ESO Calendar 2012 European Southern Observatory

Transcription

1 ESO Calendar 2012 European Southern Observatory

2 Cover January February March April May June Another perfect day at Paranal The VLT in action Wide Field Imager view of a Milky Way look-alike, NGC 6744 Messier 78: A reflection nebula in Orion The E-ELT on Cerro Armazones (artist s impression) VLT looks into the eyes of the virgin VST image of the star-forming region Messier 17 Rolling red hills stretch out below the exceptionally clear blue sky that is typical of ESO s Paranal Observatory. This remote area of the Chilean Atacama Desert is one of the driest sites on Earth and a perfect window on the Universe. The atmosphere here is extremely dry and clear, and has very low turbulence, offering the most suitable conditions for optical and near-infrared astronomical observations. The 2600-metre-high Cerro Paranal stands out at the centre of this view, taken looking towards the south. This flattened mountaintop is home to ESO s Very Large Telescope (VLT), the world s most advanced groundbased optical and near infrared astronomical facility, equipped with four 8.2-metre Unit Telescopes and four 1.8-metre Auxiliary Telescopes. Although the telescope domes close at dawn, and nothing seems to move on the surface of this barren desert, the VLT never rests. Every day, a team of engineers and technicians works hard to prepare the telescopes and instruments for another perfect night. The VLT during observations. In this picture, the four 8.2-metre Unit Telescopes (UTs) are visible, named from left to right, Antu, Kueyen, Melipal and Yepun. In front of the UTs are the four 1.8-metre Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs), entirely dedicated to interferometry. A reddish laser beam is being launched from UT4 (Yepun) to create an artificial star at an altitude of 90 kilometres in the Earth s mesosphere. This laser guide star is part of the adaptive optics system, which allows astronomers to remove the effects of atmospheric turbulence, producing images almost as sharp as if the telescope were in space. ESO/S. Brunier This picture of the nearby galaxy NGC 6744 was taken with the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at La Silla. The large spiral galaxy is similar to the Milky Way, making this image look like a picture postcard of our own galaxy sent from extragalactic space. The picture was created from exposures taken through four different filters that passed blue, yellow green, red light, and the glow coming from hydrogen gas. These are shown in this picture as blue, green, orange and red, respectively. ESO This new image of the reflection nebula Messier 78 was captured using the Wide Field Imager camera on the MPG/ESO 2.2- metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory, Chile. This colour picture was created from many monochrome exposures taken through blue, yellow green and red filters, supplemented by exposures through a filter that isolates light from glowing hydrogen gas. The total exposure times were 9, 9, 17.5 and 15.5 minutes per filter, respectively. ESO/Igor Chekalin Artist s impression of the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) on Cerro Armazones, a 3060-metre-high mountaintop in Chile s Atacama Desert. The E-ELT will be the largest optical/infrared telescope in the world the world s biggest eye on the sky. ESO This striking image, taken with the FORS2 instrument on the Very Large Telescope, shows a beautiful yet peculiar pair of galaxies, NGC 4438 and NGC 4435, nicknamed The Eyes. The larger of these, at the top of the picture, NGC 4438, is thought to have once been a spiral galaxy that was strongly deformed by collisions in the relatively recent past. The two galaxies belong to the Virgo Cluster and are about 50 million light-years away. ESO The first released VLT Survey Telescope (VST) image shows the spectacular starforming region Messier 17, also known as the Omega Nebula or the Swan Nebula, as it has never been seen before. This vast region of gas, dust and hot young stars lies in the heart of the Milky Way in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer). The VST field of view is so large that the entire nebula, including its fainter outer parts, is captured and retains its superb sharpness across the entire image. The data were processed using the AstroWISE software system developed by E. A. Valentijn and collaborators at Groningen and elsewhere. ESO/INAF-VST/OmegaCAM. Acknowledgement: OmegaCen/Astro-WISE/ Kapteyn Institute ESO/José Francisco Salgado July August September October November December 2012 ALMA antennas under the Milky Way Laser meets lightning Antennae Galaxies composite of ALMA and Hubble observations The VLT Survey Telescope: The largest telescope in the world designed for visible-light sky surveys Starry La Silla VISTA s infrared view of the Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8) In 2012 ESO celebrates 50 years of reaching new heights in astronomy. Four antennas of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) gaze up at the star-filled night sky. The Moon lights up the scene on the right, while the band of the Milky Way stretches across the upper left. ALMA is being constructed at an altitude of 5000 metres on the Chajnantor plateau in the Atacama Desert in Chile. This is one of the driest places on Earth and this dryness, combined with the thin atmosphere at high altitude, offers superb conditions for observing the Universe at millimetre and submillimetre wavelengths. The ALMA project is a partnership of Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ESO/José Francisco Salgado The sky above