ESO
The European Southern Observatory designs, builds & operates world-class observatories on the ground for the benefit of society. More info on eso.org
- 1/ #ESOjobs For our Maintenance, Support and Engineering department, we invite students from European & Chilean Universities in their career's last period to apply for the Winter Students 2025 programme at Paranal. Application deadline: 30 May 2025. Details at: recruitment.eso.org
- Great piece by Govert Schilling on our Extremely Large Telescope! "It is so large that I have difficulty in perceiving the right scale" he explains, and we can totally relate. 🔭🧪
- Located 190 km away from Cerro Paranal, the Llullaillaco volcano is a regular feature on the horizon seen from our VLT. Here we see the Sun as it peeks over the volcano, which casts a looming shadow onto the atmosphere itself 😲 Read more: www.eso.org/public/image... 🔭 🧪 📷 F. Millour/ESO
- This week we celebrated 100 years of planetaria –– amazing venues to bring the Universe down to Earth. How have they changed over the years? Find out in our latest ESO blog: www.eso.org/public/blog/... 🔭 🧪
- Lasers are cool: they invoke futuristic spaceships & epic space battles! 🚀 But if we're not under alien attack, then why are our telescopes firing giant laser beams into the sky? 🤨 Tune in to the latest episode of #ChasingStarlight to find out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_QC... 🔭 🧪
- Do the red hues of Nebula Sh2-46 hide a cosmic outcast? 😲 Dive deeper into the mystery: www.eso.org/public/image... 🔭 🧪 📹 ESO/VPHAS+ team 🎧 Mylonite - BO Réflexion Méditation
- There's an impostor in this nebula! 🤨 Captured by the VST at Paranal Observatory, this image shows nebula Sh2-46. You see that big blue-white star? It's responsible for the red tones around it, but it should not be there! Discover why: www.eso.org/public/image... 🔭 🧪 📷 ESO/VPHAS+ team
- We have reached the top! The protective dome of our ELT will have two giant sliding doors that will open at night to allow observations. Their structure is being installed on the dome, meaning that the ELT has reached its highest point. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNPk... 🔭 🧪
- 1/ Using ALMA, in which ESO is a partner, the exoALMA project has revealed exquisite images of young solar systems. By studying the motion of the gas astronomers may find signs of planets in the making. Read more in this @thenrao.bsky.social release: public.nrao.edu/news/exoalma/ 🔭 🧪 #exoplanets
- Let's take a peek inside one of the ALMA antennas! 📡 Based high up in Chile's Chajnantor plateau, the 66 antennas of ALMA are all used to observe the cool Universe. But how does a radio-telescope really ‘see’? 🤔 Find out here: www.eso.org/public/image... 🔭 🧪 📷 ESO/Sergio Otarola
- On the occasion of #EarthDay, we had a chat with Claudio Melo, our Sustainability and Diversity Officer, about the steps ESO is taking toward sustainability 🌍 Discover his inspiring words 💬👇 Learn more about our green initiatives: www.eso.org/public/about... 🔭 🧪
- Got your best shots ready for this year's edition of AstroCamera? Awesome, make sure to submit them by 5 May! AstroCamera is an international #astrophotography competition organised by the Hevelianum science centre in Gdańsk, Poland, and supported by ESO. ℹ️ www.astrocamera.pl/en 🔭
- Piercing the skies! ⚡ The VLT lasers create artificial stars by exciting sodium atoms in the atmosphere, at about 90 km altitude. This allows the telescope to learn how to adjust for atmospheric turbulence to obtain sharper images. www.eso.org/public/image... 🔭 🧪 📷 ESO/A. de Burgos Sierra
- #TourESO 📹🔴 Ready? Our next virtual tour of the La Silla Observatory will start in 5 minutes! ⏱️ Streamed here www.youtube.com/user/ESOobse... 📷 ESO
