Events, Exhibitions & Campaigns

In addition to forwarding important news to the media and public via press releases, press photos and video footage, ESO occasionally organises special and press events. Examples of these events are the Open House Days, meetings to exchange information and to strengthen relations between ESO and its industrial partners, and press events to provide information about important technical and scientific developments. Information about upcoming and past events can be found in the corresponding pages, Press Events and Special Events.

ESO often coordinates public scientific activities in connection with important astronomical phenomena. Available information about past events includes the Solar Eclipse of 1999 and the Venus Transit in 2004. Information about past astronomical events, with major ESO involvement, is still available on the ESO web.

For information about upcoming astronomical events and ESO's activities around these events please contact the ESO education and Public Outreach Department.

News and events related to ESO's educational programmes are released by the ESO Educational Office, which offers support to astronomy and astrophysics education, especially at the high-school level. This includes the provision of some teaching materials, courses for teachers and specific educational projects.

Some examples of recent events, exhibitions and campaigns follow.

• Café & Kosmos in Munich, Germany — A joint initiative between ESO, the Excellence Cluster, and the Max-Planck Institutes for Physics, Astrophysics, and Extraterrestrial Physics, Café & Kosmos aims to bring researchers and non-scientists together, and to do so where people live: in the centre of the city of Munich, and in a pub, a place where communication traditionally takes place.
• Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany — Five Munich- and Garching-based research institutions, including ESO have set up a permanent exhibition called The Cosmic Evolution.
• The International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009) — ESO has played a major role in the IYA2009 since implementation began in 2006, from hosting the IYA 2009 Secretariat for the International Astronomical Union, to being one of the Organisational Associates of IYA2009, and playing a leading role in four of the twelve global Cornerstone Projects. (http://www.eso.org/public/events/special-evt/iya2009.html)
• The Eye 3D — In close cooperation with ESO as part of its International Year of Astronomy 2009 activities, the production companies parallax raumprojektion and fact&film produced a unique 3D documentary about the most powerful visible-light telescope in the world, ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT). (http://www.eso.org/public/events/special-evt/theeye.html)