Announcements 2021

22 January 2021: The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is a testament to research, innovation, and collaboration in Europe with a far reaching and invaluable impact on society. The new publication “ESO’s Benefits to Society” explores ESO’s contributions to its Member States across five areas: science and engineering, economy and innovation, talent development, education and outreach, and international collaboration and policy. In science and engineering, ESO and its telescopes have been instrumental in several ground-breaking discoveries. In 2020, for example, a Physics Nobel Prize was awarded for research on the Milky Way’s black hole done with ESO telescopes. ESO enables discoveries such as this by constructing and operating world-leading observatories, which push the boundaries of engineering. ESO innovations extend beyond the organisation’s remit; for example, techniques from MUSE, an instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, are being transferred for use in medicine and cancer diagnostics. ESO additionally provides economic benefits to society. In 2019, ...

14 January 2021: ESO has launched a new website to deliver a wealth of information about its Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), a forthcoming observatory that will study the Universe from Chile’s Atacama Desert. Created for a wide range of audiences, the general public and astronomy experts alike can dive into the website to discover the new telescope, its instruments, and how it will further our knowledge of the cosmos. The website showcases some of the most important scientific questions that astronomers hope the ELT will answer, complemented by striking visuals of the telescope, its surrounding structure and its various instruments and mirrors. It also features interesting facts about the ELT, which will be the largest visible and infrared light telescope in the world with a 39-metre main mirror, some of the history behind this ambitious and challenging telescope, as well as a timeline with some of the project’s most important milestones. This is ...