Press Release
ESO PR Highlights in 2005
3 January 2006
2005 was the year of Physics. It was thus also in part the year of astronomy and this is clearly illustrated by the numerous breakthroughs that were achieved, in particular using ESO's telescopes.
One of the highlights was without any doubt the confirmation of the first image of an exoplanet, around the star 2M1207. ESO's telescopes also found a Neptune-mass exoplanet around a small star - a discovery that proves crucial in the census of other planetary systems, and imaged a tiny companion in the close vicinity of the star GQ Lupi, a very young object still surrounded by a disc, with an age between 100,000 and 2 million years.
Moreover, using a new high-contrast adaptive optics camera on the VLT, the NACO Simultaneous Differential Imager, or NACO SDI, astronomers were able for the first time to image a companion 120 times fainter than its star , very near the star AB Doradus A. This companion appears to be almost twice as heavy as theory predicts it to be.
ESO's telescopes proved very useful in helping to solve a 30-year old puzzle . Astronomers have for the first time observed the visible light from a short gamma-ray burst (GRB). Using the 1.5m Danish telescope at La Silla (Chile), they showed that these short, intense bursts of gamma-ray emission most likely originate from the violent collision of two merging neutron stars (ESO Press Release eso0533). Additional evidence came from witnessing another event with the VLT.
Also in this field, astronomers found the farthest known gamma-ray burst with ESO's VLT, observing an object with a redshift 6.3, i.e. that is seen when the Universe was less than 900 million years old.
On July 4, NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft plunged onto Comet 9P/Tempel 1 with the aim to create a crater and expose pristine material from beneath the surface. For two days before and six days after, all major ESO telescopes have been observing the comet, in a coordinated fashion and in very close collaboration with the space mission' scientific team, in what was perhaps the most comprehensive ground-observing campaign of a celestial object. On this occasion, a dedicated Deep Impact at ESO web site was created, reporting on all the developments.
This was not the sole contribution of ESO to the study of the solar system . The NACO SDI instrument was used to obtain outstanding images of Titan, the satellite of Saturn and NACO also allowed astronomers to discover the first triple asteroid - two small asteroids orbiting a larger one known since 1866 as 87 Sylvia.
2005 was also a very important year for sub-millimetric astronomy at ESO. In July, APEX, the 12-m Atacama Pathfinder Experiment's telescope had first light and since then, has been performing regular science observations. Moreover, two major contracts have been signed for ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array project, among which the largest-ever European industrial contract for a ground-based astronomy project.
ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) proves to be a very efficient science machine that reached in April 2005, the count of more than 1000 scientific papers and the trend does not seem to change, as about 350 papers were published in 2005 based on data collected with the VLT. This efficiency was also recognised worldwide as ESO received the ComputerWorld Honors Program 21st Century Achievement Award in the Science Category.
The interferometric mode of the VLT (VLTI) was able to observe with unprecedented detail the environment of two stars. The VLTI has also seen another extension of its already impressive capabilities by combining interferometrically the light from two relocatable 1.8-m Auxiliary Telescopes.
In 2005 again, many nice, amazing astronomical images have been obtained with ESO's telescopes: the super star cluster Westerlund 1, the blob in the LMC, dream galaxies, a colossal cosmic eye, a monster being fed, a perturbed family, and a cosmic Christmas ghost. All this, in addition to some images of the observatories.
These developments are described in ESO's Press Releases, most with Press Photos, cf. the 2005 PR Index. Some of last year's ESO PR highlights may be accessed directly via the first clickable image above while some of the Press Photos are available via the second clickable image.
ESO Media Contacts are on the Public Affairs Dept. Contact page.
About the Release
| Release No.: | eso0601 |
| Legacy ID: | PR 01/06 |
| Name: | European Southern Observatory |
| Type: | Unspecified |
| Facility: | Other |
Images
Our use of Cookies
We use cookies that are essential for accessing our websites and using our services. We also use cookies to analyse, measure and improve our websites’ performance, to enable content sharing via social media and to display media content hosted on third-party platforms.
ESO Cookies Policy
The European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO) is the pre-eminent intergovernmental science and technology organisation in astronomy. It carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities for astronomy.
This Cookies Policy is intended to provide clarity by outlining the cookies used on the ESO public websites, their functions, the options you have for controlling them, and the ways you can contact us for additional details.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small pieces of data stored on your device by websites you visit. They serve various purposes, such as remembering login credentials and preferences and enhance your browsing experience.
Categories of cookies we use
Essential cookies (always active): These cookies are strictly necessary for the proper functioning of our website. Without these cookies, the website cannot operate correctly, and certain services, such as logging in or accessing secure areas, may not be available; because they are essential for the website’s operation, they cannot be disabled.
Functional Cookies: These cookies enhance your browsing experience by enabling additional features and personalization, such as remembering your preferences and settings. While not strictly necessary for the website to function, they improve usability and convenience; these cookies are only placed if you provide your consent.
Analytics cookies: These cookies collect information about how visitors interact with our website, such as which pages are visited most often and how users navigate the site. This data helps us improve website performance, optimize content, and enhance the user experience; these cookies are only placed if you provide your consent. We use the following analytics cookies.
Matomo Cookies:
This website uses Matomo (formerly Piwik), an open source software which enables the statistical analysis of website visits. Matomo uses cookies (text files) which are saved on your computer and which allow us to analyze how you use our website. The website user information generated by the cookies will only be saved on the servers of our IT Department. We use this information to analyze www.eso.org visits and to prepare reports on website activities. These data will not be disclosed to third parties.
On behalf of ESO, Matomo will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage.
Matomo cookies settings:
Additional Third-party cookies on ESO websites: some of our pages display content from external providers, e.g. YouTube.
Such third-party services are outside of ESO control and may, at any time, change their terms of service, use of cookies, etc.
YouTube: Some videos on the ESO website are embedded from ESO’s official YouTube channel. We have enabled YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode, meaning that no cookies are set unless the user actively clicks on the video to play it. Additionally, in this mode, YouTube does not store any personally identifiable cookie data for embedded video playbacks. For more details, please refer to YouTube’s embedding videos information page.
Cookies can also be classified based on the following elements.
Regarding the domain, there are:
- First-party cookies, set by the website you are currently visiting. They are stored by the same domain that you are browsing and are used to enhance your experience on that site;
- Third-party cookies, set by a domain other than the one you are currently visiting.
As for their duration, cookies can be:
- Browser-session cookies, which are deleted when the user closes the browser;
- Stored cookies, which stay on the user's device for a predetermined period of time.
How to manage cookies
Cookie settings: You can modify your cookie choices for the ESO webpages at any time by clicking on the link Cookie settings at the bottom of any page.
In your browser: If you wish to delete cookies or instruct your browser to delete or block cookies by default, please visit the help pages of your browser:
Please be aware that if you delete or decline cookies, certain functionalities of our website may be not be available and your browsing experience may be affected.
You can set most browsers to prevent any cookies being placed on your device, but you may then have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a site/page. And some services and functionalities may not work properly at all (e.g. profile logging-in, shop check out).
Updates to the ESO Cookies Policy
The ESO Cookies Policy may be subject to future updates, which will be made available on this page.
Additional information
For any queries related to cookies, please contact: pdprATesoDOTorg.
As ESO public webpages are managed by our Department of Communication, your questions will be dealt with the support of the said Department.