Announcements

17 October 2016: ESO, the world’s most productive ground-based observatory, will open its doors to the public on Saturday 22 October 2016 between 11:00 and 18:00 CEST. The 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 now available. 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 to find your way during the Open House Day, look for our members of staff, who are wearing name badges. As ESO is an international organisation, we have staff speaking several languages. Media representatives who wish to attend the event are asked to confirm their participation by contacting osandu@partner.eso.org. List ...

10 October 2016: Evans & Sutherland (E&S) has signed a three-year partnership agreement with ESO as a Constellation Partner in the ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre. Having developed advanced computer graphical technologies for over forty years, E&S was the world’s first computer graphics company, and now specialises in a world-leading digital planetarium system, Digistar. The ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre is a cooperation between the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS). The building is a donation from the Klaus Tschira Stiftung (KTS), a German foundation, and ESO runs the facility. Through their collaboration with ESO, E&S will be providing this cutting-edge planetarium technology for use in the forthcoming ESO Supernova, and will be the first to receive daily astronomy news and data directly from research carried out in observatories around the world through the Data2Dome project. Data2Dome, which ESO is spearheading with support from the ...

23 September 2016: ESO and Enel Green Power are proud to announce the entry into service of the La Silla solar photovoltaic plant in northern Chile. To mark the event, an inauguration ceremony was held at the La Silla Gymnasium, overlooking the new La Silla plant. The ceremony was opened by ESO’s Representative in Chile, Fernando Comerón, followed by Enel’s Head of Renewable Energies Latin America, Salvatore Bernabei. His excellency Máximo Pacheco Matte, the Chilean Minister of Energy, gave the closing address. ESO’s Director General, Tim de Zeeuw, underlined the importance of this facility to ESO: “This new plant will contribute significantly to ESO’s determined efforts to maximise the sustainable use of resources at its facilities. It seems particularly fitting that an astronomical observatory should take its power directly from the light of the Sun, and I am delighted to thank all involved for bringing this project to completion.” Named after ESO’s La ...

16 September 2016: Media representatives are invited to attend a ceremony at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in northern Chile on 23 September 2016 to mark the inauguration of the La Silla solar photovoltaic plant. The plant will supply power to ESO’s observatory facilities at La Silla. The event will start at 14:00 local time and is expected to finish around 16:00 — it will be held in the La Silla Gymnasium, which will provide a fine view of the plant itself. The plant has been built by Enel Green Power (EGP) [1] His Excellency Máximo Pacheco Matte, the Chilean Minister of Energy, will deliver the inaugural address. Salvatore Bernabei, Head of Renewable Energies Latin America of EGP will also speak at the event. ESO will be represented by Andreas Kaufer, Director of La Silla-Paranal Observatory, Roberto Tamai, E-ELT Project Manager, Fernando Comerón, ESO Representative in Chile and Ivo Saviane, La Silla Observatory Site ...

16 September 2016: The winners of Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016 were announced at an award ceremony at the Royal Observatory Greenwich on 15 September 2016. The winning photographs will be exhibited at the Observatory’s Astronomy Centre from 17 September 2016 until 28 June 2017. ESO joined the 2016 competition as a partner, by contributing a judge from its education and Public Outreach Department (ePOD). The overall winner of the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016 competition is Chinese photographer Yu Jun who takes home a prize of £10 000. His winning photograph depicts the phenomenon of Baily’s Beads of the total solar eclipse on 9 March 2016 from Luwuk, Indonesia, captured in a matter of mere minutes. The winners of all the categories are: Our Sun Yu Jun (China) with Baily’s Beads (Winner and Overall Winner) Catalin Beldea and Alson Wong (Romania; USA) with Sun Flower Corona (Runner Up) ...

1 September 2016: As the construction of the ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre here in Garching continues apace, ready for its opening in late 2017, ESO continues to make an unprecedented range of high-quality materials available for use in planetariums, produced by world-renowned astrophotographers, artists, technicians and musicians. Both the mission and vision of the ESO Supernova emphasise the creation of connections and learning experiences for both scientists and the general public; in keeping with this, and with ESO’s ethos in general, all of these planetarium products are available for free. Quality comes before quantity, but thanks to the dedicated work of both our team and the planetarium community at large, we are able to offer both. The full range of free material for planetariums is available on the ESO Supernova website. This comprises: Almost 400 fulldome clips in ESO’s and ESA/Hubble’s archives. These include more than 100 Ultrafast Time-lapse videos by ...

2 August 2016: Brand new 360-degree virtual tours of all of ESO’s facilities are now available on the ESO website. This new release has been enriched with new viewpoint features and many panoramas and videos capturing places never seen before. You can switch from one panorama to another just by clicking on the blue spots dotted around the images — just follow these blue spots to enjoy this immersive experience of ESO’s world! You can begin your tour at ESO’s Headquarters in Garching, just outside Munich, Germany. Inaugurated in 1981, the modernist buildings are the scientific, technical and administrative centre of ESO. As the number of ESO Member States, and its staff, grew, an extension to the initial design was added in December 2013. The subject of worldwide appreciation in architectural circles, ESO’s facilities in Garching can now be enjoyed in this virtual tour — architectural pearls indeed! From the suburban calm of ...

