Meddelanden 2017

22 maj 2017: ESO has awarded a multi-million euro contract to the international company Teledyne e2v to design and produce a set of Large Visible Sensor Modules for use on the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). Scheduled to see first light in 2024, the ELT is at the forefront of telescope technology. In order for the telescope to capture the Universe in exquisite detail, the ELT will use highly sophisticated adaptive optics systems which will enable it to adjust for changes in the atmosphere above it. These systems will require sensors of the highest quality. Each sensor, with a size of 800 x 800 pixels, will employ Teledyne e2v’s renowned CMOS technology. Their extreme sensitivity and fast response will permit the ELT’s adaptive optics systems to make tiny adjustments around 700 times a second to compensate for variations in Earth’s atmosphere. This will ensure that the resulting astronomical images — of exoplanets, distant galaxies ...

12 maj 2017: An extension of the agreement between the partners of the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) has been signed, ensuring that this very productive collaboration will continue until the end of 2022. The 12-metre APEX telescope saw first light in 2005 and has provided astronomers with detailed views of the coldest objects and processes in the Universe. APEX is a collaborative effort between the Max-Planck-Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) in Bonn, Germany, ESO and the Onsala Space Observatory (OSO) in Onsala, Sweden, and the agreement was signed by ESO’s Director General, Tim de Zeeuw, Karl Menten, Director at the Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie and John Conway, Director of the Onsala Space Observatory. The ceremony took place at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. Under the APEX extension agreement, the telescope will be upgraded to significantly improve the overall observing efficiency, and the suite of instruments will be upgraded to a new generation. ...

11 maj 2017: CNRS Images, in partnership with ESO, has produced a documentary about MUSE, the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer. Directed by Christophe Gombert and Claude Delhaye, MUSE, The Cosmic Time Machine takes a detailed look at one of the latest — and in fact, the biggest — second-generation instruments installed on Yepun (UT4), the fourth Unit Telescope of ESO’s Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. The 35-minute documentary explores the inspiration and the story behind MUSE, why it was needed, and how it came into life over a nine year development phase. It highlights the international European cooperation necessary to realise the project, as well as the participation of many of the hundreds of researchers, technicians and engineers involved. The innovative technology of MUSE and the front-line science performed with it are also discussed, braided with a gripping storyline of the delicate installation process leading up to the moment ...

10 maj 2017: Astronomers from around the world have submitted a record 1712 proposals to observe with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) during its next observing cycle (Cycle 5). Cycle 5 runs between October 2017 and September 2018. The deadline for submitting a proposal was 15:00 UT on 20 April 2017. A preliminary filtering process showed that 48 proposals were duplications, reducing the number of unique ones to 1665. All complete proposals will be evaluated and ranked at a meeting in Antwerp, Belgium, to be held between 18 and 23 June 2017. During Cycle 5, it is expected that 56 ALMA antennas will be available at any one time for observations (46 12-metre antennas and 10 7-metre antennas). All ALMA receiver bands from 3 to 10 will also be available. The maximum baseline — distance between the antennas — will be 16 kilometres, giving ALMA, at its highest operating frequencies, an angular ...

9 maj 2017: The Australian Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Senator the Hon Arthur Sinodinos, has announced his Government’s intention to open negotiations with ESO on a strategic partnership that would see Australia participate in all activities related to the La Silla Paranal Observatory. This announcement follows many years of informal discussions between Australia and ESO about potential collaborations. While the partnership arrangement is subject to the approval of ESO Council, it raises the possibility of many exciting opportunities for both Australia and ESO. The Australian government’s announcement was given impetus by the 2015 release of the Australian Academy of Science’s Decadal Plan for Australian Astronomy, 2016–2025. This notes the need for long-term partnerships with eight-metre-class optical/infrared telescopes in order for Australia to continue to have the scientific expertise and technical capacity to conduct world-leading science with the next generation of large telescopes and to maintain the nation’s leadership in optical-infrared instrumentation. ...

5 maj 2017: High up on the mountaintop of Paranal in Chile, ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has a view of some of the clearest and darkest skies in the world. But even in the Atacama desert, turbulence in the atmosphere still poses a problem for astronomers. Cue a technological stroke of genius: adaptive optics. This ESOcast takes you on a soaring journey over Paranal and the Atacama desert. It introduces the powerful lasers of the VLT’s cutting-edge 4 Laser Guide Star Facility and explores their crucial role in the operations of the VLT — and in astronomy as a whole. You can subscribe to the ESOcasts on iTunes, receive future episodes on YouTube or follow us on Vimeo. Many other ESOcast episodes are also available. Find out how to view and contribute subtitles to the ESOcast in multiple languages.

3 maj 2017: The 2017 Olivier Chesneau Prize has been awarded to Rachael Roettenbacher, for her doctoral thesis entitled “Shifting the Starspot Paradigm through Imaging Magnetic Structures and Evolution”. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Stockholm University, having obtained her PhD at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, USA) in 2016. Established by ESO and the Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur (OCA), the Olivier Chesneau Prize commemorates the astronomer Olivier Chesneau [1] and is awarded for the best PhD thesis in High Angular Resolution Astronomy. Rachael Roettenbacher is the second recipient of the prize, after Julien Milli in 2015. Rachael impressed the board with her study of the magnetically active star, Zeta Andromedae. The star is located about 190 light-years from Earth and has a radius approximately 15 times larger than the Sun’s. Making use of the power of interferometry, combining six different telescopes to produce images of extraordinarily high resolution, Rachael ...

