Announcements

15 June 2015: The winners of this year’s AstroCamera competition have been announced. Rolf Wahl Olsen is the winner in the Deep Sky Objects category, Gerald Rhemann in the Solar System Objects category, and David Lane in the Astrolandscape category. The best three entries in the each of the three categories will receive grants from the organisers, while ESO, as one of the sponsors of the event, will award prizes in the form of DVDs and other printed material for the entries that have received honourable mentions from the judges. Initially launched on 28 January 2011, in conjunction with the 400th anniversary of the birth of the 17th century astronomer Johannes Hevelius, the competition is open to all astronomy and astrophotography enthusiasts. The life and achievements of Hevelius, a renowned observer of the night sky, have been an inspiration for the Hewelianum Centre to make the AstroCamera competition a regular event, and this ...

15 June 2015: The first prototype of a new generation of fast and very sensitive detectors has been successfully installed on the PIONIER instrument at ESO’s Paranal Observatory. This achievement is the result of five years of sustained collaboration and effort from academic institutes (LETI, ONERA, IPAG, LAM) and industrial partners (SOFRADIR). As its name suggests, the new RAPID system [1] delivers several thousand images per second and can operate at very low light levels. These capabilities, unique for an infrared detector, are crucial for many applications, ranging from fundamental science to medicine. In astronomy, it will boost the performance of adaptive optics, a technology at the heart of the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). Unlike most of the commercially available detectors, RAPID can spot photons (light particles) of both visible and infrared light (wavelengths from 0.4–3.6 micrometres). This is a tremendous gain; the increased spectral coverage means that far more photons can ...

9 June 2015: ESO has signed an agreement to license its cooling system technology to the Spanish company FRACTAL SLNE. This follows earlier technology transfer agreements regarding the licensing of cutting-edge laser technology that were made by ESO in 2010 [1]. Such licences offer significant opportunities both for industry and for ESO. Continuous flow cooling systems were first developed at ESO for the cooling of instruments and detectors for the Very Large Telescope (VLT). The technology has been used intensively during the last decade. Continuous flow systems are more compact than traditional systems that use a bath of very cold liquid, but share the advantage of being vibration free [2]. The continuous flow system allows the temperature within an instrument to be changed from room temperature to –193 degrees Celsius and is not affected by the loss of electrical power. As a result, the instrument can be kept very close to its operating ...

9 June 2015: The world’s first full-length fulldome planetarium movie freely available for planetarium use, From Earth to the Universe, has been released in high-resolution 4k fulldome format, for the worldwide planetarium community to download and use. This stunning, 30-minute voyage through time and space conveys, through an arresting combination of sights and sounds, the Universe revealed to us by science. The show was produced for the ESO Supernova Planetarium and Visitor Centre, which will open in 2017. Until then, the show will be shown in planetariums worldwide and have its world premiere at the Νew Digital Planetarium of the Eugenides Foundation in Athens, Greece and at Hamburg Planetarium in Germany, on the 22 June 2015. The night sky, both beautiful and mysterious, has been the subject of campfire stories, ancient myths and awe for as long as there have been people. A desire to comprehend the Universe may well be humanity’s oldest ...

8 June 2015: More than 140 countries and many organisations are taking part in Expo Milano 2015, the World Exposition that is being hosted by Milan, Italy, from 1 May to 31 October 2015. ESO is also present at this event, which expects to welcome over 20 million visitors to its 1.1 million square metres of exhibition area. Throughout the entire Expo Milano, visitors to the Chilean Pavilion will be welcomed with ESO Ultra HD videos showing the beautiful night skies of Chile and breathtaking scenery, including that surrounding the ALMA, La Silla and Paranal Observatories. On 6 June 2015, the President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, visited the Chilean Pavilion at Expo Milano and held a live video conference with ESO’s Representative in Chile, Fernando Comerón, the Director of the Energy, Science and Technology & Innovation Division of the Chilean Foreign Affairs Ministry, ambassador Gabriel Rodríguez and Chilean astronomer María Teresa Ruiz, who ...

25 May 2015: ESO and its Science Outreach Network are collaborating with the science education event organiser Sterrenlab to arrange the third ESO Astronomy Camp on the topic of the Solar System and Extrasolar Planets. The camp will take place from 26 December 2015 to 1 January 2016 at the Astronomical Observatory of the Autonomous Region of the Aosta Valley, located in Saint-Barthélemy, Nus, Italy. Several partners, including ESO, are providing bursaries that will be awarded to the winning applicants. The camp will explore the theme of the Solar System and exoplanets through several astronomical sessions, including lectures, hands-on activities, and night-time observations with the telescopes and instruments at the observatory. Social activities, winter sports, and excursions will contribute to making the camp a memorable experience for the participants. ESO will be responsible for the scientific programme for the ESO Astronomy Camp, and will provide lecturers and material together with several other partners. ...

