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

ESO's Tutorial YouTube Channel: New Content Available

Published: 18 Jun 2025

The ESO user support YouTube channel has been refreshed with new and updated video tutorials. These guides help users prepare their Phase 2 material efficiently, as well as navigate and query the ESO Science Archive.

Release of Pipeline Processed CRIRES+ Spectra

Published: 09 Jun 2025

The release of pipeline processed CRIRES+ spectra provides access to reduced scientific data obtained with the cryogenic high-resolution spectrograph CRIRES+, an upgrade of the original instrument CRIRES, which was available till July 2014. CRIRES+ is in operation at the ESO VLT since October 2021. This instrument is a cross-dispersed infrared echelle specrograph with increased wavelength range covered simultaneously by a factor of ten in respect to the old CRIRES. In addition, CRIRES+ is equipped with a new detector focal plane array composed of three Hawaii 2RG detectors with a 5.3 μm cut-off wavelength, a new spectroparimetric unit was added, and the calibration system was enhanced.

Call for Proposals for ALMA Development Studies

Published: 28 May 2025

ESO is pleased to announce the Call for Proposals (CfP) for development studies for ALMA upgrades, with a deadline for proposal submission on Wednesday 27 August 2025 at 11:00am CEST. Interested institutes should register on the In-Tend portal and express interest in the ALMA Development Studies 2025 with reference FCFP-129429-AMA. The specific focus of this call includes the relevance to the implementation of the ALMA Development Roadmap priorities, and particularly the development of new receiver components allowing an expansion to 4x the current IF bandwidth, as well as software initiatives that enable and maximize the science output of the Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade.

4MOST Survey Management Plan Published

Published: 27 May 2025

Following an extended review and acceptance process, the 4MOST survey management plan (SMP) for the five year public surveys is now available. The 4MOST SMP documents describe the timeline of the public releases, the project organisation, the preparation and data acquisition, data processing and publication of the science data products. It includes an extended description of the single surveys, with detailed specific information on the target selection and on the science data products associated with the individual science cases. While the raw data are immediately public, the science data products will be released according to the data release plan detailed in the document available from the 4MOST SMP web page.

SOXS Day, 1st July 2025, ESO-Garching bei München

Published: 27 May 2025

ESO will host a SOXS day on July 1, 2025, to present the SOXS instrument and its science opportunitites to the community. During this day, talks will be delivered on the instrument capabilites and the operations model, the science opportunities and the GTO programme, and the policies that will govern the operations of SOXS. Further, there will be time for questions and discussions. The meeting will be held at the ESO HQ in Garching in hybrid mode. Potential participants are kindly asked to register.

The Messenger

The Messenger 194 is now available. Highlights include:

  • Doyon, R., Bouchy, F. et al.: NIRPS Joins HARPS: Setting New Standards at Infrared Wavelengths
  • Nazari, P., Jerabkova, T. et al.: Artificial Intelligence Usage by ESO Telescope Users
  • De Breuck, C., Díaz Trigo, M.: The Promises and Challenges of the ALMA Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade

The ESO Science Newsletter

The June 2025 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.