27 april 2017: Planetariums around the world can now share the latest discoveries in astronomy with their visitors on the very day they are announced. The European Southern Observatory (ESO), in partnership with Evans & Sutherland and the International Planetarium Society, is proud to launch the cutting-edge Data2Dome project, which will bring the Universe into planetariums around the world at the click of a mouse — and all for free. ESOcast 104 shows you how this exciting new system works and what it can deliver — from information about events in the sky, to stunning fulldome images and videos, to the latest press releases about our complex and extraordinary Universe. You can subscribe to the ESOcasts on iTunes, receive future episodes on YouTube or follow us on Vimeo. Many other ESOcast episodes are also available. Find out how to view and contribute subtitles to the ESOcast in multiple languages.

27 april 2017: ESO is proud to publicly launch a running version of the cutting-edge Data2Dome project in partnership with Evans & Sutherland and the International Planetarium Society . This exciting new free system for planetariums delivers the complete collection of images and videos from ESO's frontline telescopes at La Silla and Paranal, as well as from ALMA, ESA/Hubble — and through NASA’s and IPAC’s Astropix project: NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, Chandra X-Ray Observatory, GALEX, WISE, and NuStar, as well as example images from ESA’s Planck and Herschel space telescopes. Data2Dome also delivers stunning fulldome images and videos, 3D models and music, as well as the latest press releases and blogs from all astronomy and space organisations worldwide, all at the click of a mouse — and for free! Data2Dome’s AstroCalendar module provides daily feeds of significant astronomical events such as spacecraft launches, planetary alignments, historical anniversaries and more. Astronomy is a dynamic ...

6 april 2017: ESO is delighted to announce that this year’s Tycho Brahe Prize has been awarded to Bernard Delabre, one of ESO’s optical engineers. The prize is awarded “in recognition of the development or exploitation of European instruments or major discoveries based largely on such instruments”. Bernard Delabre has been involved in the design of the optics of nearly all the instruments built by ESO over the past 35 years, including HARPS at La Silla, and UVES, MUSE, ERIS, HAWK-I, and CRIRES at the Very Large Telescope. He has been the chief optical designer of a number of telescopes including the Extremely Large Telescope, for which he invented the beautiful five-mirror solution. Delabre was awarded this prestigious prize in recognition of his leading role in the optical design of astronomical telescopes, cameras and spectrographs over the past 40 years. Throughout his career at ESO, he has exemplified the tradition of working at ...

5 april 2017: Media representatives are invited to attend the first stone ceremony of the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) on Friday 26 May 2017 on Cerro Armazones, a 3046-metre peak in northern Chile about 20 kilometres from ESO’s Paranal Observatory. The ceremony will begin at 13:30 local time and is expected to finish around 15:30, and will also mark the connection of the observatory to the power grid. The first stone will be laid by the President of the Republic of Chile, Her Excellency Michelle Bachelet Jeria. Media will have the opportunity not only to visit the spectacular site, but also to arrange interviews with senior figures both from the Chilean authorities and industrial contractors and with the scientists and engineers involved in building the giant telescope. The ELT is a revolutionary new ground-based telescope that will have a 39-metre main mirror — making it the largest optical-near-infrared telescope in the world. It ...

4 april 2017: Applications are now open for the ESO-supported Summer AstroCamp 2017. AstroCamp is an academic programme in the field of astronomy and physics, stimulating curiosity and critical thinking, organised by the Centre for Astrophysics of the University of Porto (CAUP). The camp takes place from 6 to 20 August 2017, in a secluded and tranquil setting away from the stresses of urban centres. The program is intended for secondary school students from European Union countries, in one of their final three years of education before university. Students of all backgrounds will come together and take two courses consisting of daily lessons, assignments, and a final exam. Some highlights include: Observing the dark night skies with the naked eye and telescopes (including the Perseids meteor shower); Skyping with astronomers and physicists from different countries; A computational project, working with data from the world’s best telescopes; Social activities like hiking, sports, and film ...

31 mars 2017: As part of an ambitious experiment involving telescopes around the world, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is about to attempt to image something never-before-seen: a black hole. For the first time, ALMA is joining the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) and the Global mm-VLBI Array (GMVA), which are Earth-sized virtual observatories made possible by an international collaboration of radio telescopes. Their main goal is to study the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way in detail. The EHT will attempt to image, for the very first time, the shadow of the black hole’s event horizon, while the GMVA will investigate the properties of the accretion and outflow around the Galactic Centre. The impressive line up of participating telescopes stretches across the globe, from the South Pole to Europe to Hawaii — and, of course, Chile. ALMA’s 66 antennas, state-of-the-art receivers, and superb site in its southern location ...

