Tiedotteet 2015

6. maaliskuuta 2015: ESO kutsuu sinut osallistumaan toista kertaa järjestettävään kansainväliseen yömaisema-valokuvakilpailuun tähtivalokuvaajille (Photo Nightscape Awards, PNA). Kilpailun järjestävän Ciel et Espace Photos'n kumppani ESO palkitsee Yömaisema-kategorian voittajan matkalla Paranaliin, VLT-teleskoopin sijaintipaikalle Pohjois-Chileen. Kilpailun kaikille valokuvaajille avoimet kategoriat ovat: Yömaisema, Kaupunki ja Timelapse. PNA:n 9-12 ja 13-17 -vuotiaille tarkoitettuihin Junior-kategorioihin voivat osallistua vain Ranskan kansalaiset. Kilpailuun osallistuvien tulee lähettää valokuvansa tai videonsa lisäksi ilmoittautumislomake, ja alaikäisen ollessa kyseessä myös vanhemien suostumus, sähköpostiosoitteeseen: pna@photonightscapeawards.com. Lisätietoja kilpailun säännöistä löytyy kilpailun verkkosivulta. Ilmoittautumislomake löytyy linkin "Contest" takaa löytyvällä sivulla olevan otsikon "Registration" alta. Ilmoitukset julkaistaan PNA:n Facebook-sivulla. Palkintoseremonia pidetään 7. marraskuuta 2015 Pariisissa, Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie -tiedekeskuksen planetaariossa, missä myös asetetaan näytteille valokuvien ja timelapse-videoiden parhaimmisto. Tärkeitä päivämääriä: Valokuvien täytyy olla otettu välillä 1. tammikuuta 2015 ja 30 syyskuuta 2015. Valokuvien kilpailuun lähettämisen takaraja on 30. syyskuuta 2015. Palkinnot julkistetaan 7. marraskuuta 2015.

6. maaliskuuta 2015: On Thursday 16 April at 16:00 ESO invites students and staff from all institutions on the Forschungscampus Garching to a presentation of the ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre which will be held at ESO Headquarters in the Eridanus auditorium. The ESO Supernova is being built at the site of ESO Headquarters and will open in mid-2017. This event will allow students, staff and anyone else at Forschungscampus Garching to hear about the opportunities associated with this project that are relevant to them. The project coordinator, Fabian Reckmann and the head of the public outreach department, Lars Lindberg Christensen, will present the status of the project and explain how other interested institutions and individuals can become part of the project or otherwise support it. The ESO Supernova will be a cutting-edge astronomy centre providing visitors with an immersive experience that will leave them in awe of the Universe we live ...

5. maaliskuuta 2015: ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, has successfully combined its immense collecting area and sensitivity with that of APEX (Atacama Pathfinder Experiment) to create a new, single instrument through a process known as Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). Larger telescopes can make sharper observations, and interferometry allows multiple telescopes to act like a single telescope as large as the separation — or baseline — between them. In VLBI, data from two independent telescopes are combined to form a virtual telescope that spans the geographic distance between them — potentially up to the diameter of the Earth — yielding extraordinary magnifying power. An essential intermediate step is to test the technique on a short baseline. On 13 January 2015 ALMA and the nearby APEX telescope simultaneously studied the quasar 0522-364. This distant galaxy was used for this first-of-its-kind observation due to its remarkable brightness at radio wavelengths. To ensure the telescopes ...

5. maaliskuuta 2015: ESO:n teleskooppien ja instrumenttien havaintoaineistoa käyttävien vertaisarvioitujen tieteellisten artikkelien lukumäärää kartoittanut tutkimus osoittaa, että ESO on edelleen maailman tuotteliain maanpäällinen observatorio. Viime vuonna tähtitieteilijät käyttivät ESO:n laitosten tuottamaa havaintoaineistoa 864 vertaisarvioidussa artikkelissa, mikä on yhtä paljon kuin ennätysvuonna 2012. Vuonna 2014 ESO:n havaintoaineistosta julkaistujen artikkelien määrä oli edelleen hieman suurempi kuin NASA:n ja ESA:n Hubble-avaruusteleskoopin vastaava luku. Lähes 65% kaikista vuoden 2014 ESO:on liittyvistä artikkeleista käytti VLT-teleskoopin (Very Large Telescope) tai VLT:n interferometrin havaintoja. Artikkelilukumäärältään kaikkein tuotteliaimmat VLT:n instrumenteista olivat UVES ja FORS2, joita seurasi VIMOS kolmannella sijalla. Tämän lisäksi myös GIRAFFE:n ja SINFONI:n aineiston käyttö lisääntyi. Paranal:in VISTA-kartoitusteleskooppi (survey=kartoitus?) tuotti havaintoaineistoa vuoteen 2013 verrattuna lähes kaksinkertaista määrää artikkeleita varten. FEROS:in, SOFI:in ja WFI:in aineiston käyttö lisääntyi myös, mutta HARPS on edelleen La Silla:n tuotteliain instrumentti. La Silla tuotti havaintoaineistoa kaikenkaikkiaan yli 260 artikkeliin. Eurooppalaisten käyttämän ALMA-havaintoajan (Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array) tuottamat artikkelit lisääntyivät huomattavasti ja vuoden 2014 lopussa niitä ...

