ESO Announcements

ESOCast 33: Under Chilean Skies

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 14:00:00 +0200

Cloudy skies are an astronomer’s nightmare. And while illuminated cities are a night-time beacon of modern civilisation, bright night skies are also a no-go zone for world-class astronomical observations.

So, in the pursuit of pristine skies, ESO, the European Southern Observatory operates its telescopes far beyond Europe, in the remote and arid landscape of the Atacama Desert in Chile.

In this ESOcast, Dr J looks at why this hostile environment is one of the best places on Earth to observe the night sky.

Check out more episodes of the ESOcast HERE.

Credit: ESO

Visual design and editing: Martin Kornmesser and Luis Calçada.
Editing: Herbert Zodet.
Web and technical support: Lars Holm Nielsen and Raquel Yumi Shida.
Written by: Herbert Zodet and Sarah Reed.
Narration: Dr. J and Gaitee Hussain.
Music: Movetwo.
Footage and photos: ESO, Stéphane Guisard, Christoph Malin and José Francisco Salgado, GoogleEarth.
Directed by: Herbert Zodet.
Executive producer: Lars Lindberg Christensen.

Spanish Minister for Science and Innovation Visits Paranal and ALMA

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:03:00 +0200

On 1–2 August 2011, the ESO Paranal Observatory in Chile was honoured with a visit from the Spanish Minister for Science and Innovation, Cristina Garmendia Mendizábal.

The distinguished visitor was present when the dome of one of the four 8.2-metre Unit Telescopes of ESO’s Very Large Telescope opened for a night’s observing at Cerro Paranal, the world’s most advanced visible-light observatory.

Minister Garmendia was accompanied by Carlos Martinez Riera, Director General for International Cooperation at the Ministry for Science and Innovation (MICINN), Xavier Barcons, Spanish delegate and Vice-president of the ESO Council, and Juan Manuel Cabrera, Spanish Ambassador in Chile. The group was hosted at Paranal by the ESO Director General, Tim de Zeeuw, the ESO Representative in Chile, Massimo Tarenghi, and the Director of Operations, Andreas Kaufer.

After the opening of the telescope, Minister Garmendia enjoyed the spectacular sunset over the Pacific Ocean from the VLT platform. Then she visited the VLT control room, from which the four Unit Telescopes and the VLT Interferometer (VLTI) are operated. Here, she took part in the start of observations from the console of one of the VLT Unit Telescopes.

The following day, the group traveled through the Atacama Desert to arrive at ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, which is the largest astronomical project in existence.

The ALMA site is located some 50 km east of San Pedro de Atacama in northern Chile, and is in one of the driest places on Earth. There, Minister Garmendia visited the Operations Support Facility (OSF), where ALMA antennas are being assembled and tested.

Then she continued to the 5000-metre-high plateau of Chajnantor, one of the highest astronomical observatory sites on Earth, where Minister Garmendia could see the operations of the ALMA antennas that have been installed so far.

Very recently, the first European antenna reached Chajnantor (see eso1127), bringing the number of antennas on the plateau to 16 — the number specified for ALMA to begin its first science observations, which are planned to start later this year. The Spanish astronomical community is actively participating in the ALMA project through Spain’s membership of ESO. For example, the steel structures of the 25 European antennas are built in northern Spain.

ALMA, an international astronomy facility, is a partnership of Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ALMA construction and operations are led on behalf of Europe by ESO, on behalf of North America by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), and on behalf of East Asia by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). The Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) provides the unified leadership and management of the construction, commissioning and operation of ALMA.

ESO Telescopes Successfully Face Worst Weather in a Decade

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 19:00:00 +0200

Over a five day period starting on 4 July 2011 the northern part of Chile, including the Chilean Atacama Desert — normally one of the driest places on Earth — was hit by one of the most intense weather fronts to pass through the region in more than 10 years. ESO’s Paranal Observatory was in the path of this extremely rare storm, but the safety procedures that were in place worked very well. No one was injured and there was no damage to the telescopes. Only minor damage to the site infrastructure was recorded, demonstrating that all installations at Paranal are well prepared for the rare adverse weather conditions that can occur on a high mountain in the Atacama Desert.

This weather system was the worst experienced by the observatory since the beginning of operations in 1998. There was very high humidity, strong winds over 30 metres/second, large amounts of dust, torrential rain, and sub-zero temperatures.

The Residencia hotel building was particularly affected by the heavy rain and there was some localised flooding. Fortunately, timely precautions prevented any damage. During the very rare event of rain the telescopes and instruments are protected by special covers to prevent damage.

Andreas Kaufer, director of the observatory, reports “Three observing nights were lost due to the bad weather conditions. This was an unusual loss of observing time, but we were prepared for such rare events to happen during winter periods. Even with this unusual weather we expect about 340 clear nights per year at Paranal. Today the site has been cleaned up and the minor damage to infrastructure is already mostly repaired”.

The La Silla Observatory, located about 500 km south of Paranal, was not affected by these bad weather conditions.

