Fellows and ESO Projects
In Chile, during the first three years of their contract, Fellows contribute to the Science Operations of ALMA or Paranal at a level of 80 nights per year corresponding to 50% of the working time. In Garching, up to 25% of the time of a Fellow is spent on support or development activities in the area of instrumentation, operations support, archive/virtual observatory, VLTI, ALMA, ELT, public affairs, outreach or science operations at the Observatory in Chile.
Functional work carried out by current Fellows
Fellows provide not only a crucial support to the operations at the ESO Telescopes, such as:
- Support Astronomer at Paranal
- Paranal Instrument Fellow: for a specific instrument help in measuring and improving the instrument performance, operation, or data reduction
- ALMA Astronomer on duty
- ALMA support: data processing, software testing, serving as technical experts in the ALMA proposal review process, developing new capabilities for the array.
but also contribute to the activities carried out at the Garching Headquarter. For example:
- VLT service mode operations: support the Instrument Science and Operation Team in assisting users of the VLT.
- VLT instruments: test and define software, reduction pipelines.
- ALMA Regional Center: test the CASA software - reduction and quality assurance of ALMA data.
- Observing Programme Office: development of new strategies for the future system of dealing with the observing proposals, including the way they are submitted, processed and handled internally.
- ELT Science Office: developing the science case and updating accordingly the Top Level Requirements for the project.
- Outreach activities: Assistant Editor of the ESO Messanger, ESO Supernova Centre support activities, Science Liaison Assistant for outreach activities.
This list is non-exhaustive, and only intended to give an idea of the diversity of functional works that you can carry out during the ESO Fellowship. Past ESO Fellows have engaged in activities such as: contributing to the development of Public Surveys, working within our Department of Communications, helping with the commissioning of new instruments, contributing to the development of new software (pipelines, visualisation, testing observation tools, participating in the operational concept for adaptive optics, etc!
Being part of ESO projects is a unique experience for Fellows, thus we want to make sure that you will get the best out of it!
How former ESO Fellows see their functional work at ESO?
I had the opportunity to work as astronomer on duty at ALMA. Since this telescope has no visitor mode, this is a unique opportunity to observe here. This was also a way to learn about the ground-based submillimeter interferometry after 5 years working on spatial single-dish data. Matthieu Bethermin
I chose the ESO fellowship for the observing duties and the unique opportunity it offers me to get involved directly with the instruments I am working with. It is naturally that I decided to work as an APEX observer, since I am often using the instruments of this antenna for my research. Being on site, seeing how this whole machinery works is an indescribable pleasure. It has given me an insight on how a telescope is run on a day-to-day basis and a lot of experience directly useful for my science. Maud Galametz
During my ESO fellowship I had the opportunity to carry out part of my functional work at the ALMA Regional Center (ARC), specifically contributing to the process of quality assessment of fresh ALMA data (QA2). This has allowed me to get insights in the data reduction process, very useful for my own scientific research. Furthermore, I have worked as co-editor of the ESO Messenger, a quarterly journal presenting ESO's activities to the public. This was a great opportunity to learn about the editorial work and ESO, from many different angles: telescopes, instruments, and scientific results allowed by them, operations, user support, and many more. Anna Miotello
As an ESO fellow I decided to split my functional work between outreach at the ESO visitor centre and planetarium (the ESO Supernova) and observing at APEX. Being an observer at APEX is a unique experience. I supported a varied set of observing programs, but also witnessed first-hand the interplay between science, engeneering and politics which lies at the core of a successful observing facility. At the ESO supernova, I contributed to developing content for planetarium shows, which helped me to think about my work as an astronomer in a broader context. Francesco Belfiore
Working with the ALMA team has given me opportunities to contribute to ALMA software development projects. I have worked with ALMA team members to make tools both for the broader community and for ALMA staff. The experience has given me a great deal of insight into how large projects are run. Adam Ginsburg
For my functional duty during my fellowship I was given the opportunity to assist the Instrument Scientist working on the upgrade project for the CRIRES instrument. As primarily an optical spectroscopist, this amazing experience provided me the unique chance to not only gain insight into instrument design and the challenges faced for these types of projects, but it also furthered my knowledge about infrared spectroscopy and the related ground-breaking science. The best aspect though was the education received through interaction with the talented team here at ESO and within the collaboration. Jason Grunhut
As a fellow with duties in Paranal I had the chance to operate state-of-the-art instruments that are sensitive to a wide range of wavelength, from the optical blue end toward the mid-IR. During these years I learnt about telescope systems, adaptive optics, direct imaging, integral field and high-resolution spectroscopy, interferometry, among others observing techniques. I truly don't think I could get a better job!!! Matías Jones
I am an ESO Fellow in Chile with duties as support astronomer in Paranal, where I spend 80 nights per year. I support the Unit Telescopes UT1 and UT2, and I am a KMOS Instrument Fellow. In practice, being a night astronomer encompasses different functions, e.g. deciding and executing observations based on the night conditions and scientific priorities, assessing the quality of the data, and execute calibration plans for data reduction and monitoring purposes. I consider myself extremely fortunate to be able to work in a world-leading observatory, in a very friendly environment and within an heterogeneous team of professionals including engineers and telescope operators, from whom I am learning every day. During the long observing nights, I am able to get in contact with a variety of (visiting) astronomers, and learn first-hand and in details about their science, which can also be very far from the topic of my research. Chiara Mazzuchelli
For me, the strongest incentive for becoming an Astrophysicist was the fun of travelling to remote places and spend entire nights observing the sky with very expensive binoculars. As a privileged Night Astronomer at Paranal, this is exactly what working at ESO allows me to do! Farid Rahoui
As an enthusiastic observer, the most enjoyable part is observing and looking at fresh data. At the European ALMA Regional Center, I enjoy serving as an Astronomer on Duty (AoD), contact scientist (CS), and data analyst for QA2, which means I visit the ALMA site in Chile regularly, communicate with ALMA users about updates of their observing program, reduce fresh ALMA data right after observations, and make data products deliverable to PIs. ALMA is a revolutionary telescope and I feel privileged to be part of the team making it work. Ke Wang
I usually use the X-ray, optical and near-infrared data for my analysis but had very lack of observing experience. My duties at Paranal has given be the opportunity to work at the world class telescope. This is not only a wonderful observing experience but also support my science. Tayyaba Zafar