Latest ESO Stories

ESO Several high-level European delegations visited ESO's Paranal Observatory in northern Chile over the past few days, following the Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States–European Union (CELAC–EU). The summit, which is the biggest such event ever organized by Chile, took place in Santiago during the week of 22–28 January 2013. ESO had a starring role in the event and it was an excellent opportunity for it to show its work and facilities to representatives of...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has tested out its latest instrument called KMOS on its Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. The instrument, K-band Multi-Object Spectrograph (KMOS), is capable of observing 24 objects at the same time in infrared light, and study the structure simultaneously within each one. ESO said KMOS will help to provide crucial data to help understand how galaxies grew and...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is celebrating 50 years since it was founded on October 5, 1962. The signing of the ESO Convention and the founding of ESO was the culmination of the dream of leading astronomers from five European countries, including Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. These astronomers decided to join forces with the goal of building a large telescope that would give them great access to...

On 5 October 2012, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) will broadcast A Day in the Life of ESO, a free, live event on the web, as part of its 50th Anniversary celebrations. There will be live observations from ESO’s flagship observatory, the Very Large Telescope (VLT), on Cerro Paranal in Chile’s Atacama Desert, as well as fascinating talks from astronomers at ESO’s Headquarters in Germany. Members of the public are invited to ask questions in advance of the event, or during the...

WHAT Media representatives are invited to participate as working journalists at the gala event celebrating 50 years since the signing of the ESO convention in 1962, which established the European Southern Observatory (ESO). WHO ESO's Director General, Professor Tim de Zeeuw, and the Council President, Professor Xavier Barcons, will welcome Ministers and representatives from the Member States and the host country Chile, as well as the ESO Council, representatives of ESO committees, past...

[ Video 1 ] | [ Video 2 ] ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has taken the most detailed image so far of a spectacular part of the stellar nursery called NGC 6357. The view shows many hot young stars, glowing clouds of gas and weird dust formations sculpted by ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds. Deep in the Milky Way in the constellation of Scorpius (The Scorpion) lies NGC 6357 [1], a region of space where new stars are being born in of chaotic clouds of gas and dust [2]. The outer...

Four Presidents at Paranal for signature of Pacific Alliance Treaty The presidents of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru met today at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in the Atacama Desert of Chile, seeing first hand the state-of-the-art telescopes and technology of ESO’s flagship site. The presidents gathered at Paranal for the fourth Summit of the Pacific Alliance, at which the Alliance’s Framework Agreement was ratified. On Wednesday 6 June, Presidents Sebastián Piñera of Chile, Juan...

[ Video 1 ] | [ Video 2 ] The strange galaxy Centaurus A is pictured in a new image from the European Southern Observatory (ESO). With a total exposure time of more than 50 hours this is probably the deepest view of this peculiar and spectacular object ever created. The image was produced by the Wide Field Imager of the MPG/ESO 2.2-meter telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. Centaurus A, also known as NGC 5128 [1], is a peculiar massive elliptical galaxy with a...

[ Video 1 ] | [ Video 2 ] A new image of Messier 55 from ESO's VISTA infrared survey telescope shows tens of thousands of stars crowded together like a swarm of bees. Besides being packed into a relatively small space, these stars are also among the oldest in the Universe. Astronomers study Messier 55 and other ancient objects like it, called globular clusters, to learn how galaxies evolve and stars age. Globular clusters are held together in a tight spherical shape by gravity. In...

[ Video 1 ] | [ Video 2 ] A new image of the region surrounding the reflection nebula Messier 78, just to the north of Orion’s Belt, shows clouds of cosmic dust threaded through the nebula like a string of pearls. The observations, made with the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) telescope[1], use the heat glow of interstellar dust grains to show astronomers where new stars are being formed. Dust may sound boring and uninteresting — the surface grime that hides the beauty of an...