the Allgäu Public Observatory in southwestern Bavaria lit up by two very different phenomena: one is an example of advanced technology, and the other of nature s dramatic power. As ESO tested the new Wendelstein laser guide star unit by shooting a powerful laser beam into the atmosphere, one of the region s intense summer thunderstorms was approaching. With purely coincidental timing this photograph was snapped just as lightning flashed, resulting in a breathtaking image that looks like a scene from a science fiction movie. The laser in this photograph is a powerful one, with a 20-watt beam, but the power in a bolt of lightning peaks at a trillion (one million million) watts, albeit for just a fraction of a second! ESO/M. Kornmesser 2012 The Antennae Galaxies (also known as NGC 4038 and 4039) are a pair of distorted colliding spiral galaxies about 70 million lightyears away, in the constellation of Corvus (The Crow). This view combines ALMA observations, made in two different wavelength ranges during the observatory s early testing phase, with visible-light observations from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Most of the ALMA test observations used to create this image were made using only twelve antennas working together far fewer than will be used for the first science observations and much closer together as well. Both of these factors make the new image just a taster of what is to come. While visible light shown here mainly in blue reveals the newborn stars in the galaxies, ALMA s view shows us something that cannot be seen at those wavelengths: the clouds of dense cold gas from which new stars form. The ALMA observations shown here in red, pink and yellow were made at specific wavelengths of millimetre and submillimetre light (ALMA bands 3 and 7), tuned to detect carbon monoxide molecules in the otherwise invisible hydrogen clouds, where new stars are forming. ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO). Visible light image: the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope The VST is the latest telescope to be added to ESO s Paranal Observatory in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. It is housed in an enclosure immediately adjacent to the four VLT Unit Telescopes on the summit of Cerro Paranal. The VST is a 2.6- metre wide-field survey telescope with a field of view twice as broad as the full Moon. It is the largest telescope in the world dedicated to sky surveys in visible light. The VST was designed and built by the INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy as part of a joint venture between the INAF and ESO. ESO/G. Lombardi The stars rotate around the southern celestial pole during a night at ESO s La Silla Observatory in northern Chile. The fuzzy parts in the trails on the right are due to the Magellanic Clouds, two small galaxies neighbouring the Milky Way. The dome seen in the image hosts ESO s 3.6-metre telescope and is home to HARPS (High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher), the world s foremost exoplanet hunter. The rectangular building seen in the lower right of the image contains the 0.25-metre TAROT telescope, designed to react very quickly when a gamma-ray burst is detected. Other telescopes at La Silla include the 2.2-metre MPG/ESO telescope, and the 3.58-metre New Technology Telescope, the first telescope to use active optics and, as such, the precursor to all modern large telescopes. La Silla was ESO s first observing site and is still one of the premier observatories in the southern hemisphere. Iztok Bončina/ESO This new infrared view of the star formation region Messier 8, often called the Lagoon Nebula, was captured by the VISTA telescope at ESO s Paranal Observatory in Chile. This colour picture was created from images taken through J, H and Ks nearinfrared filters, and which were acquired as part of a huge survey of the central parts of the Milky Way. The field of view is about 34 by 15 arcminutes. ESO/VVV Acknowledgement: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit On 5 October 1962 representatives of five European countries signed the ESO convention in Paris, formally committing to establishing the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, an international organisation at intergovernmental level, and often referred to as the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Fifty years later, ESO is celebrating its position as a leader in the astronomical research community worldwide. Now supported by 15 countries, ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At La Silla, site of ESO s first observatory in Chile, ESO operates a number of telescopes, including the New Technology Telescope, the 3.6- metre telescope equipped with the exoplanet finder HARPS, and the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope. At Paranal, ESO operates the VLT, the world s most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes: VISTA in the infrared, the world s largest survey telescope, and the VST, the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. At Chajnantor, ESO is the European partner of a revolutionary astronomical telescope ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. ESO is currently planning the 40-metre-class E-ELT, which will become the world s biggest eye on the sky, also to be located in Chile. With ALMA and the E-ELT, ESO is continuing a tradition of innovation acquired over 50 years of experience at the forefront of astronomy. Produced by the ESO education and Public Outreach Department. Moon phases are indicated in Universal Time ESO s Top 10 scientific discoveries are indicated in blue (# Top10)

