Recent observations suggest that the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy is going through a special accretion event. In the framework of the ESA/ESO agreement, coordinated observations with the Very Large Telescope and the XMM-Newton observatory were taken on the night of 31 August 2019. This joint near-infrared and X-ray monitoring effort aims at constraining the physical processes that regulate accretion by supermassive black holes and the subsequent variability in the emission of radiation. To facilitate a prompt and broad exploration of this rich dataset, the ESO data collected with the NACO instrument have been made publicly available at the ESO Science Archive Facility (under Programme ID 2103.B-5061). Further, the XMM-Newton dataset is also publicly available at the XMM-Newton Science Archive.

The Call for Proposals for observations at ESO telescopes in Period 105 (1 April – 30 September 2020) has been released. Please consult the Period 105 document for the main news items and policies related to applying for time on ESO telescopes. All technical information about the offered instruments and facilities is contained on ESO webpages that are linked from the Call. The proposal submission deadline is 12:00 CEST 26 September 2019.

By agreement with the ESA XMM-Newton Observatory, ESO may award up to 290 ksec (~ 80 hours) of XMM-Newton observing time. Similarly XMM-Newton may award up to 80 hours of ESO VLT observing time. Proposals that request different amounts of observing time on each facility should be submitted to the Observatory for which the greatest amount of time is required. This opportunity is offered yearly in odd periods, i.e., periods with a proposal submission deadline in September or October. Starting in Period 105, Target of Opportunity runs and "Triggered Observations" are possible via this cooperative programme, with some restrictions. Interested users should consult Section 4.9 of the Call for Proposals document.

ESO’s prestigious postdoctoral fellowship programme in both Garching (Germany) and Santiago (Chile) offers outstanding early-career scientists the opportunity to further develop their independent research programmes. From exoplanets to cosmology, observational, theoretical and fundamental astrophysics, these are all areas where ESO Fellows can benefit from a highly dynamic scientific environment, at some of the most advanced ground-based telescopes in the world. Do watch ESOCast 165 to hear what current ESO fellows have to say about the fellowship programme.

Perth, Australia, 17–21 February 2020 

By 2020, the first major results will be obtained from a huge variety of “pathfinder” facilities that are operating with entirely new types of survey instruments. These pathfinders have the common aim of untangling galaxy evolution physics, and so it is important that first science results are communicated across various disciplines. This is the main purpose of the second Australia-ESO conference, allowing us to start serious conversations about the future coordination of next-generation galaxy evolution surveys.