The 5000-metre-high Chajnantor plateau where the APEX telescopes and ALMA is situated also faced unusually heavy snowfall and storm-like conditions. No damage has been reported at APEX. At ALMA, the observatory systems are being carefully inspected, and while no damage has been reported the buildup of snow is causing difficulties.

New Issue of Communicating Astronomy With the Public Journal Is Now Out!

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 18:00:00 +0200

The 11th issue of the free peer-reviewed journal for science communicators, Communicating Astronomy with the Public journal (CAPjournal), is now available for download. This edition, which tackles some of the biggest challenges for astronomy communicators, is not to be missed.

One of the articles provides an overview of astronomy activities designed specifically for those with special needs, and shows that working with these audiences can be very rewarding. Another describes a challenge, and possible solutions, identified in planetary science outreach but applicable more widely: how to involve the research community in public engagement activities.

Another highlight of the issue is an article on “outrageous” outreach, which describes unconventional ways of communicating astronomy with the public. It explains how traditional means of communication are becoming ever less effective and shows some of the alternative ways science organisations can reach out to the public.

Last Chance for CAP2011 Abstracts

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 16:45:00 +0200

In only four days, on 15 July, the deadline for abstracts for the Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2011 Conference (CAP2011) expires. CAP2011 takes place between 10 and 14 October 2011 at the Xiyuan Hotel in Beijing, China.

Public information officers, educators, science communicators, journalists and bloggers and professional and amateur astronomers are invited to register and choose between presenting a poster or giving a talk on a topic that addresses one or more of the conference’s themes:

Social media for astronomy outreach
Media relations in the digital age
Audiovisual and multimedia communication including tools and techniques
The challenges of the digital era
Alternative ways for communicating astronomy with the public
Crowdsourcing/citizen science projects
Amateur astronomers: an army for astronomy outreach
The role of science centres, planetariums and observatories
Using astronomy outreach to interest children in science and technology
Communicating across national, language, political, social and cultural borders
Astronomy communication in the developing world
Evaluating of outreach projects
The social impact of astronomy communication
The legacy of the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009)

The 2011 Communicating Astronomy with the Public conference will focus on how to bring science to the people of today and tomorrow. With online platforms booming, both in terms of popularity and traffic, there is a whole new world building up in the social media and online, a world where individuals become opinion leaders by owning and sharing information. We need to embrace this revolution in communication.

The IAU has also started to implement the decadal plan entitled “Astronomy for the Developing World”. This plan, built on the legacy of IYA2009, brings new opportunities and challenges for communicating astronomy across the globe, with an emphasis on the developing world.

For those who wish to attend CAP2011 as participants only, the registration deadline is 1 September. Details about fees, programme, accommodation, transport and other practical information can be found at: http://www.communicatingastronomy.org/cap2011/index.html

China requires a visa for nationals from most countries and this should be coordinated with the Local Organising Committee, who will be able to issue letters of invitation for visa purposes. Early registration is strongly encouraged.

To stay in touch with the latest news connect with CAP2011, you can join our mailing list here. We will also be present on Twitter using the hashtag #CAP2011

Almost 1000 proposals submitted for ALMA Early Science observations!

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 18:00:00 +0200

Although ALMA will still be under construction until 2013, the 16-antenna array that will be available for Early Science observations around the end of September 2011 already outmatches all other telescopes of this kind. The deadline for astronomers to propose projects for this phase of operations passed in a flurry of activity at the end of June. And now the count is in: astronomers from around the world have submitted almost 1000 proposals for Early Science observations.

The level of demand for observing time with ALMA corresponds to about nine times the number of observations that are expected be carried out during the first phase of Early Science. This demonstrates how excited researchers are to use ALMA, even at this early stage. Furthermore, the proposals cover a very broad range of scientific topics, emphasising how ALMA will have a wide-reaching transformative effect on astronomy and astrophysics.

ALMA is a partnership of Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ESO is the European partner in ALMA.

ESO Introduces Astronomy Outreach Partners

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 15:00:00 +0200

ESO’s education and Public Outreach Department (ePOD) has initiated an exclusive network of long-term collaborators in an effort to inspire people about the Universe we live in — the ESO Outreach Partner Organisations (EOPO). The first few member organisations were chosen from among those planetariums, science centres and other informal educational institutions that have previously collaborated in ePOD outreach projects such as the GigaGalaxy Zoom project and the 15th and 20th anniversaries of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

There are currently eight organisations in the EOPO network, based in seven different countries: Ars Electronica Center (Austria), Tycho Brahe Planetarium (Denmark), Hamburg Planetarium (Germany), Zeiss Planetarium Bochum (Germany), Eugenides Foundation (Greece), Blackrock Castle Observatory (Ireland), the Navegar Foundation (Portugal), and the Royal Observatory Greenwich (UK).