3 January The ESO Convention takes effect following its ratification by France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. The VLT in action 1954 ESO declaration by leading astronomers from six European countries expressing the wish that a joint European observatory be established in the southern hemisphere First light of the VLT laser guide star, on the VLT s UT4, Yepun. Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday

4 February 2012 Wide Field Imager view of a Milky Way look-alike, NGC First light of the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) at ESO s 3.6-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory Spain formally joins ESO ESO and the US National Science Foundation (NSF) sign a bilateral agreement on ALMA. Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

5 March First light of the New Technology Telescope (NTT). Messier 78: A reflection nebula in Orion 1982 Switzerland formally joins ESO Official inauguration of Paranal Observatory First light for the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) Inauguration of the ESO site at La Silla by the President of the Republic of Chile, Eduardo Frei Montalva. Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

6 April Resolution for ALMA between Europe, North America and Japan. The E-ELT on Cerro Armazones (artist s impression) 2004 Milky Way stellar motions After more than 1000 nights of observations at La Silla, spread over 15 years, astronomers determine the motions of more than solar-like stars residing in the neighbourhood of the Sun, showing that our home galaxy has led a much more turbulent and chaotic life than previously assumed. (#10 Top10) 2011 Light from all four VLT Unit Telescopes is combined for the first time Cerro Armazones is chosen as site for the E-ELT The Czech Republic formally joins ESO. Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday

7 May Italy formally joins ESO. VLT looks into the eyes of the virgin 1981 Inauguration of the new ESO Headquarters in Garching, Germany Portugal formally joins ESO Cosmic temperature independently measured The VLT detects carbon monoxide molecules in a galaxy located almost 11 billion light-years away for the first time, allowing astronomers to obtain the most precise measurement of the cosmic temperature at such a remote epoch. (#5 Top10) 1998 First light for the VLT s first Unit Telescope (UT1), Antu. Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday

8 June 2012 VST image of the star-forming region Messier First images from the VLT Survey Telescope First light for the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope The United Kingdom formally joins ESO. Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

9 ALMA antennas under the Milky Way July Austria formally joins ESO Finland formally joins ESO First light for the submillimetre Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) First European ALMA antenna arrives at Chajnantor. Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday

10 August Denmark formally joins ESO. Laser meets lightning 2004 Oldest star known in the Milky Way Using the VLT, astronomers measure the age of the oldest star known in the Milky Way: 13.2 billion years old. (#6 Top10) 2010 Richest planetary system Astronomers using HARPS discover the richest planetary system so far, containing at least five planets around the Sun-like star HD (#9 Top10) Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

