturers and material. The registration fee of €550 covers full-board accommodation at the hostel in Saint Barthélemy, supervision by professional staff, all astronomical and leisure activities, materials, excursions, internal ...

1 August 2018: ATTRACT is a new initiative that will bring Europe’s fundamental research and industrial communities together, and which aims to foster the next generation of detection and imaging technologies. Collaboration between research and industry organisations is vital, and ATTRACT provides a novel mechanism for this collaboration with a considerable amount of seed funding. Today, 1 August 2018, ATTRACT opened a call for organisations to propose breakthrough projects on pioneering detection and imaging technologies. If you have a revolutionary idea to advance science by co-developing a breakthrough technology in detection and imaging, and if you are envisioning market applications, then ATTRACT would like to hear from you. Applicants have up to three months to submit their ideas before the deadline for proposals on 31 October at 23:59 CET. ESO is a partner in the ATTRACT project, and will work together with ATTRACT to help achieve its aims. In the coming weeks, ESO ...

26 July 2018: An epic 26 year campaign observing the Black Hole at the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy has yielded some remarkable results. An international team of astronomers used the cutting-edge GRAVITY instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope to test Einstein's theory of General Relativity in the most extreme laboratory imaginable. In this ESOcast we talk to the people behind this incredible journey of discovery and what it took to achieve these results from the very heart of the Milky Way. For some, this has been their life’s work and the culmination of decades of hard work, testing the very fundamentals of physics. You can subscribe to the ESOcasts on iTunes, receive future episodes on YouTube or follow us on Vimeo. Many other ESOcast episodes are also available. Find out how to view and contribute subtitles to the ESOcast in multiple languages, or translate this video on YouTube.

24 July 2018: ESO will hold a press conference on 26 July 2018 at its Headquarters in Garching, Germany, to present unique observations of the centre of the Milky Way and their significance. Since this result may have wide interest we are also inviting members of the public to view the live press conference here or on the ESO frontpage from 14:00 CEST on 26 July. The event will be introduced by ESO’s Director General, Xavier Barcons, and will feature talks by researchers behind this result. They will explaining the science behind the results as well as describing the observation campaign. We will select one or two questions submitted via Twitter using the hashtag #ESOlive. An ESO press release will be publicly issued at the start of the conference. Translations of the press release will be available in multiple languages, along with extensive audiovisual supporting material.

19 July 2018: ESO will hold a press conference on 26 July 2018 at 14:00 CEST, at its Headquarters in Garching, Germany, to present unique observations of the centre of the Milky Way and their significance. The event will be introduced by ESO’s Director General, Xavier Barcons, and will feature presentations by researchers behind this result. This invitation is addressed to media representatives. To participate in person in the conference, members of the media must register by completing an online form. Please indicate whether you wish to come in person to the press conference or if you will participate online only. On-site journalists will have a question and answer session with panelists during the conference. We will also take questions from registered journalists participating online. In-person individual interviews immediately after the conference are also possible. The conference will be streamed online, but only registered journalists will be able to submit questions. Details about ...

11 July 2018: Over the past months, the ESO Supernova team has been preparing an amazing new programme of exciting events and shows for our Planetarium & Visitor centre. We are delighted to announce that our July–September programme is now available online and in print. Featuring the latest ESO Supernova activities, the programme contains all you need to know about our forthcoming planetarium shows, guided tours and educational workshops. It also features special public events such as science talks, concerts and much more. Since its official inauguration on 26 April 2018, the ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre has entertained and educated visitors with a range of captivating planetarium shows, guided tours, educational workshops and special events. All these activities are free in 2018 — visitors just need to book in advance. The programme of shows, tours and events at the ESO Supernova changes every three months, giving audiences the chance to experience ...

4 July 2018: On 2 July 2019, a very exciting event will take place — a total solar eclipse will pass over ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile! These unusual phenomena have a profound impact on those fortunate enough to experience them. This will be the only total solar eclipse visible from an ESO observatory for the next 212 years, with the next one — visible again from La Silla — due to occur on 28 August 2231. ESOcast 170 describes what happens during a solar eclipse, and what a viewer could expect to experience. It also provides details on how to obtain a ticket for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at La Silla. You can subscribe to the ESOcasts on iTunes, receive future episodes on YouTube or follow us on Vimeo. Many other ESOcast episodes are also available. Find out how to view and contribute subtitles to the ESOcast in multiple languages, or translate ...

29 June 2018: The latest edition of ESO's quarterly journal, The Messenger, is now available online. Find out the latest news from ESO on topics ranging from new instruments to the latest science discoveries. This edition includes: Enhanced data discovery services for the ESO Science Archive Science Verification of HAWK-I using GRAAL adaptive optics ALMA finds too many massive stars in starburst galaxies Stellar surface imaging with VLTI and ALMA Obituary of Raymond Wilson Download The Messenger in PDF format or visit The Messenger website to subscribe and receive a free printed copy.