22 May 2015: The HARPS laser frequency comb is now installed on the HARPS planet-finding instrument on the ESO 3.6-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile and has completed an intense first commissioning phase. The increase in accuracy made possible by this new installation should in future allow HARPS to be able to detect Earth-mass planets in Earth-like orbits around other stars for the first time. A laser frequency comb can be used as a ruler with which spectra from astronomical objects can be measured with unprecedented precision. They will allow the tiny changes in stellar velocity induced by an Earth-like planet as it orbits a star to be detected. The aim is to create such a system for the HARPS planet hunter on the ESO 3.6-metre telescope that is available for nightly observations at the La Silla Observatory. The laser comb system has been completely re-engineered since its experimental run ...

20 May 2015: On Saturday 27 June 2015, ESO will open its doors to the public between 18:00 and 24:00 CEST at its Headquarters in Garching bei München, near Munich, Germany. This year’s ESO Open House Day event is part of the Long Night of Science (Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften) that is taking place at many institutes across the Garching research campus. Visitors are invited to experience ESO in the evening and up to midnight by participating in a diverse range of activities. Some of the highlights of the 2015 programme are: Explore ESO Headquarters and catch a glimpse of the construction work for the future Planetarium and Visitor Centre, the ESO Supernova — participate in guided tours through the innovatively styled office building and our technical building. See the construction work for the ESO Supernova. Planned to open in 2017, it will be the largest tilted planetarium in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. ...

8 May 2015: The ALMA Observatory's Early Science Cycle 3 has attracted 1582 proposals for observation time from the international scientific community during the application period (the deadline was 23 April 2015). "This success comes thanks to the remarkable efforts and commitment of the Joint ALMA Observatory and the ALMA Support Centres for setting up and monitoring the submission process around the clock and the globe! It demonstrates the strong support for and interest in ALMA by the scientific community," said Pierre Cox, Director of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Lars-Åke Nyman, Head of Science Operations at ALMA, highlighted that "the demand for this new instrument is increasing with time; we received 1382 proposals for Cycle 2”. He also emphasised the collaborative nature of the process, as there are proposals by groups of researchers from five different regions, represented by the three partners. In total 3608 astronomers participated in the process as ...

8 May 2015: The 4 Laser Guide Star Facility (4LGSF) team have achieved first light with the first of four laser guide star units on Unit Telescope 4 (UT4) of ESO’s Very Large Telescope at Paranal. This is a key step on the way to creating the full Adaptive Optics Facility. One of the first images of the 22-watt laser being launched, taken by the Laser Pointing Camera (LPC) [1], shows the intense orange beam pointed at a globular cluster. Another LPC image shows the laser pointed close to the planet Saturn. The Adaptive Optics Facility uses sensors to analyse the atmospheric turbulence and a deformable mirror integrated in the telescope to correct for the image distortions caused by the atmosphere. But several bright point-like stars needs to be at hand in order to correct for the effects of turbulence, and these need to be very close to the science target in the ...

4 May 2015: Astronomy has undergone rapid growth in the East Asian region over the past two decades. Very strong astronomy programmes now exist in Japan, China, Korea and Taiwan. Together, these regions are operating and building some of the most advanced instruments in astronomy. In 2005, the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA), together with the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI), the National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC), and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), formed the East Asian Core Observatories Association (EACOA) in order to promote collaborations and cooperation, and to share regional resources and manpower. In 2014, EACOA formed the East Asian Observatory (EAO), a joint observatory for East Asia. Its mission is to be competitive internationally in building and operating the largest and most advanced astronomical facilities. EAO aspires to be the counterpart to ESO in Asia. On 4 May 2015 the ...

30 April 2015: ESOcast 74 looks at ESO’s pair of survey telescopes at Paranal: the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) and the VLT Survey Telescope (VST). These telescopes chart the southern skies in search of the proverbial needle in the haystack: rare astronomical objects, such as hidden star clusters and remote quasars. Unlike larger telescopes, which examine small areas of the sky in great detail, survey telescopes scan broad areas quickly and efficiently, creating huge archives of valuable data that astronomers can scour for items of interest. You can subscribe to the ESOcasts in 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 for the ESOcast in multiple languages.

29 April 2015: The 2015 Olivier Chesneau Prize has been awarded to Julien Milli for his impressive achievements in the field of high angular resolution and high-contrast imaging of faint discs around bright stars. Established by ESO and the Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur (OCA), the prize is awarded in honour of the late Olivier Chesneau, one of the most active and prolific members of the optical interferometry community. Julien Milli is the first recipient of the prize. The board was particularly impressed by Julien's combination of a deep understanding of different adaptive optics techniques and his ability to use this knowledge to extract the best scientific information from the NACO and SPHERE instruments. His expertise in the study of disc structure is now widely recognised and has been important to the success of the early scientific exploitation of SPHERE. His scientific productivity and broad collaborating base in such a challenging field was ...

