European Southern Observatory

#ESOjobs We are looking for a Deputy Travel Team Lead, in Garching. The deadline to apply is 30 June 2026. Details at: https://lnkd.in/eMzPE_w 📷 S. Ströbele/ESO #job #jobs #astronomy #jobopportunity #recruitment #jobposting #hiring #Germany

🌍 From Canada to Australia, astronomers, policymakers, and industry partners across the globe are collaborating within the IAU CPS. Our 574 members in more than 60 countries are working on policy solutions and technical mitigations to protect #DarkAndQuietSkies from the growing impact of satellite constellation interference. This is a global challenge in need of a global community. Is your country represented yet? 🌐 Join us to contribute to this vital work! ✍️ https://cps.iau.org/ The International Astronomical Union SKA Observatory European Southern Observatory NSF NOIRLab

EIROforum’s biannual Directors-General Assembly took place in Brussels last week 🇧🇪 The event was hosted by EMBL, current chair of EIROforum until the end of June. The meeting brought together the Directors General of Europe’s leading intergovernmental research organisations to discuss the future of scientific cooperation. Discussions addressed how Europe’s major research infrastructures can continue to support international collaboration and strengthen Europe’s innovation capacity and competitiveness. The Assembly also welcomed distinguished external guests, including  Michiel Scheffer 🇪🇺, President of the Board of the European Innovation Council (EIC), Carthage Smith, Senior Policy Analyst and Lead Co-ordinator at OECD Global Science Forum, and Lodovico Folin Calabi, Director of UNESCO Office in Brussels and Representative to the EU. A sincere thank you to all participants and guest speakers for helping shape a shared vision for a strong, open and forward-looking European research ecosystem. CERN, EMBL, European Space Agency - ESA, European Southern Observatory, ESRF - The European Synchrotron, EUROfusion, European XFEL, ILL - Institut Laue Langevin, European Spallation Source ERIC

Emitted by the four Unit Telescopes (UTs) of our Very Large Telescope (VLT), laser beams shine across the magnificent Southern sky. Glowing beads of light, one on each beam, are created by a thin layer of clouds crossing the path of the lasers — a happy accident, as the lasers themselves target a much higher layer in our atmosphere. As of November 2025, all four UTs are equipped with lasers, as part of a series of significant upgrades to the VLT Interferometer (VLTI) named GRAVITY+. Each laser creates an artificial “star”, 90 kilometres above Earth’s surface, used to detect how the moving atmosphere distorts incoming light. If you look closely at the apex of the laser triangle you may be able to discern the four tiny artificial stars created by the beams. This enables a telescope to make real-time corrections that cancel out the atmosphere’s blurring effect. “Unblurred” light from the four UTs can then be combined to make detailed observations of distant cosmic objects. This upgrade has unlocked the entire Southern sky to the VLTI by allowing the system to observe much fainter objects than before. Discover more: https://lnkd.in/e2zUC9Bp 📷 A. Berdeu/ESO

On 30 and 31 May Chile will celebrate its National Heritage Day. Under the slogan “The story we share”, this celebration will mark its 27th year bringing historic buildings, museums and cultural centres closer to citizens across the country. We will take part in this event by highlighting one of Chile’s unique elements of heritage: its dark skies.    We have planned several activities to mark this occasion. Our successful nighttime tour programme will arrive at La Silla Observatory — the first of our observatories in Chile, inaugurated in 1969. Paranal Observatory will open its doors during the evening for the third time. Along with these activities, we will also offer a talk and an exhibition on the protection of dark skies and the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) at the National Astronomical Observatory, located in Santiago’s Cerro Calán.    Read more (in Spanish): https://lnkd.in/e9GkKwnf 📷 ESO/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org)

#ESOjobs We are looking for a Project Manager, in Santiago (Chile). The deadline to apply is 12 June 2026. Details at: https://lnkd.in/eMzPE_w 📷 R. Wesson/ESO #job #jobs #astronomy #jobopportunity #recruitment #jobposting #hiring #projectmanager #Chile

May’s issue of our ESO Users Digest newsletter is out! Check it out for updates on upcoming conferences, new job openings, and more.

The mirror is on its way! One of the mirrors of our Very Large Telescope (VLT) is slowly transported to the recoating facility, a couple of kilometres away at basecamp. Despite being housed in enclosures that protect them from the extreme desert conditions during the day, telescope mirrors are still exposed at night, and therefore they need to be cleaned and recoated to keep their reflectivity. Dust that accumulates on the surface is regularly removed by spraying frozen carbon dioxide. Then, every 18 months or so, the mirror receives a new aluminium coating. At the recoating facility, the mirror is separated from its supporting cell, a structure that protects the mirror and maintains its shape, and cleaned to remove contaminants that could damage the coating process. The thin aluminium layer, crucial for the mirror’s reflectivity, is removed with a chemical wash and replaced with a new one. After a process that takes about 8 days, including tests to verify the results, the restored mirror is then driven back up to the VLT. Read more: https://lnkd.in/ejvKka72 📷 L. Sbordone/ESO

Today’s Picture of the Week features two distinct families: a collection of ALMA Observatory antennas and a trio of vicuñas, a type of camelid, related to llamas and alpacas. Unlike in almost every way, the subjects of this image are linked by their extremely hostile home environment, high up in the Chilean Andes. But how does ALMA withstand the harsh local conditions? One solution involves enclosing the ALMA receivers –– the devices that catch signals from space –– in cryostats that keep them very cold, protecting them against the drastic day-to-night temperature swings of the desert. Moreover, the antennas are designed to withstand extremely strong winds, up to 100 kilometres an hour. For the workers, like technicians and engineers who maintain the site, portable medical oxygen is mandatory on the plateau to limit the risk of high-altitude sickness. Discover more: https://lnkd.in/gZTKjT7h 📷 Sergio Otarola /ESO

A concrete aperture! This image was captured below one of the four Unit Telescopes that make up our Very Large Telescope (VLT), around the basis of the enclosure. And while the circular openings helped to create this stunning composition, they are far more than aesthetic: they form part of structural supports for the observing floor of the 8.2 metre telescopes, serving a very practical purpose. They reduce the amount of concrete required in constructing supports, as well as providing better airflow and thermal inertia around the telescopes — minimising any adverse effects that could distort observations. Read more: https://lnkd.in/d7R3tZdK 📷 ESO/L. Sbordone