4. maaliskuuta 2015: In January 1954, twelve astronomers from six different European nations congregated in the Senate Room of Leiden University in the Netherlands. The party had met with the intention of discussing a joint venture with the aim of establishing a European observatory under the favourable skies of the southern hemisphere. In the course of the meeting, chaired by Bertil Lindblad of Saltsjöbaden, the twelve astronomers formulated and duly signed their names to a document intended to garner governmental support for their ambitious plan. The subsequently named Leiden Statement laid the groundwork for the ESO Convention of 1962 and so marked the birth of a venture that has since far exceeded even the ambitious vision of those twelve founding astronomers. Today, ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe, operating some of the most advanced scientific equipment ever built and supported by sixteen countries, with several more having expressed an interest ...

26. helmikuuta 2015: The MUSE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope has given astronomers the best ever three-dimensional view of the deep Universe. Staring at the Hubble Deep Field South region for 27 hours, the new observations reveal the distances, motions and other properties of far more galaxies than ever before in this tiny piece of the sky; extending even beyond Hubble’s reach to reveal previously invisible objects. This ESOcast takes a look at what MUSE found in the Hubble Deep Field South and the way in which it has made life a little easier for astronomers, by compiling thousands of images of these remote galaxies into a three-dimensional stack of images, each at a different wavelength. You can subscribe to the ESOcasts in 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 for the ESOcast in ...

24. helmikuuta 2015: A groundbreaking ceremony for the ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre took place today at ESO’s Headquarters in Garching, Germany. This event marked the beginning of the main construction phase of the facility. The ESO Supernova will be a magnificent showcase for astronomy for the public. It is made possible by a collaboration between the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS) and ESO. The Klaus Tschira Stiftung (KTS), a German foundation that supports the natural sciences, mathematics and computer science, offered to fully fund the construction and ESO will run the facility. The striking building was designed by the architects Bernhardt + Partner. This new facility will provide visitors with an immersive experience of astronomy and ESO’s scientific results, projects and technological breakthroughs. It will include a fulldome planetarium and more than 2000 square metres of permanent and temporary exhibitions. Further rooms housing conference facilities will also host a variety ...

10. helmikuuta 2015: A team of astronomers and engineers from ESO, the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), the Gran Telescopio CANARIAS (GTC) and INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma has achieved first light and successful commissioning of the ESO Wendelstein Laser Guide Star system [1] at the IAC's Observatorio del Teide on Tenerife in Spain. Following an agreement in April 2014 between ESO and the IAC, the required infrastructure for the experiment was built at the observatory. The team carried out the installation and commissioning of the ESO Wendelstein Laser Guide Star Unit laser, the receiver system and the automated observing software. These joint activities are research and development studies to optimise the laser guide star return brightness from the upper atmosphere with special attention being paid to the influence of the geomagnetic field on the performance. The experimental setup uses fibre laser technologies developed at ESO to produce a 20-watt continuous wave ...

10. helmikuuta 2015: ESO would like to extend a warm welcome to our 100 000th Facebook friend and a thank you to everyone who has become our friend on Facebook and, in doing so, helped to spread an interest in astronomy, space, and what everyone at ESO is working hard to achieve. Every like, share and mention goes a little way towards helping more people share in the wonders of the Universe, and we are thankful to all those who have participated for their support in helping ESO to reach more people than ever before.

4. helmikuuta 2015: The Board of Education for the German Astronomical Society, in collaboration with ESO and the Excellence Cluster Universe of the Technical University of Munich, is organising a two-day teacher-training workshop on stellar evolution on Friday 6 and Saturday 7 March 2015. The course aims to help those teaching the subject as part of the grade 12 astrophysics curriculum in Germany and will feature lecture and discussion sessions as well as workshops. Teachers who are interested in this opportunity are invited to obtain further details and register at the following web site. Teachers participating in the course will also be provided with a wealth of material to use in the classroom, including presentation slides, computer software, literature and a collection of useful web links. The training session will be held at ESO Headquarters in Garching bei München and will be in German.

2. helmikuuta 2015: Louise Mayor has won the 2014 European Astronomy Journalism Prize. Her prize consists of a trip to the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) — a state-of-the-art telescope to study light from some of the coldest objects in the Universe — in northern Chile. The winning article explores the quest to directly detect gravitational waves using a technique involving studying pulsars with radio telescopes. Entitled “Hunting Gravitational Waves Using Pulsars”, the article was published in the October 2014 issue of Physics World, the magazine for members of the Institute of Physics. It was also promoted via a short clip. As features editor of Physics World, Louise Mayor is helping physicists and science writers to tell their stories in different areas of cutting-edge physics. Before joining Physics World in 2010, Louise did a PhD in dye-sensitised solar cells at the University of Nottingham. “I am absolutely delighted to win the prize. My ...

