The European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Observatory are jointly organising a symposium with the main goal of maximising the science impact of surveys conducted by both organisation’s facilities.  The aims of the symposium are to raise awareness across the respective communities of survey capabilities and to build liaisons in preparation for synergetic surveys, as well as for multi-wavelength follow-up programs. To achieve this, the symposium will have sessions focussing on planned surveys and current and upcoming survey facilities, including SKA pathfinder and precursor instruments as well as the SKA, and ESO’s optical, near infrared and mm facilities. It will cover a variety of research areas: the Galaxy and Solar System science, galaxies and galaxy evolution, EOR and the high-redshift Universe, and transients and time-domain science. In addition, ample time will be reserved for more focussed discussion sessions to forge synergies between different teams and develop plans for collaborative surveys and cross-facility follow-up programs.

This data release provides access to reduced scientific 1D spectra obtained with FORS2, the visual and near-UV FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph 2 on the VLT. Data acquired with one of the three spectroscopic modes of FORS2 (within the wavelength range of 330-1100 nm) are included in this release. These modes are long-slit spectroscopy (LSS) using a mask with 6.8′ slit length of different widths, and multi-object spectroscopy with movable slit blades (MOS, slit length about 20′′) or with masks (MXU, arbitrary slit length). The spectroscopic data have been reduced using the FORS2 pipeline version 5.6.1 or higher. Processing includes flat fielding, wavelength calibration, correction of spatial distortion, sky subtraction, optimal extraction of spectra, and flux calibration. The FORS2 pipeline extracts spectra from a single exposure. If several exposures on the same target are executed within the same observing template, the additional reduction step of stacking them together is performed using the ESOTK pipeline (version 0.9.5 or higher). In this case the single exposure spectra are made available as associated files, while the combined spectrum becomes the primary product. 

Proposals are invited for the Science Verification of the Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph (ERIS), a new VLT near-infrared instrument at the Cassegrain focus of UT4. ERIS has two science arms, SPIFFIER and NIX. SPIFFIER (IFS) is a medium-resolution integral field spectrograph covering J to K band. NIX is capable of imaging between J and M band and pupil-plane coronography. ERIS is designed to be used in conjunction with UT4's deformable secondary mirror. The atmospheric turbulence can be sensed with either a natural guide star, or a single artificial star generated with the Adaptive Optics Facility (AOF).

The first decade of ALMA has led to many exciting discoveries, and has resulted in over 2800 publications and counting. As ALMA starts on its second decade of operations, it is implementing an ambitious development roadmap that will ultimately quadruple the system bandwidth and vastly improve ALMA's observing efficiency for both continuum and spectral line science. To commemorate its first decade of science operations, the ALMA partnership is organizing a conference that will take a look back at the observatory accomplishments, highlight its latest results and look forward to future technical developments.

The Call for Proposals for observations at ESO telescopes in Period 111 (1 April 2023 - 30 September 2023) has been released. Please consult the Period 111 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 27 September 2022.

The latest edition of ESO’s science and technology journal, The Messenger, is now available online. In issue 187, highlights include and article about CRIRES+ science verification results and a description of the ALMA Science Archive, which is being developed taking into account users experience with the goal of helping to maximise the scientific productivity of the observatory. The science section of this issue features articles describing the most recent results from the CARS survey and how the community can make use of its data release 1, as well as an overview of recent results in exoplanet science made with ESPRESSO. 

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 recent ESO fellows have to say about the fellowship programme or watch the virtual tour to ESO’s premises from 2020 or 2021 where young scientists could ask questions about the fellowship programme.

This release provides stellar spectroscopy of galactic globular clusters in YJ band (1.0-1.35 μm), for a total of 5397 1-D extracted spectra in 30 clusters. The data was acquired using the K-band Multi Object Spectrograph (KMOS) under the ESO Large Programme 193.D-0232, PI F. R. Ferraro.

Exoplanets have become central to astrophysics. The formation and evolution of exoplanets can now be explored with instrumentation and observational techniques covering multiple physical scales and wavelengths. The composition and substructures of planet-forming disks can be observed directly to witness and characterise young proto-planets in formation. Planetary atmospheres, architectures and demographics can be systematically scrutinised to refine our understanding of the physical processes at play in the formation of giant and terrestrial planets, and in favorable conditions for the emergence of life. ESO facilities provide access to a large part of the electromagnetic spectrum to probe cold and hot phases, dynamics and interactions, close and distant environments, and the relations with the host star. Observations with different ESO facilities have led to unique discoveries, e.g. the PDS 70 planetary system, and can successfully be used in synergy with space facilities, e.g. HST, CHEOPS, TESS, GAIA, JWST. 

The 110th Observing Programmes Committee (OPC) met online in May 2022. Based on the committee’s recommendations to the ESO Director General, a total of 2221 (10-hour equivalent) nights of (Designated) Visitor Mode and Service Mode observations were allocated on the VLT/VLTI, 3.6-metre and NTT, and APEX telescopes. The submission deadline for Phase 2 observations is Thursday, 4 August 2022; see the separate announcement for further details.