Partner organisations enjoy a series of benefits including access to priority information such as news about future campaigns, competitions or events, promotional support to gain visibility, free ESO outreach products for educational purposes or at bulk discount rates for sale, as well as support from the ESO Science Outreach Network (ESON) representative in the partner’s country. In return, the Outreach Partner Organisations are encouraged to bring astronomy and ESO closer to the local community, get involved in ESO’s outreach projects, as well as to proactively suggest collaborations where ESO could support them.

Organisations that have collaborated with ESO in the past or that wish to become active, can apply for membership of the EOPO network by emailing ePOD’s Community Coordinator Oana Sandu.

ESO Picture of the Paranal Observatory Voted Wikimedia Picture of the Year 2010

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 17:30:00 +0200

ESO’s Picture of the Week from 6 September 2010 was voted Wikimedia Picture of the Year 2010 in the fifth edition of the annual competition[1], that takes place on the Wikipedia Commons [2]. The winning picture was taken by ESO Photo Ambassador Yuri Beletsky in mid-August 2010 from ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile, using a wide-angle lens that covers about 180 degrees of the sky.

For this year’s competition more than 1500 Wikimedians cast 2463 votes for 783 photos. All entries in the contest were featured pictures on Wikimedia Commons during 2010. The winning picture, which showcases ESO’s Paranal Observatory in action, received 241 votes during the second of the two rounds of the competition.

In this picture, ESO Photo Ambassador Yuri Beletsky captured the work of a group of astronomers who were observing the centre of our galaxy, the Milky Way, using the laser guide star facility on Yepun, one of the four Unit Telescopes of the Very Large Telescope (VLT). Yepun’s laser beam crosses the majestic southern sky and creates an artificial star at an altitude of 90 km high in the Earth's mesosphere. The Laser Guide Star is part of the VLT’s adaptive optics system and is used as a reference to correct the blurring effect of the atmosphere on images. ESO has recently developed a concept for compact laser guide star units, whereby small powerful lasers are combined with a telescope that launches the beam, creating a single modular unit that can be mounted directly on a large telescope.

Notes

[1] The Wikimedia Commons Picture of the Year contest is an annual volunteer-led contest, running since 2006. Wikimedia Commons editors nominate the best media for featured status in an ongoing project, and all featured pictures from the previous year are included in the annual Picture of the Year contest.

[2] The Wikimedia Commons is a media repository hosting content that anyone can share, reuse, and remix.

ESO Science Outreach Network Expanded

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 14:00:00 +0200

ESO has extended its science outreach network by appointing national representatives for Albania, Cyprus, Greece and Ukraine, as well as for its newest member state, Brazil. As a result, the number of languages in which important parts of the ESO official website are available has increased to 18 [1].

Members of the ESO Science Outreach Network (ESON) act as ESO’s local media and outreach contacts with the general aim of promoting ESO's mission and demonstrating the many inspirational aspects of astronomy. They also serve as contacts between the media and scientists in their local area and can also be approached in connection with ESO’s projects and other science outreach initiatives.

Aside from being valuable ambassadors for ESO and astronomy in their countries, ESON representatives maintain ESO sites in the language spoken in their country. They translate important information about ESO and most of them also translate ESO press releases (into 18 different languages in total). The addition of new countries to the network will allow even more people to read about the latest astronomical discoveries and scientific advances in their native language.

Currently the ESO Science Outreach Network has representatives in 26 countries — the 15 ESO member states: Austria, Brazil, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom and 11 non-member states in addition: Chile (host nation), Albania, Cyprus, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Turkey, Ukraine, and the USA.

ESO welcomes applications for ESON memberships from experienced astronomy communicators. Please contact the ESON Coordinator Olivier Hainaut if you are interested in collaborating on translating ESO web pages and press releases, as well as serving as a local contact for the media.

Notes

[1] The Portuguese part of the ESO website has been available since September 2009. Its content is now partially shared with the Brazilian pages.

Café & Kosmos 12 July 2011

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 12:00:00 +0200

The exploration of the Universe using radio waves is an exciting research area that has been in continuous development since the mid-20^th century. ALMA, a new radio observatory, is being built at an altitude of over 5000 metres in the Atacama Desert in Chile. It will eventually include 66 individual telescopes, working together to collect submillimetre and millimetre radio waves. What are these waves from outer space? Why are they useful for observing the cosmos? Wolfgang Wild, the European ALMA Project Manager from ESO will answer these questions, as well as those from the audience of the Café & Kosmos.

The Café & Kosmos series of discussions is organised jointly by ESO, the Excellence Cluster Universe and the Max-Planck Institutes for Physics, Astrophysics and Extraterrestrial Physics. The discussions take place on the second Tuesday of each month at the Vereinsheim, in Munich (please note the change of day and venue, as of May 2011). After a brief introduction the scientists take questions from the audience and discuss current issues from the cosmos.

Please note that the Café & Kosmos events take place in German.

What: ALMA – A new radio observatory in the desert’s thin air
When: Tuesday, 12 July 2011, 19:00 until approximately 20:30
Where: Vereinsheim, Occamstr. 8, 80802 München, near Münchener Freiheit
Admission is free.