What science questions will astronomy need to answer in the 2040s? Submit your White Papers by 15 December 2025. Under its Expanding Horizons initiative, ESO has initiated the process of selecting its next transformational facility, to start operations in the 2040s. This process is overseen by a Senior Science Committee (SSC), whose current focus is to identify the key scientific challenges that will face astronomy in the 2040s. Understanding what these science challenges are will ensure that science will be a driving factor in later identifying the facility. 

With the release of the La Silla Paranal telescope schedule, the Phase 2 preparation for runs scheduled in Service Mode begins. The deadline for the submission of the Phase 2 material for Period 116 is Thursday, 7 August 2025.  

As announced in the Newsletter June 2024 and discussed in more detail in the Messenger n. 193, ESO has been planning to move the Call for Proposals to a Yearly Cycle in the course of 2025. The plan has been discussed and consolidated with the Scientific Technical Committee and the Users Committee. Following an intense preparatory phase and after the positive outcome of an internal readiness review, the Director General has approved the move to the Yearly Cycle in P117, for observations starting in May 2026. More details will be provided in the Call for Proposals to be released in mid August.

ESO is pleased to announce the Science Verification (SV) for GRAVITY+ Adaptive Optics with Laser Guide Stars on VLTI-UT. The upgraded GRAVITY+ Adaptive Optics (GPAO) offer improved sensitivity and/or performance for the VLTI instruments GRAVITY and MATISSE. For example, under the best atmospheric turbulence conditions, the GRAVITY spectrograph can reach K=19.5 with a fringe tracking source K<13 and a tip-tilt star G_RP<17, offering unique opportunities of observations of new classes of astrophysical objects.

ESO is organising a conference, dubbed “VLT beyond 2030”, in Garching near Munich (Germany) on 26-30 January 2026. ESO aims to maintain the VLT and VLTI at the science forefront of astrophysical research in the ELT era. The development of the facilities follows planning that is discussed with the ESO governing bodies to derive the best synergies amongst the facilities. As part of this process, the “VLT beyond 2030” January 2026 meeting will review science topics, emerging technologies and expanding parameter spaces relevant for the VLT/I in the next decade and beyond. 

Nearly all 4MOST components have now arrived at the Paranal Observatory. Meanwhile, the VISTA telescope has been successfully recommissioned following the modifications required to accommodate 4MOST. The reintegration of the various components—such as the spectrographs and fiber positioner—has now begun, with installation on the telescope scheduled over the coming months. Commissioning will continue through the end of the year, with the five-year survey expected to begin in the first half of 2026.

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.

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 spectropolarimetric unit was added, and the calibration system was enhanced.

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.

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.