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17 April 2013: The KMOS near-infrared multi-object integral field spectrometer underwent commissioning runs in November/December 2012 and in January and March 2013. It is being prepared for service and visitor mode observations in Period 92 (October 2013–March 2014). A brief description of first light and commissioning can be found here, and some of the commissioning raw data can be accessed, although no ...
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17 April 2013: The application deadline for Period 92 (October 2013–March 2014) closed on 27 March and a total of 892 proposals were received. There were 869 proposals for Normal Programmes, 21 for Large Programmes and two for Calibration Programmes. Of the proposals for Large Programmes, nine were for Paranal, eight were for La Silla telescopes and five were for APEX. There were ...
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17 April 2013: MIDI has recently been commissioned with the PRIMA Fringe Sensor Unit FSU-A as an external fringe tracker, enabling improved sensitivities. This mode has been offered from Period 91 for use with the Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs) in Visitor Mode. PRIMA+FSU-A enables increased visibilities, for feeble disc emission from young stars for example, with factors 5–10 times in sensitivity improvement (down to ...
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17 April 2013: Representatives of the United Kingdom and Denmark have confirmed that their countries will participate in the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) programme. Twelve ESO Member States have now joined the E-ELT programme. Construction of the E-ELT is expected to start later in 2013, with first light to come early in the next decade.
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17 April 2013: A succinct description of the ESO end-to-end science operations process, Operating the Very Large Telescope, has recently been released. The six-page PDF summarises observing time allocation, observations, data taking and archiving. More details.
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17 April 2013: The European Astronomical Society has awarded the 2013 Tycho Brahe Prize to Massimo Tarenghi, in recognition of his central role in the development of ESO facilities, most notably the NTT, VLT and ALMA. More details.
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17 April 2013: The fetching of data from archive requests by ftp service has been discontinued. The dataportal facility (reached after submitting a request using the "Request marked datasets" button) currently allows retrieval of data in three different ways: Instant download of the data through a Download Manager wget of the files via a downloadable shell script "Click and Save" the files ...
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Upcoming ESO or ESO-Related Workshops
- Science with ALMA Band 2 Workshop
Bologna, Istituto di Radioastronomia, 27 - 28 May 2013
ALMA Band 2 covers 65 GHz to about 90 GHz (3.3 - 4.6 mm wavelength). This workshop is to discuss and develop the science case for Band 2 in preparation for the future funding of the design and development of receivers for this band.
In developing the science case there are two important considerations in addition to the new frequency range band 2 would make accessible with ALMA. First, the enhanced science possible if a single receiver could be developed to simultaneously cover from 65 GHz to 116 GHz, encompassing both bands 2 and 3. Second, the possibility of having a 16 GHz instantaneous bandwidth.
- MPA/MPE/ESO/EC Joint Conference on The Physical Link between Galaxies and their Halos
Garching, 24 - 28 June 2013
This conference aims to bring together observers and theorists covering the three kinds of galaxy halos - stellar, gaseous and dark matter. A wide range of topics from halo masses, gaseous interactions, abundances of halos, stellar content, relationship to galaxy scaling relations, co-evolution with host galaxies and their use as clues to galaxy formation will be presented. Details can be found here and further information is available by email. The deadline for registration is 01 April 2013.
- ALMA Community Days 2013
Garching, 26 - 27 August 2013
The aim of the 2013 ALMA Community Days is to optimally prepare the astronomical community for ALMA Cycle 2 proposal submission. Besides a series of technical and scientific presentations, there will also be practical hands-on tutorials for the ALMA proposal preparation software, and an introduction to (sub)mm-interferometry techniques for novices in the field.
- SCIENCE OPERATIONS 2013: Working Together in Support of Science
ESA/ESO Conference at ESAC, Madrid, Spain, 10 - 13 September 2013
The objective of SCIOPS2013 is to present and discuss the various approaches to science operations in spacecraft missions and ground-based facilities for Astronomy and Solar System Science. The meeting will cover all phases of science operations, from initial concepts to legacy products, including general organisation and management aspects, community support and services, instrument planning, handling and calibration, science data processing and archiving. The Call for Abstracts is open and more details are available here. Registration will close on 15 July 2013.
- Challenges in UV Astronomy (ESO/NUVA/IAG Workshop)
Auditorium, ESO Garching, 7 - 11 October 2013
The network for UV astronomy (NUVA) has been organising interdisciplinary meetings every three years where scientists and instrumentalists working in the UV can obtain updated information on the current status of the field. The third meeting of the NUVA will come at a crucial time in UV astronomy. The ESA/ NASA programmes that created the community are reaching completion and future missions, apart from WSO-UV, are small-class, some operating from balloons.
- Workshop on 400 Years of Stellar Rotation
Natal, Brazil, 17 - 22 November 2013
In 1613 Galileo Galilei observed solar spots and interpreted their motion as due to solar rotation. After 400 years we are able to quantify in detail the behaviour of the rotation of the Sun in time, as well as the evolutionary behaviour of stellar rotation all across the HR Diagram. This meeting will consider all aspects of stellar and solar rotation and, in addition, present the state of the art of stellar rotation coming from the space missions CoRoT, Kepler and Spitzer. The workshop is co-sponsored by the European Southern Observatory and the International Institute of Physics of Natal and further details can be found here. The deadline for registration is 01 June 2013.
- ESO Workshop on Deconstructing Galaxies: Structure and Morphology in the Era of Large Surveys
Santiago, ESO Santiago, 18 - 22 November 2013
The study of the structure and morphology of galaxies is one of the major astronomical tools to address how galaxies form and evolve. There has been much recent progress in understanding the properties of different structural components in nearby and intermediate redshift (z ~ 1-2) galaxies. The strengths and limitations of the different techniques for obtaining structural measures of galaxies, particularly with regard to handling large surveys, will be highlighted. This conference will bring together over 100 observers and theorists, and it is intended to be highly participative, with substantial time devoted to discussions. More details can be found here.
- 3D2014 - Gas and stars in galaxies: A multi-wavelength 3D perspective
Garching, 24 - 28 February 2014
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