Dear Fellow Communicators,
On behalf of all of us at ESO, we would like to wish you a joyful holiday season and a stellar new year ! Thank you for participating in the mission of promoting astronomy, which seems to increase in importance with every year. We look forward to continuing collaborating next year!
For us, 2018 saw a number of exciting events, and we’d like to take this opportunity to mention some of our highlights:
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The opening of the ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre on 24 April started a new chapter in our outreach efforts;
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Ireland became ESO Member State number 16 ( eso1831);
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On the telescope and facilities front: two new telescopes on Paranal and La Silla saw their first light this year, ExTrA and SPECULOOS; the first of many hundred ELT main mirror segments was cast ( eso1801); for the first time the four VLT unit telescopes worked together as a 16-metre Telescope ( eso1806); our Matisse instrument saw its first light ( eso1808) and last but not least, it was agreed to host the (CTA) at ESO’s Paranal Observatory ( eso1841);
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On the science front: it was found that some of the TRAPPIST-1 planets could potentially hold more water than Earth ( eso1805); interstellar asteroid 1I/2017 U1 (`Oumuamua) was found to get a boost, indicating that it is in fact a comet in disguise ( eso1820); the first image of a newborn planet was caught with the VLT ( eso1821); the culmination of 26 years of ESO observations of the heart of the Milky Way with GRAVITY and other instruments, the first successful test of Einstein’s General Relativity near a supermassive black hole was made ( eso1825); the most detailed observation of material orbiting a Black Hole was made ( eso1835); and last but not least a planet was found orbiting the closest single star to the Sun, Barnard’s Star ( eso1837);
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We had a big media event for the Press Conference at ESO HQ presenting the observations of S2 passing the centre of the Milky Way;
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Another wonderful Open House Day took place at ESO’s Headquarters ( potw1842 ). A big thanks goes to our hard-working volunteers and 5200 visitors!
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Two new free planetarium shows were released to the community: The Sun, Our Living Star and Europe to the Stars ;
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The ESO Summer Astronomy Camp and the ESO Winter Astronomy Camp continued to inspire younger generations.
Although we’re now accelerating our 2 July Total Solar Eclipse project at La Silla, 2019 should be a bit calmer for us and we look forward to a creative outreach year!
Don’t forget about the Public Awareness of Research Infrastructure (PARI) III Conference on 8–10 April 2019 in the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Oxfordshire, UK. The abstracts deadline is 31 December.
If you are searching for last-minute holiday gift ideas, have a look at our ESOshop. We still have a few copies of the ESO 2019 Calendar left, as well as 3D magnets, high-quality mounted pictures , books, windbreakers and much more. Keep in mind that shipping will be on hold between 20 December 2018 and 1 January 2019 inclusive.
Let’s reach new heights in astronomy together!
Lars Lindberg Christensen (lars@eso.org)
Head, ESO education and Public Outreach Department (ePOD)
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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 ...
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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 ...
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4 December 2018: To coincide with the 2019 Total Solar Eclipse, eight social media users have been hand-picked from the pool of users that have signed up for the competition to attend ESO ...
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3 December 2018: Our January–March 2019 programme for the ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre is now available online, and the exciting lineup of activities and shows for this period can be ...
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30 November 2018: The latest issue of the free magazine Science in School is now available online and in printed form. This European journal for science teachers offers up-to-date information on cutting-edge science ...
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9 November 2018: The 24th issue of the Communicating Astronomy with the Public journal is out now! In this issue you will find information about the launch of the International Astronomical Union's ...
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Romano Corradi
14 December 2018: R Aquarii is a binary system in which the violent interaction between two stars is creating a swirling nebula and a dazzling jet of light. A team of scientists have ...
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Interview with: Pierre Vernazza
and Franck Marchis
30 November 2018: A team of scientists are currently using ESO’s Very Large Telescope to survey the largest asteroids in the Solar System. Nicknamed HARISSA, the survey has recently gathered lots of information ...
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Interview with: Vardan Adibekyan
23 November 2018: It is believed that the Sun has a few thousand solar siblings, any of which could host living organisms similar to those found on Earth. A team of scientists recently ...
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Interview with: Ignasi Ribas
14 November 2018: After archival data indicated the possible presence of a planet around nearby Barnard’s Star, a team of scientists undertook an epic campaign to try to confirm its presence. The result, ...
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Interview with: Elizabeth Mahony
and Stuart Ryder
9 November 2018: First detected barely a decade ago, fast radio bursts (FRBs) are one of today’s big mysteries in astronomy, and Australia’s ASKAP telescope is the best facility in the world for ...
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Interview with: Christian Muckle
2 November 2018: ESO manages and operates some of the most complex scientific instruments in the world, in some of the remotest places on Earth. Making sure they perform reliably is vital for ...
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12 December 2018: While testing a new subsystem on the SPHERE planet-hunting instrument on ESO’s Very Large telescope, astronomers were able to capture dramatic details of the turbulent stellar relationship in the ...
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5 December 2018: The SPECULOOS project has made its first observations at the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory in northern Chile. SPECULOOS will focus on detecting Earth-sized planets orbiting nearby ultra-cool stars and ...
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22 November 2018: ESO, the European Southern Observatory, designs, builds and operates some of the most advanced telescopes and instruments in the world. To achieve this, ESO needs a host of talented engineers ...
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19 November 2018: The VISIR camera on ESO’s VLT captured this stunning image of a newly-discovered massive binary star system. Nicknamed Apep after an ancient Egyptian deity, it could be the first gamma-ray ...
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14 November 2018: The nearest single star to the Sun hosts an exoplanet at least 3.2 times as massive as Earth -- a so-called super-Earth. Data from a worldwide array of telescopes, including ...
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12 November 2018: ESO's planet-hunting instrument SPHERE on the VLT has caught sight of the exoplanet Beta Pictoris b emerging from the bright halo of its parent star, 64 light-years away.
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6 November 2018: Observations by ALMA and data from the MUSE spectrograph on ESO’s VLT have revealed a colossal fountain of molecular gas powered by a black hole in the brightest galaxy ...
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