Jingle all the way to ESO HQ

Flying through the snow,
And zipping through the air,
O’er the fields we go,
To ESO's home, we dare,
Bells on soundtracks ring,
Making spirits bright,
What fun it is to fly and sing,
A festive song tonight.

Join us as we jingle all the way to the snow-covered ESO Headquarters in Garching, Germany, through this drone video taken in early December. 

While it’s fairly quiet around the office today, usually the ESO Headquarters are bustling with scientists, engineers and administrative staff who work in harmony on all aspects of astronomical research, from telescope design and development to archiving and analysing data. The communications department keeps the show on the road too, of course.

ESO staff work in specially designed and award-winning buildings, which while sometimes confusing to navigate, contain a wealth of detail. Where the flat circular buildings meet, they surround a circular courtyard that has a diameter of exactly 8.2 metres — the size of the Very Large Telescope mirrors at Paranal Observatory. In coordination, the technical building –– the dark cylindrical building in the background –– has a diameter matching the size of the 39.3-metre Extremely Large Telescope mirror.

The accompanying Planetarium and Visitor Centre, from above, looks like two stars orbiting each other — a system in which one of these stars collects matter from the other and will have an explosive death as a supernova. It seems only fitting, then, that this centre is named the ESO Supernova.

We send our heartfelt thanks and wishes of a joyful holiday season to the ESO staff working this day, keeping both headquarters and sites in Chile warm and open. For all those near and far, at home or away, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.