Announcements

13 March 2019: ESO will host the 2019 IAU Astronomy Education Conference on 16–18 September 2019 at the ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre. The conference will bring together astronomers, astronomy education researchers, and education practitioners to further the IAU’s commitment to improving the quality, quantity, community, and impact of astronomy education research and practice. Hosting this conference will leverage the ESO Supernova’s standing as a cutting-edge astronomy education centre offering a diverse educational programme to school children, kindergartners, and teachers. Conference attendees will be able to fully explore the Supernova’s activities, including workshops, tours, and over 2200 m2 of interactive exhibits, as well as the largest tilted planetarium dome in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The conference will focus on three main themes: astronomy education research; astronomy education standards, curriculum and instruction; and primary and secondary teacher education. These themes will be covered in talks, posters and workshops. The topics will be examined ...

11 March 2019: ESO has signed contracts for the manufacture of the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) M5 Mirror with the French companies Safran Reosc and Mersen Boostec. Safran Reosc will supply the M5 Mirror along with the auxiliary equipment required for its handling, transport, operation and maintenance. Mersen Boostec will supply the mirror’s lightweight substrate to Safran Reosc’s specifications, and will also be responsible for the supply of the M5 replacement blanks if necessary [1]. The contracts were signed by Philippe Rioufreyt, CEO of Safran Reosc, Jérôme Lavenac, Operations Managing Director of Mersen Boostec, and Xavier Barcons, ESO Director General, at a ceremony held today at ESO Headquarters in Garching, Germany. Also in attendance were French Consul General in Munich, Pierre Lanapats, and Deputy Consul General in Munich, Benoît Schneider, as well as ESO Council Delegate for France, Laurent Vigroux. The contract with Safran Reosc builds on an existing cooperative relationship with the ...

8 March 2019: 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. In this special issue of the ESO Messenger, several articles give an overview of the upcoming 4-meter Multi-Object Spectroscopic Telescope (4MOST). 4MOST is a new wide-field spectroscopic survey facility under development for the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. Paranal is one of the finest observing sites worldwide and provides access to astronomical objects in the southern hemisphere, such as the galactic center and the Magellanic Clouds. The 4MOST design allows tens of millions of spectra to be obtained via five-year surveys, even for targets distributed over a significant fraction of the sky. Highlights of this edition include: 4MOST: Project Overview and Information for the Call for Proposals - de Jong ...

7 March 2019: ESO today officially became a shareholder of the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory gGmbH (CTAO). The necessary formal steps were concluded during the meeting of the CTA Council on 7–8 March at ESO’s headquarters in Garching bei München, Germany after ESO participating in the project for some time as an observer. The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is the next-generation ground-based observatory designed to detect very high energy gamma-rays. When completed, the array will comprise 118 telescopes shared between sites in the northern and southern hemispheres. ESO already signed an agreement on 19 December 2018 to host the southern site of the CTA in the Atacama desert near the ESO Paranal Observatory in Chile. The Paranal site, home of the Very Large Telescope, offers excellent viewing conditions and well-established infrastructure, making it an attractive location for new facilities such as CTA–South. The northern site of the CTA will be based on La ...

26 February 2019: Over the past few months, the ESO Supernova team has been preparing the latest programme of exciting events and shows for the ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre. We are delighted to announce that our April–June 2019 programme is now available for booking online. 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. The April–June programme features new additions to the exciting range of shows in the ESO Supernova’s state-of-the-art digital planetarium, as well as a wonderful array of special events. The new programme is now available online and bookings can be made for all public events. Tickets are available either online or at the ESO Supernova reception. The ESO Supernova offers a captivating variety of planetarium shows in both German and English which explore ...

18 February 2019: The Armenian President, Armen Sarkissian, visited ESO’s Headquarters today in Garching bei München, Germany, as part of a wider tour of the Garching Forschungszentrum, one of the largest centres for scientific research in Germany. During his visit, the President met with the Director General Xavier Barcons and a diverse cross-section of ESO staff. He was also given a guided tour of ESO’s Headquarters, including ESO’s high-tech integration hall, where instruments are prepared to be mounted on ESO’s world-leading telescopes. The President has a longstanding involvement in science, particularly physics; he has a PhD in theoretical physics and mathematics, and has held various research positions at prestigious institutes. Prior to his career in politics, the President was a professor of physics at Yerevan State University and later at the University of Cambridge. Among his various research topics, President Sarkissian used to work on the internal structure of neutron stars. As well ...

