Washington D.C., USA 29–30 May 2019

The Space Telescope Science Institute, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics , the Johns Hopkins University, ESO and Associated Universities, Inc. are organising a Memorial Symposium to celebrate the life and work of Riccardo Giacconi. The symposium will cover the various phases of Riccardo’s career and achievements. It will be held in Washington, D.C. at the National Academy of Sciences. A Science Organising Committee is being established to develop the programme and invite speakers. Interested participants are requested to contact the organisers via this email address before 28 February 2019 in order to facilitate planning as there will be a limit to the number of attendees.

Annecy, France 8-12 April 2019

The Third ASTERICS-OBELICS International School will be held in the framework of OBELICS (Observatory E-environments LINked by common ChallengeS) work package of H2020 – ASTERICS project. The school is intended for a large audience including PhD students, postdocs, and senior researchers working in astrophysics and astroparticle physics. It will provide theoretical and hands-on training to acquire efficient and fast computer programming techniques, as well as skills for improving their scientific data analysis software. The registration deadline is 28 February 2019.

The latest edition of ESO's quarterly journal, The Messenger, is now available online. In issue 174 you will find news, articles and workshop reports from ESO. Some highlights from this issue include: an introduction to the new SPECULOOS Southern Observatory; spectacular ALMA observations of planet-forming discs; key results from the KMOS^3D study probing galaxy evolution; and a tribute to Riccardo Giacconi. The full pdf can be downloaded here and hardcopies are available on subscription.

Galaxy Clusters At Vircam (GCAV) is a survey belonging to the second cycle of ESO VISTA Public Surveys. It is aimed at observing 20 clusters of galaxies covering ~30 square degrees in total, in the infrared YJKs bands. It will mainly explore galaxy evolution over a large and largely unexplored, diverse range of cluster environments. The first data release (DR1) concerns nine clusters and contains tile images and related source lists from data collected between October 2016 and September 2017. Observations were completed for two clusters, RXCJ1514.9-1523 and RXCJ2129.6+0005, in Periods 98 and 99; for these clusters DR1 also contains deep stacks in the YJKs filters as well as merged catalogues containing aperture matched photometry in these filter bands. Data files and sky coverage can be explored via the Science Portal. The accompanying release documentation has more information.

The ESO APEX science operations team has started processing public APEX archival data using standard calibrations. This initial release contains a flux map from  LABOCA observations of the Boomerang Nebula (ESO Programme ID 092.F-9305) in 2013. The planetary nebula shows a unique high speed wind and mass expansion features, resulting in temperature even colder than the CMB radiation. The released flux map at 870 μm provides the opportunity to study dust around the envelope and the grain size distribution of the planetary nebula. The products are available via the ESO Archive Science Portal or the Programmatic Access page. More details about the release can be found in the associated Phase 3 data release description.

The 103^rd Observing Programmes Committee (OPC) met on 20-22 November 2018. A total of 1082 (10-hour equivalent) nights of Visitor Mode and Service Mode observations were allocated on the VLT/VLTI, VISTA, VST, the 3.6-metre and NTT, and APEX telescopes. The submission deadline for Phase 2 Service Mode observations is Thursday 7 February, 2019; see the separate announcement for further details.

With the release of the telescope schedule, the preparation of Service Mode (SM) observations (Phase 2) starts. The deadline for the submission of the Phase 2 material for Period 103 observations is 7 February 2019.

The VLTI has recently seen the commissioning of the MATISSE beam combiner and the NAOMI Adaptive Optics (AO) modules for the Auxiliary Telescopes. ESO is now calling for Science Verification (SV) Proposals, to be executed in April and May 2019. MATISSE SV aims at demonstrating the imaging capabilities and updated limiting magnitudes (compared to P103). NAOMI SV, performed with the PIONIER and GRAVITY instruments, aims at demonstrating the gain in sensitivity and precision delivered by the AO correction.

The 2018 Global Survey of Mathematical, Computing, and Natural Scientists aims to collect data from scientists across the world to inform policy makers from all countries, especially developing countries, on ways to reduce the gap between men and women in mathematical, computing, and natural sciences. The survey opened on 1 May 2018 and has so far collected feedback from more than 25 000 scientists. Unfortunately the field of astronomy has received one of the lowest number of respondents (about 1500), a mere 11% of the total International Astronomical Union (IAU) membership. Contributions will be accepted until 31 December 2018 so there is still time to remedy what may otherwise become a missed opportunity!

The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) will start the next observing cycle (Cycle 7) in October 2019. ALMA Cycle 7 will introduce new capabilites in Band 7, including long baselines and solar observations. A Call for Proposals with detailed information on Cycle 7 will be issued in March, with a deadline for proposal submission in April. This first announcement highlights aspects of Cycle 7 that may be needed to plan proposals. More information can be found via the ALMA Science Portal.