11 September 2012 Antennae Galaxies composite of ALMA and Hubble observations 2004 First image of an exoplanet The VLT obtains the first-ever image of a planet outside the Solar System. (#3 Top10) 2004 Agreement is reached between ESO, the US National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Japan, concerning the construction of ALMA First ALMA antenna arrives at 5000-metre-altitude Chajnantor site ALMA starts Early Science and the first image is published. Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday

12 The VLT Survey Telescope: The largest telescope in the world designed for visible-light sky surveys October Founding Members Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden sign the ESO Convention Belgium formally joins ESO Gamma-ray bursts connections with supernovae and merging neutron stars ESO telescopes provide definitive proof that long gamma-ray bursts are linked with the ultimate explosions of massive stars, solving a long-standing puzzle. (#4 Top10) 2011 ESO and Chile sign agreement on land for E-ELT Acquisition of La Silla Mountain. Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday

13 Starry La Silla November Groundbreaking ceremony at the ALMA site Otto Heckmann ( ) becomes the first Director General of ESO First light for the ESO 3.6-metre telescope Chile is chosen as the site for the ESO observatory Flares from the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way The VLT and APEX team up to study the violent flares from the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, revealing material being stretched out as it orbits in the intense gravity close to the central black hole. (#7 Top10) 2009 First three ALMA antennas are successfully linked (phase closure) at 5000-metre-altitude Chajnantor site. Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

14 December Paranal site selected for the VLT Direct measurements of the spectra of exoplanets and their atmospheres The first direct measurements of the spectra of exoplanets and their atmospheres are made with the VLT. (#8 Top10) 1996 Paranal Foundation Ceremony ESO signs the European contract for the production of up to 32 ALMA antennas Decision is taken by the ESO Council to build the VLT Stars orbiting the Milky Way black hole Several of ESO s flagship telescopes were used in a 16-year-long study to obtain the most detailed view ever of the surroundings of the supermassive black hole lurking at the heart of our galaxy. (#1 Top10) 2009 VISTA, the pioneering new survey telescope, starts work Accelerating Universe Two independent research teams, with work partly based on observations of exploding stars with astronomical telescopes at La Silla, show that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating. The 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for this result. (#2 Top10) 2008 The ALMA Observatory is equipped with its first antenna. VISTA s infrared view of the Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8) Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday

15 ESO TIMELINE June January 1954 A shared European Observatory is discussed for the first time by a group of astronomers at Leiden, the Netherlands. ESO declaration by leading astronomers from six European countries expressing the wish that a joint European observatory be established in the southern hemisphere. December 1955 Site testing begins in South Africa and later in South America, to identify the best location for the ESO observatory October 1962 Founding Members Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden sign the ESO Convention. 1 November 1962 Otto Heckmann ( ) becomes the first Director General of ESO. 15 November January 1964 Chile is chosen as the site for the ESO observatory. The ESO Convention takes effect following its ratification by France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden (Founding Members, Member States 1 4). 30 October 1964 Acquisition of La Silla Mountain. 24 March 1966 Dedication ceremony for the road to the summit of La Silla. November 1966 First light for the ESO 1-metre telescope at La Silla. November 1966 First light of the mid-infrared Kapteyn photometer on the ESO 1-metre telescope. January 1967 Construction of ESO Headquarters in Santiago, Chile begins. May 1967 First light of the near-infrared photometer on the ESO 1-metre telescope. 24 August 1967 Denmark formally joins ESO (Member State 6). 2 October 1967 Belgium formally joins ESO (Founding Member, Member State 5). July 1968 First light for the Grand Prisme Objectif telescope. July 1968 First light for the ESO 1.52-metre telescope. 7 September 1968 First light for the Bochum 0.6-metre telescope. February 1969 First light for the Danish 0.5-metre telescope. 25 March Inauguration of the ESO site at La Silla by the President of the Republic of Chile, Eduardo Frei Montalva. Adriaan Blaauw ( ) takes over as Director General of ESO. October 1970 ESO s Telescope Division is the first ESO department to move into offices on the CERN premises in Geneva. December 1971 First light for the ESO 0.5-metre telescope. February 1972 First light for the ESO 1-metre Schmidt telescope Lodewijk Woltjer (1930 ) takes over as Director General of ESO. 7 November 1976 First light for the ESO 3.6-metre telescope. 20 November 1978 First light for the Danish 1.5-metre telescope. March 1979 First light for the Dutch 0.9-metre telescope December 1980 First light of the infrared photometer/ spectrophotometer on the ESO 3.6-metre telescope. 5 May 1981 May 1981 Inauguration of the new ESO Headquarters in Garching, Germany. First light of the Coudé Echelle Spectrometer (CES) on the 1.4-metre Coudé Auxiliary Telescope (CAT). 1 March 1982 Switzerland formally joins ESO (Member State 7). 24 May 1982 Italy formally joins ESO (Member State 8). June 1982 First light of the infrared photometer/ spectrophotometer on the ESO 1-metre telescope. 22 June 1983 First light for the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope. June 1983 First Light of the Cassegrain Echelle Spectrograph (CASPEC) at the ESO 3.6-metre telescope. 1 March 1984 The Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility the European home for Hubble opens within ESO as a collaboration with the European Space Agency. September 1984 First light of the Lyon Specklegraph on the ESO 3.6-metre telescope. November 1984 First light of the F/35 chopping secondary system and the infrared photometers on the ESO 3.6-metre telescope. November 1985 First light of IRSPEC on the ESO 3.6-metre telescope. 24 March 1987 First light for the 15-metre Swedish ESO Submillimetre Telescope (SEST). March 1987 First light of the F/35 photometers on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope (with the Max-Planck Institute of Astronomy, MPIA). 8 December 1987 Decision is taken by the ESO Council to build the Very Large Telescope (VLT) Harry van der Laan (1936 ) takes over as Director General of ESO. July 1988 First light of IRAC on the MPG/ ESO 2.2-metre telescope. 23 March 1989 First light of the New Technology Telescope (NTT). 11 May 1989 First light of the second ESO Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera (EFOSC2) instrument on the NTT April 1990 First light of the COME-ON instrument on the ESO 3.6-metre telescope. June 1990 First Light of the ESO Multi-Mode Instrument (EMMI) on the NTT. 1 December May 1992 Paranal site selected for the VLT. First light of the IRAC2 instrument on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope. 21 July 1992 First light of the Thermal Infrared MultiMode Instrument (TIMMI) on the ESO 3.6-metre telescope. 15 December 1992 First light of the COME-ON+ instrument on the ESO 3.6-metre telescope Riccardo Giacconi (1931 ) takes over as Director General of ESO Site testing for the future Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) takes place in Chile together with National Radio Astronomy Observatory and National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. 