18 February 2019: ESO’s observatories operate a suite of the most advanced ground-based astronomical telescopes in the world, providing researchers with state-of-the-art facilities to study the Universe. Observing time on the telescopes is highly sought-after due to the remarkable detail in which they can capture the sky. Every year, ESO receives thousands of observing proposals from researchers across the globe – up to ten times more hours of observations than are actually available. ESO therefore has to decide which cutting-edge astronomical questions should be awarded valuable telescope time . In this ESOcast, six of the astronomers who help to make these decisions tell us about the hottest topics in contemporary astronomy. Covering topics ranging from dark matter to exoplanets, these astronomers make the case for why these cutting-edge fields deserve time at ESO’s telescopes. You can subscribe to the ESOcasts on iTunes or receive future episodes on YouTube. Many other ESOcast episodes are ...

15 February 2019: Applications for the ESO-supported Summer AstroCamp 2019 will open on 1 April 2019. AstroCamp is an academic programme in the field of astronomy and physics, organised by the Centre for Astrophysics of the University of Porto (CAUP), that aims to stimulate curiosity and critical thinking. The camp takes place from 4 to 18 August 2019 in a secluded and tranquil setting, away from the stresses of urban centres. The programme is intended for secondary school students from 40 different countries, including all ESO member countries, in one of their final three years of education before university. Students of all backgrounds will come together and take two courses consisting of daily lessons, assignments, and a final exam. Some further highlights include: Observing the dark night skies with the naked eye and telescopes (including the Perseid meteor shower); Skyping with astronomers and physicists from different countries; A computational project, working with data ...

11 February 2019: The EIROforum, a collaboration of eight scientific research and technology organisations consisting of CERN, EMBL, ESA, ESO, ESRF, European XFEL, EUROfusion and ILL, aims to improve the quality and impact of research throughout Europe. Their combined resources, facilities and expertise supports European science to reach its full potential. In seeking to inspire the next generation of researchers, the EIROforum reaffirms its commitment toward providing equal opportunities for all, ensuring a positive impact of science in society, worldwide. In this spirit, and in particular today, the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, the EIROforum pays special tribute to the contribution of women and girls whose critical role in science and technology serves to strengthen the scientific community and its collective, global achievements.

31 January 2019: The winners of the Catch a Star 2018 Contest have been announced. Each winner will receive a mounted image featuring ESO telescopes in Chile, courtesy of ESO, such as the awe-inspiring Whirling Southern Star Trails over ALMA. Additionally, the European Association for Astronomy Education is providing the top 2 winners and the new special category winners with the unique opportunity to hold a video conference with a professional astronomer. The prizes were awarded as follows: First prize: “Detecting the exoplanet HD189733b” by Carl-Fuhlrott-Gymnasium Wuppertal/Germany Second prize: “Cosmic rays” by Specialised Language High School "N.Y. Vaptsarov", Shumen, Bulgaria Third prize: “Low Cost Astrobiology Studies” by Colegio Huerta de la Cruz, Cádiz, Spain Fourth prize: “Calculations of the energy escaping from a black hole” by Evangelisches Gymnasium, Lippstadt, Germany Fifth prize: “The 13th constellation Ophiuchus” by Skrundas Secondary School, Latvia Special category winner (students up to 15 years old): “Sidereus Nuncius, a ...

30 January 2019: 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: The SPECULOOS Southern Observatory Begins its Hunt for Rocky Planets ALMA Observations of the Epoch of Planet Formation The Early Growth and Life Cycle of Galaxies with KMOS3D Riccardo Giacconi (1931–2018) Download The Messenger in PDF format or visit The Messenger website to subscribe and receive a free printed copy.

30 January 2019: January 2019 marks 50 years since the publication of the first issue of Astronomy & Astrophysics, which ESO played an important role in founding. Since its inception, Astronomy & Astrophysics has become recognised as a prestigious publication counted amongst the top journals in the field. In January 1969 Astronomy & Astrophysics — known as A&A — published its first issue. This debut was achieved within a year of the first meeting of the founders in April 1968. The motivation behind its creation was to unite the individual astronomy publications of the founding European member states into a single larger journal, garnering increased recognition worldwide. In the 50 intervening years, A&A has grown into a highly influential publication. Though itself only a few years older than A&A, ESO played a significant role in its establishment; as an existing European intergovernmental astronomy organisation, ESO was able to lend its legal status to ...

29 January 2019: On 28 March 2019, ESO will participate in Germany’s Girls’ Day activities, in which technology companies, universities and research organisations open their doors to female school students to give them an insight into scientific and technological professions — encouraging more of them to choose careers in STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Places for the event are limited. To register, please visit the Girls’ Day website. The ESO Girls’ Day will introduce the work of ESO and highlight many of our daily activities, such as astrophysical research, mechanical and optomechanical design and integration, operations, and much more. The programme includes introductory talks as well as hands-on workshops on astronomy and engineering. The students will learn how astronomical instruments are built, tested and operated. They will also learn how data are collected and used in astronomical research to answer the big questions about the Universe. This will provide the students ...

