This issue 192 is focused on the progress of the construction of ESO's Extremely Large Telescope and in particular to its dome, main structure and optics. The Astronomical Science section presents a selection of scientific highlights and expected results from two large programmes with the VLT.

In the Telescopes and Instrumentation section the overall findings and key recommendations for ESO from the Paranal Instrumentation Plan Lessons Learned 2023 exercise are presented as well as the infrastructure upgrade of VLT’s UT1, UT2 and UT3 for the purpose of implementing Laser Guide Stars for the GRAVITY+ project. Further, tribute is paid to NTT's SOFI for providing the community with data for 25 years, as well as look into the recent refurbishment of HARPS on the ESO 3.6-metre Telescope.

The Astronomical News section features reports from a selection of ESO workshops in the last year, namely the "Peer Review Under Review", "Coordinated Surveys of the Southern Sky", "Two in a Million - The Interplay Between Binaries and Star Clusters", Report on the EAS Special Session "The Millimeter Transient Sky: Present Opportunities and Perspectives", as well as the report on the Third Australia - ESO meeting, this time focused on the topic "Galaxy Transformation Across Space and Time".

As per ESO's tradition, the issue concludes with the profiles of some of ESO's astronomy fellows.

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