18 April 1995 New agreement between the Chilean Government and ESO. 5 September 1996 The Chilean Senate ratifies the new agreement with ESO. 4 December 1996 Paranal Foundation Ceremony. 6 December 1997 First light for the Son OF ISAAC instrument (SOFI) on the NTT. 11 February 1998 First light for the second Superb- Seeing Imager (SuSI2) on the NTT. 12 April 1998 First light for the Swiss 1.2-metre Leonhard Euler telescope at La Silla. 25 May 1998 First light for the VLT s first Unit Telescope (UT1), Antu. 15 September 1998 First light for the first visual and near UV FOcal Reducer and the low dispersion Spectrograph (FORS1) on the VLT s UT1, Antu. 6 October 1998 First light of the Fibre-fed Extended Range Optical Spectrograph (FEROS) on the ESO 1.52-metre telescope. 16 November 1998 First light of the Infrared Spectrometer And Array Camera (ISAAC) instrument on VLT UT1, Antu. 15 December 1998 Accelerating Universe Two independent research teams, with work partly based on observations of exploding stars with astronomical telescopes at La Silla, show that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating. The 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for this result. (#2 Top10) 15 January 1999 First light with the 67-millionpixel Wide Field Imager (WFI) camera on the MPG/ ESO 2.2-metre telescope. 1 March 1999 First light for the VLT s second Unit Telescope (UT2), Kueyen. 5 March 1999 Official inauguration of Paranal Observatory. April 1999 Start of regular science operations at Paranal. 1 September 1999 Catherine Cesarsky (1943 ) takes over as Director General of ESO. 27 September 1999 First light for the Ultraviolet Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES) on the VLT s UT2, Kueyen. 29 October 1999 First light for the second visual and near-uv FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph (FORS2) at VLT s UT2, Kueyen January 2000 First light for the VLT s third Unit Telescope (UT3), Melipal. 27 June 2000 Portugal signs the Accession Agreement. 4 September 2000 First light for the VLT s fourth Unit Telescope (UT4), Yepun. 11 October 2000 First light of the second Thermal Infrared MultiMode Instrument (TIMMI2) on the ESO 3.6-metre telescope. 17 March 2001 First light for the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). 6 April 2001 Resolution for ALMA between Europe, North America and Japan. 7 May 2001 Portugal formally joins ESO (Member State 9). 25 November 2001 First light for the combined NAOS CONICA instrument (NACO) on the VLT s UT4 Yepun. 26 February 2002 First light of the VIsible Multi- Object Spectrograph (VIMOS) on the VLT s UT3, Melipal. 1 April 2002 First light of the Fibre Large Array Multi Element Spectrograph (FLAMES) on the VLT s UT2, Kueyen. 21 May 2002 The United Kingdom signs the Accession Agreement. 24 June 2002 The United Kingdom formally joins ESO (Member State 10). 24 October 2002 First light of the Fibre-fed Extended Range Optical Spectrograph (FEROS) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope. 15 December 2002 First light of the MID-infrared Interferometric instrument (MIDI) on the VLTI. 11 February February 2003 First light of the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) at ESO s 3.6-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory. ESO and the US National Science Foundation (NSF) sign a bilateral agreement on ALMA. 18 April 2003 First light of the MACAO VLTI facility. 24 June 2003 The 0.6-metre Rapid Eye Mount (REM) telescope starts operations at La Silla. 6 November 2003 Groundbreaking ceremony at the ALMA site. 30 January 2004 First light for the first Auxiliary Telescope (AT1). 9 February 2004 Finland signs the Accession Agreement. 21 March 2004 First fringes of the Astronomical Multi-BEam combiner (AMBER) on the VLTI. 6 April 2004 Milky Way stellar motions After more than 1000 nights of observations at La Silla, spread over 15 years, astronomers determine the motions of more than solar-like stars residing in the neighbourhood of the Sun, showing that our home galaxy has led a much more turbulent and chaotic life than previously assumed. (#10 Top10) 30 April 2004 First light for the VLT Imager and Spectrometer in the InfraRed (VISIR) on the VLT s UT3, Melipal. 7 July 2004 Finland formally joins ESO (Member State 11). 9 July 2004 First light for the Spectrograph for INtegral Field Observation in the Near-Infrared (SINFONI) on the VLT s UT4, Yepun. 17 August 2004 Oldest star known in the Milky Way Using the VLT, astronomers measure the age of the oldest star known in the Milky Way: 13.2 billion years old. (#6 Top10) 10 September 2004 First image of an exoplanet The VLT obtains the first-ever image of a planet outside the Solar System. (#3 Top10) 14 September 2004 Agreement is reached between ESO, the US National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Japan, concerning the construction of ALMA. 2 February 2005 First light for the second Auxiliary Telescope (AT2). 