The Call for Proposals for observations at ESO telescopes during Period 95 (1 April - 30 September 2015) has been released. Please consult the Call for Proposals document for the main news items and policies related to applying for time on ESO telescopes. All technical information about the offered instruments and facilities is contained on ESO webpages that are linked from the Call. The deadline for proposals is 12:00 CEST 01 October 2014.

ALMA Early Science observations, Cycle 1 and Cycle 2, will be interrupted, as foreseen, from the beginning of September until end of November. Several antennas will be moved to more distant stations to enable tests on baselines of 10km. Cycle 1 and 2 observing will resume in December.

The Public ESO Spectroscopic Survey of Transient Objects (PESSTO) provides high-quality, time series optical and near-infrared spectroscopy of optical transients covering a broad range of luminosity, host metallicity and explosion mechanisms. The transient objects that PESSTO selects for full spectroscopic follow-up are now immediately and publicly announced on the survey web page.

The ESO Telescope Bibliography (telbib) now also provides active links from ALMA papers to the corresponding data in the archive. This feature is available for all ALMA programmes, except for science verification data. A similar functionality has been deployed for papers that use data from the VLT.

ESO has a prominent fellowship programme in both Garching (Germany) and Santiago (Chile), with a yearly application deadline (15 October). The goal of these fellowships is to offer outstanding early-career scientists the opportunity to further develop their independent research programmes in an exciting scientific environment with close contact to the activities and staff at ESO.

ESO Workshop, Vitacura, Santiago, Chile, 13–17 April 2015

Satellite galaxies, streams and the star cluster – dwarf galaxy interface are inter-related. Galactic satellites and streams should be regarded together – satellites result from low-mass substructures while tidal streams trace the disruption of these substructures by the host's gravitational potential. Both contribute to the assembly of the host galaxy and provide a unique opportunity to test and improve our understanding of structure formation at small and large scales. This workshop aims to bring together experts from both fields to explore the bigger picture.

ESO – ESA Workshop, ESO Vitacura, Santiago, Chile, 2–5 March 2015

Exploration of the Solar System and subsequent discoveries are made with planetary missions and ground-based observatories. These two means are complementary and are sometimes strategically linked, as in the case of the Deep Impact mission. During this workshop, the synergies between these two paths will be explored, with the aim to foster collaboration between both communities by sharing scientific and technical knowledge, needs, requirements, and techniques. The workshop will take advantage of the venue to showcase the current and future capabilities of ALMA for planetary science, and thereby encourage planetary scientists to use this facility.

MUSE raw data from the first two commissioning runs at VLT UT4 in February and April-May 2014 have now been released. Selected astronomical targets were observed to demonstrate the capabilities of the instrument and optimize observing strategies and pipeline reduction.

The Public Survey VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) is a wide area (562 square degree), near-infrared, multi-epoch imaging survey of the Bulge and part of the Disk of the Milky Way. The initial survey in Z, Y, J, H and Ks is followed by extensive multi-epoch Ks-band observations. VVV photometric catalogues have now been released and are publicly available for query.

The FORS2 spectra in the GOODS south field are now available as Science Data Products via the Phase 3 query form. These data were migrated to be compliant to the standard for science data products and ingested in the Science Archive via the Phase 3 infrastructure.