From left to right: Luis Chavarría, ESO Representative in Chile and Paul Gleeson, Ambassador of Ireland in Chile at ESO offices in Santiago on October 2021.

From left to right: Alejandra Voigt, ALMA Executive Officer, Sean Dougherty, ALMA Director, Hernán Tello Sepúlveda, FACH. Colonel of Aviation (I), Niklas Hedman, Chief, Committee, Policy and Legal Affairs Section at UNOOSA, Yukiko Okumura, Associate Expert on Space Law and Policy Committee, Policy and Legal Affairs Section at UNOOSA, Luis Chavarría, ESO Representative in Chile and Bárbara Nuñez, ESO Regional Relations Officer.

From left to right: Jacek Gawryszewski, Ambassador of Poland in Chile and Luis Chavarría, ESO Representative in Chile, at ESO offices in Santiago on October 2021.

Luis Chavarría, ESO Representative in Chile, pictured in front of ESO's Vitacura Office in Santiago.

Luis Chavarría, ESO Representative in Chile, pictured in front of ESO's Vitacura Office in Santiago.

Luis Chavarría, ESO Representative in Chile, pictured in front of ESO's Vitacura Office in Santiago.

Luis Chavarría, ESO Representative in Chile.

Luis Chavarría, ESO Representative in Chile.

Dieses Bild zeigt den 57W-CaNaPy-Laser während eines Praxistests am 0,6m-Teleskop der Allgäuer Volkssternwarte Ottobeuren in Deutschland. Das Laserlicht wird aus dem Inneren des Teleskops zum Sekundärspiegel geleitet und von dort zum Primärspiegel zurückgeworfen, wo es schließlich an den Himmel reflektiert wird.

Der Laser, der auf einer von der ESO patentierten Technologie basiert, wird schließlich Teil der Adaptiven Optik des CaNaPy-Laserleitsternsystems sein, das an der Optical Ground Station der Europäischen Weltraumorganisation ESA auf Teneriffa betrieben werden wird. Er wird dazu beitragen, astronomische Beobachtungen um die durch Turbulenzen in der Erdatmosphäre verursachten Unschärfeeffekte zu korrigieren.

Der CaNaPy-Laser, der auf einer von der ESO patentierten Technologie basiert, während eines Tests mit dem 0,6-Meter-Teleskop der Allgäuer Volkssternwarte Ottobeuren.

Seine endgültige Heimat wird die Optical Ground Station der Europäischen Weltraumorganisation ESA auf Teneriffa sein, wo er Teil des adaptiven Optiksystems CaNaPy sein wird, das dazu beiträgt, den durch Turbulenzen in der Erdatmosphäre verursachten Unschärfeeffekt zu korrigieren.

Diese Weitwinkelaufnahme zeigt den CaNaPy-Laser während eines Tests am Himmel an der Allgäuer Volkssternwarte Ottobeuren in Deutschland. Der Laser, der auf einer von der ESO patentierten Technologie basiert, regt Natriumatome in der oberen Atmosphäre zum Leuchten an und erzeugt so eine künstliche Lichtquelle, die zur Überwachung und Korrektur atmosphärischer Turbulenzen eingesetzt werden kann.

Der Laser soll später an der Optical Ground Station der Europäischen Weltraumorganisation (ESA) auf Teneriffa installiert werden. Dies geschieht im Rahmen einer Zusammenarbeit zwischen der ESO und der ESA zur Nutzung der Adaptiven Optik für astronomische und satellitengestützte Kommunikationszwecke.

Andrés Couve, ministro de Ciencia, Tecnología, Conocimiento e Innovación de Chile, inspecciona las obras de construcción del ELT de ESO en Cerro Armazones.

On July 28, 2021, Andrés Couve, Chile's Minister of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation, visited the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) works at Cerro Armazones, as well as ESO's Paranal Observatory, from where the future ELT will be operated. Jean-Michel Bonneau, Interim Representative ESO in Chile, and Andreas Kaufer, ESO Director of Operations, accompanied Minister Couve and his entourage on a tour of the ESO facilities. 

During his visit, Minister Couve was able to see the progress in the construction of the ELT, as shown in this image taken from the site, and tour the Very Large Telescope (VLT) platform at ESO's Paranal Observatory, 20km from the ELT. When the ELT begins its observations in the coming decade it will become the largest optical/infrared telescope in the world. 

From left to right: ELT engineer Georges Saint-Martory, Regional Relations Officer Bárbara Núñez, Chilean Science Minister Andrés Couve, SEREMI Daniela Barría and ESO Representative in Chile, Jean-Michel Bonneau.

More information is available in Spanish in this announcement.

On July 28, 2021, Andrés Couve, Chile's Minister of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation, visited the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) works at Cerro Armazones, as well as ESO's Paranal Observatory, from where the future ELT will be operated. Jean-Michel Bonneau, Interim Representative ESO in Chile, and Andreas Kaufer, ESO Director of Operations, accompanied Minister Couve and his entourage on a tour of the ESO facilities. 

During his visit, Minister Couve was able to see the progress in the construction of the ELT, as shown in this image taken from the site, and tour the Very Large Telescope (VLT) platform at ESO's Paranal Observatory, 20km from the ELT. When the ELT begins its observations in the coming decade it will become the largest optical/infrared telescope in the world. 

From left to right: ESO Representative in Chile, Jean-Michel Bonneau, ELT Engineer Georges Saint-Martory, Chilean Science Minister Andrés Couve and Regional Relations Officer, Bárbara Núñez.

More information is available in Spanish in this announcement.

