ESO

We have landed on new social media spaces! 📱 Find us on BlueSky & Mastodon. We have also launched broadcast channels on Instagram and WhatsApp, a LinkedIn newsletter, and revived our Threads profile! 🤩 Explore what we’ll be sharing on each channel: orlo.uk/KbhiZ

Too large to be made from a single piece, the ELT's 39m main mirror will consist of 798 segments. But how can they work together as one? Enter the edge sensors and actuators, which adjust misalignments among the segments with a precision of just a couple of nanometres 🤯

📣 Using @almaobs 📡, in which ESO is a partner, astronomers have discovered oxygen in the most distant known galaxy! This record-breaking detection is making scientists rethink how quickly galaxies formed in the early Universe 🤔 Read more: eso.org/public/news/es…

📷 ESO analysis confirms the INNA project would have a devastating & irreversible impact on the Paranal Observatory facilities. The increase in light pollution, air turbulence, vibrations & dust would degrade conditions for astronomical observations eso.org/public/news/es…

To account for some delays here's the new schedule 👇 🗓️ Telescope first light (test observations) expected in March 2029 🗓️ Instruments installed & commissioned in 2029-2030 🗓️ Scientific first light with the instruments expected for Dec 2030 Read more: eso.org/public/announc…

Where are we with the construction of our #ELT? This video takes you on a drone flight over the site. Go full screen & volume up! youtube.com/watch?v=t3GJbC… We've also updated the ELT schedule, see below. 1/2 📹CIMOLAI/S. Petkovic 🎶 Jon Kennedy–Toy Soldiers

🚨 2024 YR4 asteroid impact update! After the latest observations conducted with ESO’s VLT & facilities around the world, the odds of the asteroid impacting Earth have dropped to nearly zero. Read more: eso.org/public/news/es…

Using ESO's #VLT, astronomers have mapped the 3D structure of an exoplanet's atmosphere for the first time. Never before had this been done in such depth and detail. Discover more: eso.org/public/news/es… Artist's impression by ESO/M. Kornmesser

Happy International Day of #WomenAndGirlsInScience! To celebrate, our members @CERN @embl @esa @ESO @esrfsynchrotron @FusionInCloseUp @fusionforenergy @EuropeanXFEL & Institut Laue-Langevin "passed the phone" to some of their female scientists! #PassThePhoneSTEM #WomenInSTEM

The 500-kg M5 mirror of the #ELT will be tipped & tilted 10 times per second, to correct atmospheric blurring. This challenging support component is now being tested at ESO's Headquarters in Garching.

Using ESO's #VLT, astronomers have discovered extremely powerful winds on #exoplanet WASP-127b. The winds reach speeds up to 33 000 km/h, the fastest jetstream of its kind ever measured on a planet! Discover more: eso.org/public/news/es… Artist's impression by ESO/L. Calçada

The pale brown belts of Jupiter? Not made of what was long thought.  Discover the outcome of the joint study of an amateur astronomer with his telescope & scientists with ESO's #VLT! eso.org/public/videos/… 📷 ESO/Irwin et al.

The skies above Paranal are at risk from a proposed industrial megaproject.  This would be located in the vicinity of ESO's Observatory. If constructed, it would irreparably impact astronomical observations. Read more: eso.org/public/news/es… 📷 ESO/P. Horálek

@ctao_universe 2/ How does the CTAO work and what kind of phenomena will it study? Find out in this ESO blog: eso.org/public/blog/ct… Rendering of the CTAO-South site, to be hosted at ESO’s Paranal Observatory 👇

The @ctao_universe will change how we study the Universe at high energies, and it has now become a European Research Infrastructure Consortium! As a member of CTAO and host of its future southern site, we couldn't be more excited. Read more: ctao.org/news/the-ctao-… 1/

Our congratulations to Spanish astrophysicist Itziar de Gregorio-Monsalvo, who became ESO’s new Representative in Chile and is the first woman to lead this office 👏 Discover Itziar's professional journey, following 18 years with ESO & @almaobs eso.org/public/announc…

Astronomers focus on the sky, but it’s worth looking around our planet, too! This image, for instance, was taken from Pukará de Quitor, a fortress built 900+ years ago, not far from @almaobs. Discover who built the fortress: eso.org/public/images/… 📷 ESO/ @aghizzi

Like mushrooms 🍄, telescopes atop ESO’s La Silla Observatory are bathed in the dim light of the sunset. 👈 The Danish 1.54-metre telescope 👉 The 3 @BlackGEM_Array telescopes Which cosmic signals do they hunt for? Find out: eso.org/public/images/… 📷 ESO/I. Saviane

@dslsynth @almaobs When there’s too much snow we point the antennas towards the Sun to melt it.

@ESO @almaobs Does the snow on the antenna dishes affect the sensitivity of the observatory?

Under a blanket of snow! 📡🌨️ At the Chajnantor plateau in Chile, temperatures can drop as low as -20°C on winter nights! 🥶 But @almaobs ’s radio antennas are usually unbothered by these chilling conditions 💪 Discover more: eso.org/public/images/… 📷 @_ansack /ESO