ESO Headquarters, Garching, Germany, 12–14 March 2018

ESO's ground-based observatories located in Chile serve a very diverse astronomical community. The La Silla Paranal Observatory offers observations with a variety of telescopes, instruments and observing modes and a wide ranging level of user support. If you are a La Silla Paranal Observatory user and are interested in face-to-face contact with the various support services at ESO, this workshop is for you. The workshop will provide you with all the necessary knowledge to make the most out of ESO data and thereby provide a strong momentum to your science. Further details are available below and via the workshop website, which also has a preliminary programme.

ESO Headquarters, Garching, Germany, 5–9 March 2018

There have been tremendous recent advances in observational techniques enabling resolution of the surfaces of stars other than the Sun. Current and planned VLTI instruments, SPHERE on the VLT and ALMA, as well as other interferometric facilities, have recently succeeded in resolving stellar surfaces. The workshop aims to bring together observers from different techniques and wavelengths, and theoreticians working on stellar atmospheres and stellar structure.

ESO Headquarters, Garching, Germany, 15–19 October 2018

Recent discoveries of close-in planets around main sequence and even pre-main sequence stars raise a number of questions about the formation of planetary systems. Their formation and migration history must be directly linked to the conditions within the inner regions of their progenitor protoplanetary discs. These sites also play a key role in star-disc interactions. Studies probing this important region require the use of innovative techniques and a wide range of instruments.

This workshop will address a number of topics related to the inner disc, including the morphology and composition of the innermost disc regions, star-disc interaction, and theories that describe the evolution of the innermost disc regions and the formation of close-in planets.

The detection of the Gravitational Wave by the LIGO-VIRGO observatory network, as well as a gamma-ray source, on 17 August 2017 has resulted in one of the largest Target of Opportunity campaigns at ESO. Observations with several La Silla Paranal Telescopes led to the discovery of the first electromagnetic counterpart of a Gravitational Wave event. In addition, the Observatory carried out mid-infrared imaging with NACO (in the L' band) and VISIR (at 8.9 microns), albeit no source was detected. ESO and several of the observing teams involved have now made their datasets from this event publicly available.

All NACO and VISIR raw images, as well as reduced data from VISIR are publicly available through the ESO Science Archive under programme ID 60.A-9392. The VISIR data release includes coadded images and error maps and is accompanied by a comprehensive description.

GRAAL is part of the Adaptive Optics Facility (AOF), and associated with the Deformable Secondary Mirror (DSM) and the 4 Laser Guide Star Facility (4LGSF). It defines an AO system developed to increase the performance of the HAWK-I instrument. Commissioning is proceeding and Science Verification is planned for January 2018, for which applications are invited. The call for proposals for HAWK-I/GRAAL can be found here.
The deadline for proposal submission is 31 October 2017, 18:00 CET.

ESO is offering the possibility of conducting Public Spectroscopic Surveys using Arizona Radio Observatory telescopes as part of an agreement with the University of Arizona. The deadline for submitting Public Survey proposals for ESO ARO time is 19 October 2017. Detailed information on the Public Spectroscopic Surveys with the ARO telescopes is available here, together with a Latex template for proposal submission.

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 for a period of up to two years.

If you wish to conduct a PhD in astronomy-astrophysics within one of the largest centres of astrophysical research in the world, which covers every subject from planets, stars, and galaxies to cosmology, you should seriously consider applying to the IMPRS studentship programme in Munich.

The deadline for proposal submission for Period 101 (1 April 2018 - 1 October 2018) was 28 September 2017. 899 valid proposals were submitted, including 16 Large Programmes, of which two are GTO Large Programmes. The number of proposals for P101 is very similar to that of periods 91 (893), 92 (892), 93 (898), 94 (901), 98 (901), 99 (887) and 100 (895). This confirms the leveling off observed after the peak of periods 95 (934), 96 (960) and 97 (1024).

As of 1 October 2017, users of designated visitor mode programs are able to view from their computer at home the relevant operation panel in the Paranal control room, via the Paranal Observatory Eavesdropping Mode. Access credentials will be provided by the mountain staff in advance of the run. Further details are available via the Paranal Science Operations page.