On July 28, 2021, Andrés Couve, Chile's Minister of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation, visited the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) works at Cerro Armazones. This photo shows the Chilean Science Minister Andrés Couve and ELT Engineer Georges Saint-Martory looking at the foundations of the ELT.

More information is available in Spanish in this announcement.

From 9 to 23 August 2020, AstroCamp 2020 took place at the Centre for Environmental Education and Interpretation in the Corno de Bico Protected Landscape in northern Portugal. AstroCamp is an astronomy-focused academic programme for secondary school students which aims to bring together students with different backgrounds and life experiences, but with one common passion: astronomy.

This year, the camp was organised under special circumstances due to the global context. A total of sixteen students participated in the camp, with those living abroad participating remotely and those living in Portugal attending the camp in person, under special safety conditions agreed with the local health authorities. Overall there were ten girls and six boys, aged between 15 and 18 and coming from Croatia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Portugal and Spain.

Over the two weeks, the students took courses on gravitational physics and on the physics of stars, galaxies and the Universe as a whole, they observed the dark night skies using both the naked eye and telescopes, and connected online with astronomers and physicists from different countries. They also completed a computational project, working with data from some of the world’s best telescopes, and contributed to a community service project.

While this camp has been running since 2012, it was only opened to international students in 2016. ESO began supporting the camp in 2017, awarding a full bursary to a student from one of ESO’s Member States. As this year the camp was organised under special circumstances, ESO offered a prize instead of a bursary, which consisted of a beautiful astronomical mounted image and an astronomy book. Furthermore, all participants received an ESO goodie bag with, among others, posters and an ESO cap.

The preparations for the 2021 camp have already started, and more information will be published on the website soon. Do not hesitate to write at  astrocamp@astro.up.pt if you have any questions about the next camps.

From 9 to 23 August 2020, AstroCamp 2020 took place at the Centre for Environmental Education and Interpretation in the Corno de Bico Protected Landscape in northern Portugal. AstroCamp is an astronomy-focused academic programme for secondary school students which aims to bring together students with different backgrounds and life experiences, but with one common passion: astronomy.

This year, the camp was organised under special circumstances due to the global context. A total of sixteen students participated in the camp, with those living abroad participating remotely and those living in Portugal attending the camp in person, under special safety conditions agreed with the local health authorities. Overall there were ten girls and six boys, aged between 15 and 18 and coming from Croatia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Portugal and Spain.

Over the two weeks, the students took courses on gravitational physics and on the physics of stars, galaxies and the Universe as a whole, they observed the dark night skies using both the naked eye and telescopes, and connected online with astronomers and physicists from different countries. They also completed a computational project, working with data from some of the world’s best telescopes, and contributed to a community service project.

While this camp has been running since 2012, it was only opened to international students in 2016. ESO began supporting the camp in 2017, awarding a full bursary to a student from one of ESO’s Member States. As this year the camp was organised under special circumstances, ESO offered a prize instead of a bursary, which consisted of a beautiful astronomical mounted image and an astronomy book. Furthermore, all participants received an ESO goodie bag with, among others, posters and an ESO cap.

The preparations for the 2021 camp have already started, and more information will be published on the website soon. Do not hesitate to write at  astrocamp@astro.up.pt if you have any questions about the next camps.

From 9 to 23 August 2020, AstroCamp 2020 took place at the Centre for Environmental Education and Interpretation in the Corno de Bico Protected Landscape in northern Portugal. AstroCamp is an astronomy-focused academic programme for secondary school students which aims to bring together students with different backgrounds and life experiences, but with one common passion: astronomy.

This year, the camp was organised under special circumstances due to the global context. A total of sixteen students participated in the camp, with those living abroad participating remotely and those living in Portugal attending the camp in person, under special safety conditions agreed with the local health authorities. Overall there were ten girls and six boys, aged between 15 and 18 and coming from Croatia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Portugal and Spain.

Over the two weeks, the students took courses on gravitational physics and on the physics of stars, galaxies and the Universe as a whole, they observed the dark night skies using both the naked eye and telescopes, and connected online with astronomers and physicists from different countries. They also completed a computational project, working with data from some of the world’s best telescopes, and contributed to a community service project.

While this camp has been running since 2012, it was only opened to international students in 2016. ESO began supporting the camp in 2017, awarding a full bursary to a student from one of ESO’s Member States. As this year the camp was organised under special circumstances, ESO offered a prize instead of a bursary, which consisted of a beautiful astronomical mounted image and an astronomy book. Furthermore, all participants received an ESO goodie bag with, among others, posters and an ESO cap.

Standing inside one of the four unit telescopes of the VLT. The telescope is one of the most optically advanced in the world and each of the four Unit Telescopes consists of main mirrors measuring 8.2 meters in diameter.  

Teammitglieder, die am hochauflösenden CRyogenic InfraRed Echelle Spectrograph+ Projekt beteiligt sind. Dieses Foto wurde Anfang 2020 während der Installation des Instruments am VLT der ESO aufgenommen, bevor Einschränkungen im Zusammenhang mit der COVID-19 Pandemie in Kraft traten.

Adrian Russell, ESO’s Director of Programmes, at the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), on the Chajnantor Plateau in the Chilean Andes.

ESO Director General Xavier Barcons received the Order of Bernardo O’Higgins Grand Cross, at a ceremony chaired by Carolina Valdivia, the Chilean Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs.

Diese Aufnahme ist anlässlich der Veröffentlichung der Pressemitteilung Erster erfolgreicher Test von Einsteins Allgemeiner Relativitätstheorie nahe supermassereichem Schwarzem Loch im Juli 2018 entstanden.

Prof. Dr. Reinhard Genzel (MPE Garching) am Paranal-Observatorium.

Students of the ESO 2020 Summer Research Programme presented their research projects virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.