Meddelelser 2023

6. marts 2023: MORFEO, an upcoming instrument for ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), has recently passed its preliminary design review. MORFEO’s adaptive optics system will use special sensors to measure the blurring effects of the Earth’s atmosphere, correcting them with deformable mirrors. This will allow astronomers to get an unprecedented view into the universe, offering detailed observations of distant galaxies and stars at the centre of the Milky Way. Ground-based telescopes like ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope can only work to their full potential with adaptive-optics systems that correct for the turbulence of the Earth’s atmosphere, which makes stars twinkle and blurs our view of the cosmos. In addition to sophisticated systems, including a large deformable mirror, that correct for atmospheric distortions as light travels through the ELT, the telescope will also have MORFEO (the Multiconjugate adaptive Optics Relay For ELT Observations; previously known as MAORY). This instrument, which has now passed its preliminary ...

27. februar 2023: An international collaboration involving ESO has submitted a paper to the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) proposing a new Expert Group to protect dark and quiet skies. The paper was discussed at the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee (STSC) of COPUOS under a dedicated agenda item on Dark and Quiet skies. The paper, which has been endorsed by Chile, Spain, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Dominican Republic, Peru, South Africa, in addition to ESO, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and the Square Kilometer Array Observatory (SKAO), calls for a new Expert Group reporting to STSC that monitors the impact of satellites on astronomy, seeks inputs from global stakeholders and makes recommendations for mitigations. The proliferation of satellites launched into orbit around the Earth has improved our ability to communicate globally instantaneously; however, there are concerns about the impact these technologies have on astronomical observations and the preservation of dark ...