La Silla 50th anniversary culminates with total solar eclipse
Visitors enjoy outreach programme at ESO’s first observatory
Astronomers capture first image of a black hole
ESO, ALMA, and APEX contribute to paradigm-shifting observations of the gargantuan black hole at the heart of the galaxy Messier 87.
EUROfusion takes over EIROforum presidency
In July 2018, EUROfusion is taking over the EIROforum Presidency. EIROforum combines the resources, facilities and expertise of its eight members (CERN, EMBL, EUROfusion, ESA, ESO, ESRF, European XFEL and ILL) to exploit European science to its fullest potential.
First Confirmed Image of Newborn Planet Caught with ESO’s VLT
SPHERE, a planet-hunting instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, has captured the first confirmed image of a planet caught in the act of forming in the dusty disc surrounding a young star. The young planet is carving a path through the primordial disc of gas and dust around the very young star PDS 70. The data suggest that the planet’s atmosphere is cloudy.
First Stone Ceremony for ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope
A ceremony marking the first stone of ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) has been attended today by the President of the Republic of Chile, Michelle Bachelet Jeria. The event was held at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in northern Chile, close to the site of the future giant telescope. This milestone marked the beginning of the construction of the dome and main telescope structure of the world’s biggest optical telescope, and ushered in a new era in astronomy. The occasion also marked the connection of the observatory to the Chilean national electrical grid.
ALMA Observes Most Distant Oxygen Ever
A team of astronomers has used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to detect glowing oxygen in a distant galaxy seen just 700 million years after the Big Bang. This is the most distant galaxy in which oxygen has ever been unambiguously detected, and it is most likely being ionised by powerful radiation from young giant stars. This galaxy could be an example of one type of source responsible for cosmic reionisation in the early history of the Universe.
A drone flight over ESO’s experimental sites in Chile
Paola Catapano, a member of CERN’s Communication Group, and Mike Struik, a member of the CERN TE Department, were invited to visit ESO’s experimental sites – the ALMA observatory and the Very Large Telescope in Paranal, Chile. Enjoy some of the beautiful images they sent to the Bulletin.
ESO: a view of merging galaxies in distant Universe
Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array [ALMA], and many other telescopes on the ground and in space, an international team of astronomers obtained the best view yet of a collision that took place between two galaxies when the Universe was only half its current age. They enlisted the help of a galaxy-sized magnifying glass to reveal otherwise invisible detail. These new studies of the galaxy H-ATLAS J142935.3-002836 have shown that this complex and distant object looks like the well-known …
E-ELT gets off the ground
On June 2014, an explosion disturbed the silence of the Acatama Desert in Chile. Part of the 3000-metre peak of Cerro Armazones was blasted away in order to prepare a level platform that will host ESO’s European Extremely Large Telescope [E-ELT], the largest optical/infrared telescope in the world.
The Atacama Desert is one of the favourite places for astronomers because of its exceptional conditions: the extremely arid mountain region, that is far away from any source of light pollution, offers a clear sky most of the time. This environment, chosen as the location for the future E-ELT, will also present new…