27 April 2015: To enhance their programmes of scientific cooperation with the host country, ESO provides and manages an annual fund for the development of astronomy and technology related disciplines in Chile. The board, consisting of members from ESO and the Chilean Government, working through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, evaluates and selects programmes to be supported by this fund. These fall in five areas: ESO grant funding to postdoctoral programmes in astronomy at Chilean academic institutions. Funding for academic faculty positions for periods of up to two years at Chilean academic institutions. Funding to support the development and presentation of educational programmes for the teaching and dissemination of astronomy in Chile. Funding to support development programmes and the construction of technological systems for astronomy. Funding to support the development of astronomy in areas not covered by the above four categories. The committee will consider all proposals that contribute to the development of ...

7 April 2015: Images of unequalled sharpness that show the almost perfect gravitational Einstein ring of a distant galaxy and the surface of the asteroid Juno have recently been captured by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). These stunning pictures were taken at the end of 2014 as part of ALMA’s Long Baseline Campaign, which has successfully tested and verified the telescope’s ability to see the finest details. This is achieved when the antennas are at their greatest separation: up to 15 kilometres apart. Five targets were selected for study during the ALMA Long Baseline Campaign. They included the protoplanetary disc HL Tauri, the gravitationally lensed galaxy SDP.81, asteroid Juno, the star Mira, and the quasar 3C138. The Astrophysical Journal Letters has published four scientific papers written by representatives of the entire international team of the ALMA Partnership, detailing these observations. SDP.81 is an active star-forming galaxy nearly seen at a time when ...

31 March 2015: It is with great sadness that we have learned of the death of Dr. Klaus Tschira, who passed away unexpectedly today in Heidelberg at the age of 74. Klaus Tschira was a devoted supporter of science education and astronomy, and a close friend of ESO. The foundation he established offered to ESO the donation of a state-of-the-art facility to showcase astronomy to the public: the ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre. Work on the building began in early 2015 and it was a privilege to hold a special groundbreaking ceremony on 24 February in the presence of Dr. Tschira. We extend our most sincere condolences to his family and his colleagues.

27 March 2015: On 9 April 2015, ESO will host an industry event for Spanish businesses at its headquarters in Garching, Germany. At the meeting, representatives of interested Spanish companies and institutions will be offered information about ESO, given an introduction to the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) and presented with the potential opportunities that are available to take part in its industrial activities. Astronomy in Spain has a long history, dating as far back as the year 800, to Al-Andalus, or Islamic Iberia, where Indian, Mesopotamian, Persian, Greek and Roman knowledge was all absorbed by early Muslim astronomers, such as Al-Faraghani — whose calculations of the Earth’s circumference were used by Columbus. Astronomy in the country saw a big leap forward more recently, in the late 1970s, when Spain began to develop as a nation invested in modern astronomy. International agreements promoting the use of observatories in the Canary Islands were established ...

26 March 2015: As a scientific institution, ESO provides good infrastructure to deliver cutting-edge astronomical data to astronomers in ESO’s Member States. But, among many other things, ESO also offers almost 10 000 images and 2500 videos for the wider use of the media and public. All of ESO’s images and videos are provided free of charge, and most of our internet traffic results from the distribution of videos — everything from video podcasts to large Ultra HD and planetarium fulldome videos. Some of the bigger files are a few gigabytes in size, and can be up to 400 gigabytes for fulldome planetarium shows. Up to now ESO has only had one server location — at ESO Headquarters in Germany — from where it distributed all content across the globe. However, with about 40% of ESO’s public traffic originating from outside Europe, the disadvantage in terms of speed and the ease with which ...

25 March 2015: In response to information provided by the Meteorological Service of Chile, through its weather alert system, the Meteorological Service of Chile in coordination with the Regional Directorate ONEMI has declared a Red Alert for parts of North-Central Chile due to intense rain storms. As a result we would like to inform that our staff at APEX, ALMA and Paranal are currently without any communication. No injuries have been reported and all staff are safe. Member of families can contact ESO Human Resources for further information: +56 2 24633000. Update as of 25.03.15 20:43 CET: Communications at Paranal are now re-established. Update as of 25.03.15 20:53 CET: Communications at APEX and ALMA are now also re-established.

24 March 2015: The latest edition of ESO's quarterly journal, The Messenger, is now available online. Find out the latest news from ESO on topics ranging from new instruments to the latest science discoveries. Highlights of this edition include: SPHERE Science Verification The Return of the Mid-infrared to the VLT: News from the VISIR Upgrade An Unbiased Near-infrared Interferometric Survey for Hot Exozodiacal Dust An Astrophysical Laboratory: Understanding and Exploiting the Young Massive Cluster Westerlund 1 The GIRAFFE Inner Bulge Survey (GIBS) Download The Messenger in PDF format or visit The Messenger website to subscribe and receive a free printed copy.