14 July October 2005 First light for the submillimetre Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX). Gamma-ray bursts connections with supernovae and merging neutron stars ESO telescopes provide definitive proof that long gamma-ray bursts are linked with the ultimate explosions of massive stars, solving a long-standing puzzle. (#4 Top10) 1 November 2005 First light for the third Auxiliary Telescope (AT3). 7 December 2005 ESO signs the European contract for the production of up to 32 ALMA antennas. This is the largest ever contract for industrial work on a ground-based astronomy project. 28 January 2006 First light of the VLT laser guide star, on the VLT s UT4, Yepun. 4 June 2006 First light for the CRyogenic highresolution InfraRed Echelle Spectrograph (CRIRES) at VLT s UT1. 15 September 2006 The robotic TAROT South Telescope starts work at La Silla. 11 December December 2006 First light for the fourth Auxiliary Telescope (AT4). 22 December 2006 The Czech Republic signs the Accession Agreement. 29 December 2006 ESO Council agree to proceed with studies for the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). Spain signs the Accession Agreement. 14 February 2007 Spain formally joins ESO (Member State 12). 25 March 2007 First light for the Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics Demonstrator (MAD) at the visitor focus of Melipal. 30 April 2007 The Czech Republic formally joins ESO (Member State 13). 6 July 2007 First light of the Gamma-ray burst Optical/ Near-infrared Detector (GROND) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope. 5 August 2007 First light for the LArge BOlometer CAmera (LABOCA) instrument on APEX. 22 August 2007 First light for the High Acuity, Wide field K-band Imaging (HAWK-I) instrument on the VLT s UT4, Yepun. 1 September 2007 Tim de Zeeuw (1956 ) takes over as Director General of ESO. March 2008 Filming of scenes from the 22nd James Bond movie Quantum of Solace at ESO s Paranal Observatory. 13 May 2008 Cosmic temperature independently measured The VLT detects carbon monoxide molecules in a galaxy located almost 11 billion light-years away for the first time, allowing astronomers to obtain the most precise measurement of the cosmic temperature at such a remote epoch. (#5 Top10) 30 June 2008 Austria signs the Accession Agreement. 8 September 2008 First light for the Phase Referenced Imaging and Microarcsecond Astrometry (PRIMA) instrument on the VLTI. 6 October 2008 First light for the Submillimetre APEX Bolometer Camera (SABOCA) instrument on APEX. 9 November 2008 First light for X-shooter on the VLT. 18 November 2008 Flares from the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way The VLT and APEX team up to study the violent flares from the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, revealing material being stretched out as it orbits in the intense gravity close to the central black hole. (#7 Top10) 10 December 2008 Stars orbiting the Milky Way black hole Several of ESO s flagship telescopes were used in a 16-year-long study to obtain the most detailed view ever of the surroundings of the supermassive black hole lurking at the heart of our galaxy. (#1 Top10) 18 December 2008 The ALMA Observatory is equipped with its first antenna. 1 July 2009 Austria formally joins ESO (Member State 14). 17 September November 2009 First ALMA antenna arrives at 5000-metre-altitude Chajnantor site. First three ALMA antennas are successfully linked (phase closure) at 5000-metre-altitude Chajnantor site. 11 December 2009 VISTA, the pioneering new survey telescope, starts work April June 2010 First light of the TRAPPIST telescope at La Silla. 24 August 2010 Cerro Armazones is chosen as site for the E-ELT. Richest planetary system Astronomers using HARPS discover the richest planetary system so far, containing at least five planets around the Sun-like star HD (#9 Top10) 5 November 2010 ALMA Santiago Central Office, built for the ALMA project by ESO, is handed over. 1 December 2010 Direct measurements of the spectra of exoplanets and their atmospheres The first direct measurements of the spectra of exoplanets and their atmospheres are made with the VLT. (#8 Top10) 29 December 2010 Brazil signs the Accession Agreement. 31 December 2010 The Space Telescope-European Coordinating Facility for the Hubble Space Telescope closes. 20 April June 2011 Light from all four VLT Unit Telescopes is combined for the first time. First images from the VLT Survey Telescope. 27 July 2011 First European ALMA antenna arrives at Chajnantor. 24 August 2011 First 7-metre ALMA antenna arrives at Chajnantor. 30 September 2011 ALMA starts Early Science and first image is published. 13 October 2011 ESO and Chile sign agreement on land for the E-ELT.