31 mars 2017: The latest issue of the free magazine Science in School is now available online and in printed form. This European journal for science teachers offers up-to-date information on cutting-edge science, teaching materials and projects in science education, interviews with inspiring scientists and teachers, reviews of books and other resources, and many other useful resources for science teachers. It aims to promote science teaching by encouraging communication between teachers, scientists and everyone else involved in European science education. Some of the highlights of this issue include: an article on the topic of gender identity and sexuality in science; a report on the teacher event “Bringing structures to life - new ways of teaching biology” and an article highlighting the role of our oceans in climate change. Practical teaching activities for the classroom include: an activity which uses the astronomical concept of parallax as a context for teaching geometry; microscale chemistry in ...

30 mars 2017: The success of the Pale Red Dot campaign [1] was recognised in style last night when Queen Mary University of London, the institution that led the campaign [2], won the Research Impact category of the Guardian University Awards 2017. The Pale Red Dot campaign was an outreach [3] project set up to provide the public with a unique real-time view of how science is carried out. The scientific programme was aimed at identifying an Earth-like planet around Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Solar System. The award marked the significant contribution made by the campaign to bringing cutting-edge science to a general audience. The campaign was launched in January 2016, when observations of Proxima Centauri began, using ESO telescopes such as the HARPS spectrograph at La Silla in Chile, amongst others [4]. Their search lasted until April 2016, and was accompanied by blog posts and social media updates via ...

28 mars 2017: The latest edition of ESO's quarterly journal, The Messenger, is now available online. Find out the latest news from ESO on topics ranging from new instruments to the latest science discoveries. Highlights of this edition include: The ALMA Science Archive ALMA Band 5 Science Verification The Nearby Evolved Star L2 Puppis as a Portrait of the Future Solar System Supernova 1987A at 30 Highlights from the CERN/ESO/NordForsk “Gender in Physics Day” Download The Messenger in PDF format or visit The Messenger website to subscribe and receive a free printed copy. This product is also available in the ESOshop.

17 mars 2017: On 16 March 2017, members of the Consular Corps in Bavaria visited ESO’s Headquarters in Garching bei München, Germany. The Corps consists of consuls and honorary consuls from over 100 consular missions based in the federal state of Bavaria, the largest Consular Corps in any German federal state. The visitors were welcomed by the Dean of the Consular Corps, Mr. Friedemann Greiner, and by ESO Director General Tim de Zeeuw who outlined the mission and activities of ESO. They were then taken on a tour of the facilities. Highlights of the tour included the integration hall, where researchers and engineers assemble instrumentation for use at ESO’s observatories in Chile, and the ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre, the world’s first open-source planetarium, currently under construction. This was followed by a luncheon, giving the Consular Corps the chance to engage in conversation with ESO staff and to learn more about ESO.

15 mars 2017: School students from around the world are invited to take part in the 2017 Catch a Star contest. This is a European astronomical writing contest, with some prizes that will leave students starry-eyed! To participate, students should submit a written report on an astronomical topic of their own choice — for example, an astronomical object, phenomenon, observation, scientific problem or theory. Reports must be written in English and be no more than 5000 words in length. Contestants may work in groups of up to three students, plus a group leader who is not a student. Each submission must be emailed as a PDF file to astro.edu@gmail.com. The deadline for all entries is 17:00 CET on 20 December 2017. There will be five lucky winners chosen, and each winner will have the chance to carry out their own remote observations at the National Astronomical Observatory “Rozhen”, Bulgaria, or to hold a ...

3 mars 2017: A survey of peer-reviewed scientific papers published in 2016 and using data from ESO’s telescopes and instruments has shown that ESO remains the world’s most productive ground-based observatory. Astronomers used observational data from ESO facilities to produce an all-time high of 936 refereed papers last year. There were 565 papers credited to ESO in 2016 that used data acquired with either the Very Large Telescope (VLT) or the VLT Interferometer facilities on Cerro Paranal. The three most productive VLT instruments in terms of papers are UVES, FORS2 and VIMOS, which featured in 123, 109 and 75 papers, respectively. The MUSE and SPHERE instruments also saw large increases from the previous year. Data from the VISTA and VST survey telescopes on Cerro Paranal led to 93 and 18 papers, respectively. Facilities located at La Silla provided data for almost 200 papers in total. HARPS remains La Silla’s most productive instrument, with ...

22 februari 2017: A total of seven Earth-like, potentially habitable worlds have been discovered orbiting a nearby star known as TRAPPIST-1. Just 40 light-years away, the star’s diminutive size and dim light output mean it is known as an ultracool dwarf. ESOcast 96 explores this important discovery, from how the astronomers made the incredibly intricate measurements required to find and study the planets — including observations with ESO’s Very Large Telescope — to each world’s potential to support life as we know it. Excitingly, three of the planets in the system orbit in the habitable zone around TRAPPIST-1, and could harbour oceans of water on their surfaces. Dwarf stars like TRAPPIST-1 are very common in our galaxy, making rich planetary systems like this some of the best targets in humanity’s search for life elsewhere in the Universe. This ESOcast takes you on a journey through one such system, which contains both the largest ...