- #ICYMI Using ESO’s VLT, astronomers have found a planet that orbits at an angle of 90 degrees around a rare pair of peculiar stars. It's the first time we have strong evidence for one of these ‘polar planets’ 😲 Check out this video recap 👇 Full story: www.eso.org/public/news/... 🔭 🧪 #exoplanets
- Our VLT has found a planet that orbits at an angle of 90 degrees around a rare pair of peculiar stars. This is the first time we have strong evidence for one of these ‘polar planets’ orbiting a stellar pair 😲 Discover more: www.eso.org/public/news/... 🔭 🧪 ☄️ Illustration by ESO/L. Calçada
- The Sun is rising over Cerro Armazones in Chile! 🌅 And so does our Extremely Large Telescope. The dome construction has reached its highest point, while the ELT construction altogether has recently passed the 6️⃣0️⃣% completed milestone. Read more: www.eso.org/public/annou... 🔭 🧪 🎥 E. Garcés/ESO
- Fishing for the ELT 🎣 In this wide-eye image our Extremely Large Telescope is lit up by the flowing river of the Milky Way. The dangling line of a crane 🏗️ casts down like an enormous fishing rod hoping to catch more building materials. Discover more: www.eso.org/public/image... 🔭 🧪 📷 ESO
- What's the magical green glow that dominates the sky in this pic of ESO’s La Silla Observatory? 🧐 Known as airglow, it's a faint light emitted by the Earth’s atmosphere and it is only visible in the darkest of places. What causes it? Find out here: www.eso.org/public/image... 🔭 🧪 📷 J. Pérez/ESO
- #TourESO 📹🔴 We're going live in just 5 minutes with our virtual tour of the Paranal Observatory! Don’t miss it! 🏃 Streamed here www.youtube.com/user/ESOobse... 📷 ESO/P.Horálek
- When massive stars die, they go out with a bang 💥 These are supernova explosions and what remains are breathtaking structures like the ones you'll discover in this video 👇 Craving more jaw-dropping views of the cosmos? Explore our archive & feast your eyes: www.eso.org/public/images/ 🔭 🧪 📹 ESO
- Know a secondary school student passionate about astronomy? Then spread the word! Application for the 2025 Summer AstroCamp, an ESO-supported educational initiative taking place in Portugal from 10 to 24 August, are now open: astrocamp.astro.up.pt/en/index.html #STEMSky 🔭 🧪
- Supermassive black hole caught playing with its food! A ravenous & messy eater in galaxy NGC 4945 is blowing out powerful winds of material that will end up escaping the galaxy altogether. Read more: www.eso.org/public/image... 📷 ESO/C. Marconcini et al. 🔭 🧪 ☄️
- We're teaming up with Space Scoop again! Managed by @iauoutreach.bsky.social , Space Scoop shares astro-news (including ours) in a language perfect for young space enthusiasts. Like the fresh ALMA discovery of oxygen in the most distant known galaxy: spacescoop.org/en/scoops/25...
- There's a partial solar eclipse tomorrow! The Moon will slip between Earth and the Sun, casting its shadow over us 🌞🌕🌍 To get in the spirit, let’s take a (very) close peek at our cosmic neighbour, with its crater-covered surface. And, sadly, no cheese in sight 🧀 👀 1/2 📷 Abigail Frost
- Ready for a close encounter with the ‘Koi-smic fish‘? 🐠 🔍 This spectacular object is actually the nebula Gum 3, seen here with the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at our Paranal Observatory. Discover more: www.eso.org/public/image... 🔭 🧪 📹 ESO/VPHAS+ team. Ack.: CASU. Music: Mylonite
- Remember when we told you on Friday that the rings of Saturn are vanishing from view for a few months? Here's an image taken with our Very Large Telescope the last time this happened. Bonus points: it's an infrared image! More details below 👇 🔭
- An epic moonrise for an epic telescope! 🔭 🌕 Kick off the week with this breathtaking video of the full Moon rising behind our #ELT, currently under construction in Chile 🤩 www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pSx... > If you prefer a photo, it's waiting for you below 👇 1/2 🔭 🧪
