Following the ramp-up to minimal science operations started on 9 September at Paranal and APEX (see separate announcement), observations with X-SHOOTER at UT3 have also recently resumed, and the instrument is now available for Director's Discretionary Time proposals.

A new version of the VVV VISTA Public Survey source catalog is now available from the ESO Archive. The imaging data in the ZYJHKs bands from which the source catalogue is extracted are acquired under ESO programme 179.B-2002 before the 26th of September 2015.  

A new data release is available that includes a flux map at 870 μm for the galaxy M83 (NGC 5236). It is obtained from the combination of the observations taken with the Large APEX Bolometer Camera (LABOCA) at the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX), under the ESO programme id 081.C-0827(A), PI A. Lundgren, between 2008-06-19 and 2008-06-30.

The X-SHOOTER Spectral Library project (XSL) aims to build a new, moderate-resolution stellar spectral library for use in stellar population modelling. Once completed the XSL will represent a significant improvement on current empirical stellar spectral libraries in terms of stellar parameters and wavelength coverage. The survey was conducted in two phases: a two-semester pilot survey (084.B-0869 and 085.B-0751) followed up by a Large Programme (189.B-0925), PI S.C Trager. The entire survey delivers spectra of a total of nearly 700 unique stars. The joint science spectra products from the first and second XSL data releases are now available to the community via the ESO archive.

The ESO research studentship programme provides an outstanding opportunity for PhD students to experience the exciting scientific environment at one of the world's leading observatories. ESO's studentship positions are open to students enrolled in a university PhD programme in astronomy or related fields. Students accepted into the programme work on their doctoral project under the formal supervision of their home university, but they come to ESO to work and study under the co-supervision of an ESO staff astronomer for a period of between one and two years.

For six months, almost the whole ALMA site has been shut down with no power, water treatment, or running water. Only a single piece of key equipment, the hydrogen maser, is still powered and checked daily as one of the tasks of the ALMA Caretaker Teams, the teams who have ensured the safety and security of the ALMA Observatory through the shutdown. With the improving pandemic situation in Chile, ALMA is now scheduled to begin the long process of recovering the telescope array in the Atacama on October 1st, 2020, starting with preparation of the ALMA Operations Support Facility (OSF) at 2900 metres for the return of staff and contractors.

The first data release of the SINFONI Survey for Unveiling the Physics and the Effect of Radiative feedback (SUPER, Circosta et al. 2018; ESO Large Programme 196.A-0377, PI: Mainieri) is now available to the community on ESO Archive via the Science Portal or programmatically.

ESO is organising a virtual guided tour of the ESO sites to facilitate the interaction between recent ESO fellows in Chile and Germany and candidates interested in applying to the currently open programmes. If you are considering applying for a fellowship, ESO invites you to attend the tour on 29 September at 15:00 CEST/10:00 CLT to discover the sites and learn more about the life of fellows at ESO, tips for your application or ask any other questions you might have. 

Following the decision taken by ESO on Aug 28 of resuming minimal science operations, the APEX observatory staff has successfully executed the ramp-up plan that was conceived during the previous months. A small team of engineers and astronomers awakened the 12-m antenna and several of the scientific instruments that were unpowered or in stand by since the end of March, when operations had to be suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The exceptional circumstances imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic led to the suspension of science operations at the La Silla and Paranal observatories, as well as at the APEX telescope, since the end of March. ESO has been closely monitoring the constraints imposed by the pandemic in Chile and has developed plans for a safe and progressive resumption of science operations at the observatories as soon as circumstances allow. Following a detailed assessment of the current situation and the logistic, technical, and safety constraints, as well as the capacity to guarantee the compliance with all measures needed to protect the health of its staff at all times, ESO is re-establishing a minimum level of science operations at the observatory sites. In addition, Director's Discretionary Time proposals can now be submitted again for the FORS2 and UVES instruments at the VLT.