Are you an author on an upcoming scientific study based on ESO data that could be relevant to journalists or the wider public? Or are you a Principal Investigator on ESO observations with potential to become stunning images like that above? If so, please consider sending your paper and/or a preview of the image(s) obtained with ESO telescopes to ESO's Media Manager Barbara Ferreira at press@eso.org. 

Metals trace the full evolution of the Universe: from primordial Helium and Lithium in the big-bang nucleosynthesis to all heavier elements produced in stars and explosive events. Their relative abundances in different environments, and across cosmic time, reveal the underlying star formation history and gas exchange processes. We can now use metal production and distribution to test our ideas of galaxy evolution at many different hierarchical scales: from stellar clusters to clusters of galaxies. The hierarchical build up of present-day structures at different redshifts can also be followed, which goes in parallel with the build-up of stellar and metal mass. These processes are interwoven: during most of cosmic history metal production happens at stellar scales, but metal distribution is effective on spatial scales covering several orders of magnitude. Therefore simulations require exceptional computational power, and tracing metals across cosmic time needs an equivalent investment in observational facilities. Ten years later the original meeting held at Paris Observatory, the time has come to gather the scientific community and discuss the impact of the recent advent of massive spectroscopic surveys (e.g., APOGEE, LAMOST, the Gaia ESO survey, Gaia, GALAH...), the Gaia astrometric mission and the now operative James Webb Space Telescope.

All six of the final Science Grade Detector systems have now been shipped to the UK Astronomy Technology Centre to be integrated into the MOONS instrument. The MOONS Detector System work package began in 2017 with the initial design phase and procurement. A total of eleven detectors have been tested in this time, this included 7 x Teledyne H4RG-15 detectors in the latest FRSBE package with 2.5 µm cut-off material (1 x Multiplexer, 1 x Engineering Grade, 5 x Science Grade detectors) as well as 4 x LBNL fully-depleted CCDs (2 x Engineering Grades and 2 x Science Grades). At the same time, 3 new test facilities had to be designed and developed, CRISLER for H4RG detector testing, CEAT for MOONS detector cryogenic cable testing and a new test cryostat for the CCDs.

As previously announced, after nearly half a century in publication, ESO’s journal for science and technology, The Messenger, is making a jump into the digital world by becoming an online-only publication. As reader habits have continued to shift online along with journal publication practices, and with sustainability an ever greater focus at ESO, The Messenger has evolved accordingly. Readers will now be able to find both new and old issues of the historic journal at a new redesigned webpage, making the published articles in The Messenger more accessible, usable and traceable than before. 

Under its remit to “Advise Council and the Director General on policy matters of scientific and technical importance related to the planning and operation of ESO”, the STC had its 102^nd meeting on 17 and 18 April in Vitacura, Chile. The agenda included the updates on current and future ESO facilities. As always the STC was deeply impressed by the high level of activity at all of ESO’s observatories -ALMA, ELT and Paranal/La Silla.