19 July 2016: ESO is host to a diverse range of talents. Find out how the ESO community works across so many fields to remain at the cutting-edge of astronomy. Astronomy has long since moved beyond star gazing. The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has been operating for over 50 years, and is involved in some of the most innovative telescope projects both on and off the Earth. It takes a battalion of scientists and technicians, as well as teams devoted to public outreach, human resources and administration, to maintain this level of success. Professors, fellows and PhD students together forge the future of research. ESO’s flagship project, the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), one of the most ambitious astronomical engineering projects ever undertaken, is pushing this diverse ESO community towards achieving even greater heights. By following the career path of Dr. J. as he progresses from Dr. to Professor, this ESO podcast highlights ...

6 July 2016: ESO has signed a contract with the French company Reosc [1], a subsidiary of Safran Electronics & Defense, to polish the secondary mirror of ESO’s forthcoming European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) from a pre-formed glass-ceramic blank. Reosc will design the mirror and its mounting interfaces, polish the surface, and complete all necessary optical tests before delivery, which is expected in 2022. The contract was signed by ESO Director General Tim de Zeeuw and M. Thierry Batut, President of Reosc, in the presence of M. Jean-Claude Brunet, the French Consul General in Munich, other senior representatives of Reosc and key ESO staff members. The secondary mirror is, as the name suggests, the second of five mirrors that guide light from distant objects through the telescope, eventually to emerge at the telescope’s Nasmyth focus where a suite of scientific instruments will be sited. Hanging upside-down at the top of the telescope structure, ...

1 July 2016: The current ESO Director General, Tim de Zeeuw, will complete his second 5-year term as Director General at the end of August 2017. The ESO Council has decided to establish a search committee to help in the selection of the next Director General. Tim de Zeeuw has led ESO during a period of outstanding scientific, technical and organisational success. He has overseen ESO’s contributions to the completion of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Observatory, the selection and acquisition of the site and the approval and start of construction of the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) together with its first light instruments, the continuing operation and development of the La Silla and Paranal observatories including the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment telescope (APEX) telescope, the completion of the second generation Very Large Telescope array (VLT) instruments, and the completion of the extension of the Headquarters building in Garching and the donation of ...

30 June 2016: A team of European astronomers have used data from ESO’s VISTA survey telescope to catalogue a diverse population of minor planets — small bodies in the Solar System — at near-infrared wavelengths. Their study has resulted in a collection of measurements for nearly 40 000 objects, data that may help to answer key questions about the early Solar System. Around 700 000 small objects have so far been catalogued in the Solar System, from rocky asteroids, to icy comets. By studying these objects, astronomers hope to learn about how the Solar System formed and evolved and also gather important information about possible Earth impacts. The team examined a subset of the VISTA Hemisphere Survey that covered around 40% of the southern hemisphere of the sky. By carefully sifting through the vast amount of data from the survey, they were able to extract the position and brightness of almost 40 000 ...

16 June 2016: The ESO Annual Report 2015 is now available, presenting an overview of ESO’s many activities throughout the year. The contents include: Research highlights from ESO facilities, including the latest results from fields of astronomy stretching from studies of the Solar System to surveys of very distant galaxies. A summary of operations at ESO’s observatories in Chile. The latest news from the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) and Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) projects. News about ESO staff and buildings — including preparations for the ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre. This product is available for sale in the ESOshop.

2 June 2016: ESO has released a new video Compilation showing its telescope facilities at the La Silla observatory in Chile. The Compilation was filmed during the recent the ESO Fulldome Expedition and is released in Ultra HD resolution. High above the Atacama Desert, the observatory is home to an array of world-class telescopes, equipped with sophisticated instruments to observe the cosmos. Even though some of these telescopes are now decades old, they still amount to some of the finest observing facilities in the world, and benefit from the continuous advances in instrument technology that ESO encourages. Added to the superb observing conditions at the site, these telescopes are still making significant astronomical discoveries. In the video you are introduced to the telescopes in order of size, from the largest, ESO’s 3.6-metre telescope, to the smallest, the Belgian 0.6-metre TRAPPIST telescope. All have made major contributions to our understanding of the Universe, proving ...

