On 26 October 2016, the ESO Finance Committee approved several major contracts for optical components as part of the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) construction phase. This marks another key milestone towards first light in 2024 of the world's largest optical/near-infrared telescope.
A strong Research and Development (R&D) programme is at the core of ESO's mission to build and operate state-of-the-art facilities for the advancement of astronomical research. Following the framework of the prestigious Fellowship Programme, ESO is awarding one postdoctoral fellowship to an outstanding early-career young researcher in engineering or technical disciplines to further develop her/his independent research programme by joining one of the on-going projects.
The User Support Department (USD) again extends its thanks to all those Principal Investigators and their Phase 2 delegates who filled in this September's on-line Paranal Service Mode User Satisfaction Survey. A total of 187 responses were received from our targeted campaign. We have contacted, where possible, those respondents who provided detailed comments. A summary report of this latest User Satisfaction Survey is now available.
Pipeline processed FEROS echelle data, covering the period November 2003 to the present, are now available as Science Data Products via the Phase 3 main and spectral query forms. The data consist of extracted 1D spectra in the ESO/SDP format and tar files containing the output of the FEROS pipeline.
ALMA Post-Doctoral Fellow
OSF, San Pedro de Atacama
The JAO is offering a postdoctoral fellowship position to join the ALMA science operations group in Santiago, Chile. The ALMA Postdoctoral Fellow will be appointed for a period of three years and will spend 50% of his/her time dedicated to personal scientific research. The remaining time will be spent in support of ALMA operations, including observing at the ALMA Operations Support Facility (OSF) near San Pedro de Atacama for hands-on interaction with the telescope.
The deadline for this vacancy is 30 December 2016.
A complete, consistent calibration plan for each dataset, fulfilling quality control criteria, was recognized as a cornerstone of VLT operation. This second ESO Calibration Workshop will bring together astronomers and instrument scientists to share their experiences, engage in open discussions, challenge current limitations and develop creative concepts for better calibration in the future. More details on the workshop webpage.
The 160–210 GHz range covered by ALMA Band 5 is expected to be offered in Cycle 5. SEPIA on APEX has already been observing in this band since 2015. Important science topics covered include the 183 GHz H2O line, a wide range of dense molecular gas tracers, CO(2-1) at 0.077<z<0.414, [C I] and high-J CO lines in high redshift objects. The workshop will discuss the role of APEX as an ALMA complement and aims to stimulate the focus of European ALMA users on Band 5 science. Full details of the Workshop can be found here. The closing date for abstract submission is 15 December 2016.
This Workshop aims to bring together astronomers towards answering the question: "What constitutes a prototypical low-mass star forming region from core to cluster scales?". This refers primarily to the formation of low-mass stars, but also involves higher-mass stars, starless cores, brown dwarfs, planet formation and related topics. The workshop will feature observational and theoretical/simulation studies towards a comprehensive understanding of low-mass star forming regions. Full details on the workshop webpage. The abstract deadline is 1 December 2016.
Stars are mostly found in binary and multiple systems: at least 50% of all solar-like stars have companions and that fraction approaches 100% for the most massive stars. A large fraction of these systems will interact in some way and alter the structure and evolution of the components, leading to the production of exotic objects. This workshop will examine in detail the impact of binaries on stellar evolution from observational and theoretical viewpoints. Full details on the ImBaSE2017 webpage. The closing date for abstracts is 31 March 2017.
