Announcements 2019

29 January 2019: On 28 March 2019, ESO will participate in Germany’s Girls’ Day activities, in which technology companies, universities and research organisations open their doors to female school students to give them an insight into scientific and technological professions — encouraging more of them to choose careers in STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Places for the event are limited. To register, please visit the Girls’ Day website. The ESO Girls’ Day will introduce the work of ESO and highlight many of our daily activities, such as astrophysical research, mechanical and optomechanical design and integration, operations, and much more. The programme includes introductory talks as well as hands-on workshops on astronomy and engineering. The students will learn how astronomical instruments are built, tested and operated. They will also learn how data are collected and used in astronomical research to answer the big questions about the Universe. This will provide the students ...

16 January 2019: Work on the elaborate optics of ESO’s 39-metre Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) has taken a major step forwards following the successful casting, annealing, ceramization, machining and acid-etching of the substrate for the ELT’s secondary mirror, M2. This massive 3-ton mirror blank has been successfully machined from a slab of the low-expansion ceramic material ZERODURⓇ into its near-final form by the German company SCHOTT [1]. The creation of this technological masterpiece was a challenging process, requiring state-of-the-art CNC machines to correctly grind the mirror blank. Now, safely stowed in an extra-large transport box, the blank is being shipped to France for final grinding and polishing by Safran Reosc. Despite being the ELT’s secondary mirror, M2 still has an impressive diameter of 4.25 meters — larger than the primary mirror of many astronomical telescopes operating today. Following sixteen months of precision manufacturing at SCHOTT, M2 will now receive its final touches — ...

14 January 2019: The Royal Observatory Greenwich, in association with Insight Investment and BBC Sky at Night Magazine, has announced the key dates for the Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2019 competition — its annual global search for the most beautiful and spectacular visions of the cosmos, whether they are striking pictures of vast galaxies millions of light-years away, or dramatic images of the night sky much closer to home. ESO supports the 2019 competition by providing a judge from its education and Public Outreach Department (ePOD). Now in its 11th year, the highly popular competition opens to entrants on 14 January 2019, giving them the chance to take home the grand prize of £10 000. Entrants will have until 8 March 2019 to enter up to ten images in the various categories of the competition. Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2019 has nine main categories: Skyscapes: Landscape and ...

11 January 2019: Before the scientific discoveries made using ESO telescopes can find themselves on your screen, they pass through the expert hands of talented visual artists and composers. This new ESOcast is the twelfth episode of ESO’s Chile Chill, a series of striking videos that immerse you in the world of astronomy. In Chile Chill 12 — Fire in the Heavens, the evocative tunes of ESO’s Music Ambassador Dimitris Polychroniadis are set to stunning visuals from ESO’s expansive video archive. Sit back, relax, and enjoy a stellar walk through the Universe on the border between science and art. You can subscribe to the ESOcasts on iTunes, receive future episodes on YouTube or follow us on Vimeo. Many other ESOcast episodes are also available. Find out how to view and contribute subtitles to the ESOcast in multiple languages.