16 January 2019: Work on the elaborate optics of ESO’s 39-metre Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) has taken a major step forwards following the successful casting, annealing, ceramization, machining and acid-etching of the substrate for the ELT’s secondary mirror, M2. This massive 3-ton mirror blank has been successfully machined from a slab of the low-expansion ceramic material ZERODURⓇ into its near-final form by the German company SCHOTT [1]. The creation of this technological masterpiece was a challenging process, requiring state-of-the-art CNC machines to correctly grind the mirror blank. Now, safely stowed in an extra-large transport box, the blank is being shipped to France for final grinding and polishing by Safran Reosc. Despite being the ELT’s secondary mirror, M2 still has an impressive diameter of 4.25 meters — larger than the primary mirror of many astronomical telescopes operating today. Following sixteen months of precision manufacturing at SCHOTT, M2 will now receive its final touches — ...

14 January 2019: The Royal Observatory Greenwich, in association with Insight Investment and BBC Sky at Night Magazine, has announced the key dates for the Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2019 competition — its annual global search for the most beautiful and spectacular visions of the cosmos, whether they are striking pictures of vast galaxies millions of light-years away, or dramatic images of the night sky much closer to home. ESO supports the 2019 competition by providing a judge from its education and Public Outreach Department (ePOD). Now in its 11th year, the highly popular competition opens to entrants on 14 January 2019, giving them the chance to take home the grand prize of £10 000. Entrants will have until 8 March 2019 to enter up to ten images in the various categories of the competition. Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2019 has nine main categories: Skyscapes: Landscape and ...

11 January 2019: Before the scientific discoveries made using ESO telescopes can find themselves on your screen, they pass through the expert hands of talented visual artists and composers. This new ESOcast is the twelfth episode of ESO’s Chile Chill, a series of striking videos that immerse you in the world of astronomy. In Chile Chill 12 — Fire in the Heavens, the evocative tunes of ESO’s Music Ambassador Dimitris Polychroniadis are set to stunning visuals from ESO’s expansive video archive. Sit back, relax, and enjoy a stellar walk through the Universe on the border between science and art. 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.

20 December 2018: Since the ESO Council gave their “green light” to start the construction of the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) in 2014, the programme has been advancing rapidly. To date, almost 90% (by value) of the external contracts have been awarded for the design and manufacture of the telescope, optics, components and instruments. ESO continuously monitors the performance of ongoing contracts and the schedule of the programme. With the facts available today, ESO has assessed the current situation of the ongoing work and the tight schedule for the products and activities still to be procured. In light of this, ESO has decided to revise the ELT’s baseline schedule. As a result, First Light, previously scheduled for the end of 2024, is currently planned for the end of 2025. Despite the postponement of the First Light, the schedules committed to in all running contracts and agreements with the ELT industrial contractors and institute ...

20 December 2018: HARMONI, one of the first-light instruments for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), has successfully completed the Preliminary Design Review process (PDR). During a week of intense discussions with the HARMONI consortium at the end of 2017, ESO and community experts examined whether the instrument could achieve its highly ambitious science goals. They assessed the design of the instrument's optics, mechanics, software, and electronics, as well as its operational concepts — in the process identifying some technical issues which required further work. The HARMONI team has since then completed all the tasks identified by the Review and the instrument has now formally passed its PDR. By completing this vital step, the instrument can progress to the detailed design phase, aiming to be ready for cutting-edge observations when the ELT sees first light. As well as passing this major milestone, HARMONI is also set to gain a powerful new adaptive optics system. ...

19 December 2018: Congratulations to Norédine Benazdia from France who has won ESO’s public competition to witness the 2019 total solar eclipse in person from ESO’s La Silla Observatory . Norédine will travel to Chile at the end of June 2019 and will also visit Cerro Paranal, home of ESO’s Very Large Telescope and two survey telescopes, Chajnantor, home of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international partnership, and possibly also Cerro Armazones, where the world’s biggest eye on the sky is under construction. The jury selected Norédine as the winner of the competition for the creative, fun, and informative video that he produced to wish our La Silla Observatory a happy 50th anniversary. We invite you to watch the winning video here and also to check out the other video entries we received by looking at the #LaSilla50Years hashtag on Twitter and Instagram. We would like to congratulate all the participants ...

11 December 2018: ESO’s fifth Director General, Riccardo Giacconi, passed away on Sunday 9 December 2018 at the age of 87. Riccardo Giacconi led ESO from 1993 to 1999, at a crucial time in the organisation’s history. ESO was constructing what is now its flagship facility, the Very Large Telescope (VLT), on Cerro Paranal, and starting the partnership that would become the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The successes of these years, and in particular the construction of the VLT, put ESO on the path to being the world-leading astronomical organisation that it is today. Riccardo Giacconi was born in Genova, Italy on 6 October 1931. He obtained both a degree in Physics and his PhD from the University of Milan. In 1956, two years after receiving his PhD, Giacconi moved to Indiana University, USA and then on to Princeton University, USA to work at the Princeton Cosmic Ray Laboratory. Following his time ...