25 May 2016: As ESO signs a contract to begin building the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), this ESOcast takes a close look at this mammoth instrument and outlines some of the scientific advances we can expect from it. The ESOcast features amazing computer generated images of the E-ELT, showing in remarkable detail what the monster telescope will look like on top of Cerro Armazones in the Chilean Andes. On 25 May 2016, ESO signed a contract with the ACe engineering consortium of Italy, to build the dome and main telescope structure of the E-ELT. With a main mirror 39 metres across, and a protective dome almost 80 metres high, this will be one of the biggest astronomical projects ever undertaken. The light-gathering power of the E-ELT will exceed that of all the professional telescopes currently operating, and its adaptive optics systems will permit it to produce images far sharper than any other ...

18 May 2016: ESO will hold an online press conference at 15:00 CEST on Wednesday 25 May to unveil the construction design of the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), to announce further details of the contract to build the dome and main telescope structure, and to update the media on the status and future plans for the world’s largest optical telescope. This is the largest contract ever awarded by ESO and the largest contract ever in ground-based astronomy. The contract will be signed during a ceremony earlier in the day at ESO’s Headquarters in Garching, Germany. After presentations, journalists will have the opportunity to ask questions of the ESO Director General Tim de Zeeuw, a representative of the ACe Consortium, and the E-ELT Programme Manager Roberto Tamai. To participate in the online conference, bona fide members of the media must register by completing this online RSVP form. The conference will be held using ...

15 April 2016: The GALACSI adaptive optics module, built by ESO’s engineers at its headquarters in Garching, Germany, has been thoroughly tested and has passed with flying colours. It will be shipped to Chile later this year to be fitted to ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), on Cerro Paranal. GALACSI is a part of the adaptive optics system which will significantly increase the performance of the MUSE instrument, a panoramic integral-field spectrograph working at visible wavelengths. The MUSE instrument and the GALACSI system together will be known as the MUSE facility. Adding GALACSI to MUSE will essentially double the amount of energy in each image pixel, providing astronomers with a much more powerful tool. As well as bringing about a huge improvement in the VLT’s capabilities, GALACSI and the other elements of the adaptive optics system are advancing technology that will be used on the forthcoming European Extremely Large Telescope. Adaptive optics systems ...

1 April 2016: The ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre, in collaboration with the Haus der Astronomie, Heidelberg, is organising a one day workshop on Kepler’s Laws for secondary school teachers, on Friday 1 July 2016. German speaking teachers from any of the ESO Member States are welcome to attend. The aim of the workshop is to show how important Kepler’s Laws are to modern astronomy. In particular, Kepler’s Third Law allows scientists to estimate the masses of supermassive black holes and of planets orbiting other stars, while deviations from Kepler’s laws exhibited by galaxy rotation curves led to the discovery of dark matter. Through a combination of short introductory talks and interactive workshops, participating teachers will be provided with educational materials they can use directly in the classroom. The ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre is currently under construction and as such, the training session will be held at ESO Headquarters in ...

23 March 2016: Scientists and engineers have begun mapping out the detailed specifications of two new instruments that will be part of the instrument suite on ESO’s forthcoming European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). MOS (the Multi-Object Spectrograph) and HIRES (the High Resolution Spectrograph) will be world-leading workhorse instruments on what will be the world’s largest telescope. The contract to begin design studies for MOS was signed on 18 March 2016 by ESO and the CNRS-INSU, the leading institution in the MOSAIC consortium [1]. The instrument will combine high spectral and spatial resolution and will carry out wide-field surveys in the visible and infrared parts of the spectrum. It will allow astronomers to probe some of the deepest mysteries of the Universe: when did the first galaxies form and how did they aggregate into large structures like the Milky Way; how are ordinary matter and dark matter distributed throughout the Universe; and how do ...

14 March 2016: In 2014, Dutch astronomer Frans Snik designed a model of ESO’s European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) using LEGO® components. Following on from the success of that design (more than ten models have been built by enthusiastic individuals worldwide since it was published), Snik has now dedicated some of his spare time to designing a LEGO® model of one of the Unit Telescopes that make up ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). For almost 20 years now, the VLT has been amazing astronomers with its extraordinary capabilities. One of the largest telescope facilities in the world, the VLT consists of four independent telescopes that can be operated together to make a very powerful facility. Now ESO is building its big brother, the ELT, that will extend our reach even further into the heavens. You may not be able to build your own full-size versions of these telescopes, but the models are a ...

4 February 2016: At an extraordinary meeting in Garching bei München, Germany on 3 February 2016, ESO’s Finance Committee authorised ESO to enter into final discussions with the winning bidder of the tender process for the design, manufacture, transport, construction, on-site assembly and verification of the Dome and Main Structure of the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). The discussion between ESO and the ACe Consortium, consisting of Astaldi, Cimolai and the nominated sub-contractor EIE Group will start soon, with the aim of contract signature in May 2016. This major milestone for the project is the culmination of the extensive and intense work of many people. This contract will be the largest ever approved by ESO and the largest ever placed for a ground-based telescope. When the contract is signed, ESO will issue a press release with more details, along with extensive information about the design of the dome and telescope structure. No further ...