Science Users Information

These pages are aimed at ESO community astronomers and contain all the information required in order to prepare, execute, process and exploit observations with ESO facilities. They also provide information on the scientific activities taking place at ESO. Details can be accessed via the navigation menu.

ESO Science Announcements

Conference "Probing the Cosmos with White Dwarf Binaries", 26-30 July 2027, Garching bei München

Published: 22 Sep 2026

ESO is pleased to announce that the international conference "Probing the Cosmos with White Dwarf Binaries" will be held in person from 26 to 30 July 2027, at ESO's Headquarters in Garching bei München. This workshop will bring together researchers across the diverse sub-fields of white dwarf binaries to foster discussion in key areas, including: Galactic archaeology, binary evolution, pathways to Type Ia Supernovae, and multi-messenger & gravitational-wave sources.

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Discontinuation of Support for the ESO MacPorts Repository

Published: 09 Sep 2026

ESO announces the discontinuation as of 2026-09-01 of support for the ESO MacPorts Repository in favour of Homebrew, which has the advantage of providing a unique package management system for both Mac and Linux systems.

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Apply Now for ESO Studentships - First Annual Call

Published: 01 Sep 2026
Are you a PhD student eager to dive into the cutting-edge scientific world at one of the most prestigious observatories on the planet? The ESO research studentship programme offers you a chance to do just that. This exceptional programme is open to students enrolled in a PhD programme in astronomy or related fields. You will continue your doctoral research under the formal supervision of your home university, but with the added benefit of spending a minimum of six months (Chile) or one year (Germany), and up to two years at ESO, working closely with a dedicated ESO staff astronomer.
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Xavier Barcons Concludes his Term as Director General

Published: 28 Aug 2026

At the end of his nine years as ESO Director General, Xavier Barcons reflects on ESO’s scientific contributions, international standing, organisational challenges, sustained growth during this period, and exciting perspectives for the future.

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Major New ALMA Science Archive Features

Published: 25 Aug 2026
The ALMA Science Archive has received substantial feature upgrades, some of which have been worked on for years.
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The Messenger

The Messenger 196 is now available. Highlights include:

  • Matrà, L.: Exocometary Belts Transformed by ALMA
  • Andreani, P., Díaz Trigo, M.: ALMA–CTAO Synergies
  • Péroux, C., Mérand, A. et al.: Report on the ESO workshop "VLT Beyond 2030 and Call for White Papers”

The ESO Science Newsletter

The August 2026 issue is now available.

The ESO Science Newsletter, mailed approximately once per month, presents the most recent announcements. Subscription is controlled through the Manage Profile link on the User Portal. Back issues (2013-) are archived.

Citing ESO data in research papers

Researchers are kindly asked to indicate the identifiers (programme IDs or Data DOIs) of the (new or archival) observations they used in their papers as explained in ESO’s data citation policy. This enables the telbib curators to cross-link research output to make data Findabie, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable as suggested by the FAIR Principles.  

Pitch Your Research to ESO COMM

Are you an author on an upcoming scientific study based on ESO data that could be relevant to journalists or the wider public? Or are you a Principal Investigator on ESO observations with potential to become stunning images? If so, please consider sending to ESO your paper and/or a preview of the image(s) obtained with ESO telescopes.