26. tammikuuta 2015: On 24 February 2015, at 12:30, a groundbreaking ceremony will be held at ESO’s Headquarters in Garching bei München, Germany, to mark the start of construction work for the ESO Supernova Planetarium and Visitor Centre. The centre will be a magnificent showcase for astronomy and will be open to the public free of charge. It is made possible by a collaboration between the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS), the research institute of the Klaus Tschira Stiftung, and ESO. The Klaus Tschira Stiftung offered to fully fund the construction and ESO will run the facility. This new facility will provide visitors with an immersive experience of astronomy in general, along with ESO’s scientific results, projects, and technological breakthroughs. It will include a fulldome planetarium and more than 2000 square metres of permanent and temporary exhibitions. Further rooms housing conference facilities will also host a programme of lectures, workshops and conferences. ...

20. tammikuuta 2015: The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) radio telescope has increased its capacity for remote transmission of data by a factor of 25. A new connection consisting of 150 kilometres of fibre optic cables has been successfully installed between the observatory — situated 34 kilometres from San Pedro de Atacama — and the city of Calama in northern Chile. From Calama, the system connects with the Corporación Red Universitaria Nacional (REUNA) network, which is already established in Antofagasta and, from there onwards, to the offices of ALMA in Santiago, through existing infrastructure (the EVALSO project). This milestone for ALMA means that in future an enormous amount of data can be delivered, with astonishing speed, to the ALMA scientific community around the world. This important step for the scientific work of ALMA is the result of a contract signed between AUI, the institution that represents the North American partners of ALMA, with ...

16. tammikuuta 2015: The construction contract to build the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Residencia has been awarded to the consortium L y D - Axis, consisting of Constructora L y D S.A. and Axis Desarrollos Constructivos S.A. Both are Chilean companies that have experience in constructing residential-type buildings in the challenging environment of the north of Chile. The ALMA Residencia will be the new home for staff and visitors to the facility. The shape of the buildings and the colour of the exteriors of this major architectural project have been designed to meld with the topography, the environment and the landscape of the ALMA site. The design was undertaken by the Finnish architects Kuovo & Partanen and was then adapted to the Chilean market by Rigotti & Simunovic Arquitectos, a Chilean firm of architects. Ever since the construction of ALMA began in 2008, with the delivery of ALMA’s first antenna (eso0849), staff ...

16. tammikuuta 2015: ESO has signed parallel contracts with CESA (Spain) and VDL (the Netherlands) for the design and production of qualification models [1] for mirror segment support and related auxiliary equipment for the primary mirror of the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). This follows the earlier design and development of prototypes, their intensive testing at the ESO facility and a detailed assessment of lessons learned. The complete E-ELT primary mirror will be 39 metres in diameter. The mirror surface will comprise 798 hexagonal segments, plus a maintenance set, for a total of 931 segments. The hexagonal shape means that a common support structure can be used for all segments. These contracts include the delivery of detailed and complete instructions and engineering drawings for the production of the series. They also include the development of the procedures required to integrate the supports with the E-ELT glass segments, to handle and transport the segment ...

14. tammikuuta 2015: This ESOcast takes a close look at an unusual new group of small telescopes that has recently achieved first light at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in northern Chile. The Next-Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) will search for transiting exoplanets — planets that pass in front of their parent star and hence produce a slight dimming of the star’s light that can be detected by sensitive instruments. The telescopes will focus on discovering Neptune-sized and smaller planets, with diameters between two and eight times that of Earth. NGTS is designed to operate in a robotic mode and it will continuously monitor the brightness of hundreds of thousands of comparatively bright stars in the southern skies. The NGTS discoveries, and follow-up observations by telescopes on the ground and in space, will be important steps in our quest to study the atmospheres and composition of small, Earth-like planets. More episodes of the ESOcast are also ...

9. tammikuuta 2015: On 18 and 19 June 2015, ESO will host a workshop entitled Public Awareness of Research Infrastructures — Expectations — Experiences — Examples, organised by the Association of European-level Research Infrastructure Facilities (ERF-AISBL). The event will take place at the ESO Headquarters in Garching bei München, Germany. National research infrastructures and large EU-funded projects share the responsibility to present their research to their funding bodies, the scientific community and society at large. Even though it is generally accepted that good public relations and communication play a fundamental role, expectations with regards to science communication activities often remain unclear. The aim of the workshop is to facilitate a dialogue between funding agencies and project managers on the goals of scientific dissemination activities. Furthermore, public relations and public information officers will share their experience and gain insights into the expectations of funding bodies as well as from experts from academia dealing with ...