European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere ESO
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European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere ESO Description The ESO (European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere) is a globally recognised intergovernmental body that builds and operates Earth-based astronomy research facilities and involves the majo- rity of the European States. Currently, the ESO has 14 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Den- mark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United King- dom. It was established in 1962 and its headquarters are in Garching, Germany. The German offices are responsible for managing and carrying out most of the administrative, scientific and tech- nological tasks of the Organisation. Garching has laboratories which are used to develop technologies applied to the 94 sophisticated scientific observation instruments used in the telescopes, as well as integration rooms for them. It is also home to the ESO scientific archive which contains all astronomical observation data obtained at the observa- tories, which can be accessed on the Internet. e (ESO) ESO observation programme: instrumental equipment n Hemispher her The ESO selected Chile to build the first observatory, primarily due to the exceptional atmospheric conditions for astronomy and the possibility of accessing the sky in the Southern Hemisphere. The telescopes are set up in three he Sout locations: La Silla, Cerro Paranal and El Llano de Chajnantor. Although the ESO identifies its operational facilities in h in t Chile as a single observatory for functional purposes, they should be considered separately for description purpo- esearc ses. onomical R tr La Silla or As La Silla, located 600 km north of Santiago de Chile at an altitude of 2,400 m, was the site chosen by the ESO to set up its first facilities. Today, the 3.6 m telescope, which was the star of the Institution's Founding Convention is still anisation f g in operation. The New Technology Telescope (NTT), with a 3.5 m aperture, is also operational. There is also a 2.2 m diameter telescope operated by the ESO by virtue of an agreement with the Max Planck Institute of Astronomy of opean Or Heidelberg, Germany. Eur Half a century examining the Universe Paranal nomy of Bonn, Germany, and the Observatory of Onsa- la, Sweden. Cerro Paranal currently has the world's most powerful astronomical observation tools. Located at an altitu- ALMA de of 2,600 m near Antofagasta, it houses four 8.2 m diameter telescopes that are known jointly as a Very Lar- In a truly global project for Earth-based astronomy, ge Telescope (VLT). These four telescopes (also known together with partners in North America and Eastern as telescopic units or TUs) are able to operate indepen- Asia, the ESO is building an antenna array in Llano de dently, each focusing on a different area of the sky, using Chajnantor capable of observations in the millimetric different astrophysical instruments. However, what and submillimetric band, using the interferometry tech- makes it unique, apart from the power, is the possibi- nique, with unprecedented precision and sensitivity. It lity of combining the light received from the different is the ALMA (Atacama Large Millimetre/sub-millimetre telescopes from the same area of the sky and appl- Array) project. A project that will revolutionise obser- ying the technique known as interferometry. The VLT vations with its 66 mobile antennas, with a separa- group, together with an additional four mobile auxiliary tion of up to 10 km between them for establishing dif- telescopes measuring 1.8 m in diameter, can operate ferent observation configurations. Most of the anten- together as an interferometer (known as VLTI), making nas (54) will have a 12 m diameter, while the other 12 it possible to achieve unparalleled space resolutions will have a smaller diameter (seven metres). Each of in visual and infrared light. these antennas will be equipped with receivers in seve- ral spectral bands, covering the wavelength range from Meanwhile, broad-field telescopes are expected to go 0.3 to 10 mm. into service, capable of mapping large areas of the sky in a single take: the VLT Survey Telescope (VST), with a ALMA is designed to observe the cold Universe, espe- 2.6 m aperture in the visual band and the VLT Infrared cially the molecules around forming stars and the 96 Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA), with a 4 m aper- interstellar medium of the galaxies, from the closest ture in the infrared band. The latter became operatio- to the most remote, just when they were beginning nal in late 2009. to take shape. The Operations Support Facility (OSF) e (ESO) is located at an altitude of 2,900 m, near San Pedro de Atacama, while the ALMA headquarters are loca- Llano de Chajnantor ted in Santiago de Chile. n Hemispher her Llano de Chajnantor (in the Atacama Desert) is located In late 2009, the first antennas had already been trans- he Sout at an altitude of 5,000 m, making it one of the most inhos- ported to Llano de Chajnantor and the first interfero- h in t pitable places on Earth for human activity. In compen- metric observations had been made with 3 antennas and sation, the quantity of water vapour that can precipita- phase closure. ALMA is expected to be fully operational esearc te above the observatory is very small, which hugely faci- in around 2012 or 2013. litates the transparency of the atmosphere to millime- onomical R tric and submillimetric waves. tr or As Scientific access to facilities and data APEX Scientific access to the ESO facilities is achieved through anisation f g APEX (Atacama Pathfinder Experiment) is a 12 m diame- a competitive procedure. There are two calls a year for ter radiation observation antenna, equipped with a the research community to send their observation pro- opean Or modern array of detectors and receivers in the millime- posals, which tend to be five or more times greater than Eur tric and submillimetric band. This is a joint project bet- the time available. The Observation Programmes Com- ween the ESO, the Max-Planck Institute of Radio Astro- mittee, made up of experts from the entire community, recommends the proposals to be undertaken at the observatories to the ESO general manager. Observations may be made in "visitor" mode (where the researcher travels to the observatory to direct the cam- paign onsite) or in “service” mode (the ESO staff make e (ESO) the observations directly, following the researcher's ins- tructions). n Hemispher All data obtained at the observatories is stored in the her scientific archive. The research team normally has a he Sout maximum priority period of 12 months in which to use h in t the data, after which time it may be used by any rese- archer from the Member States. esearc ALMA antennas (ESO image). onomical R The future of ESO: the E-ELT Telescope tr or As nish delegation is held by the MICINN (Ministry of Scien- The extremely large telescopes (with apertures in the ce and Innovation). anisation f 30 m range) are considered to be one of the world's gre- g atest priorities for Earth-based astronomy. With this class of telescopes, it is expected to be possible to detect opean Or and study planets similar to Earth in orbit around other Eur stars, identify the individual stars that make up other 97 galaxies near our own, examine the structure of gala- xies shortly after their formation at distances not rea- In 2003, prior to Spain's entry into the ESO, the minis- chable until now or measure the expansion of the Uni- ters of science and technology at the time signed an verse in real time. agreement with the ESO that regulated Spanish parti- cipation in the construction of the ALMA telescope. The European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) project Because of that agreement and Spain's subsequent mem- (see page 256), an infrastructure identified in the ESFRI bership in the organisation, the Spanish industries and Roadmap in the area of astronomy, will maintain and R&D centres have made and continue to make major reinforce Europe's position at the cutting edge of contributions in kind to the construction of this teles- astrophysical research. To do so, the ESO has been desig- cope, as well as to the other ESO activities. ning this facility since early 2007 (it will be the largest optical telescope on the planet with a 42m aperture), and the design is expected to be completed in mid-2010. Additional information Location: Garching, Germany Spanish participation Budget: Û 120M/ year Year of commissioning: 1962 Spain has been a full member of the ESO since 1 July Websites: 2006. The country's contribution to the annual bud- http://www.eso.org get of the institution is made in proportion to its GDP http://www.eso.org/public/spain/ (currently representing around 9% of the total). The Spa- index.html IRAMInstitut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique Description IRAM (Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique) is a Spanish-French-German technical research and development ins- titute, specialising in millimetric radio astronomy. Spain participates in this large scientific facility through the Natio- nal Geographic Institute (IGN, Ministry of Public Works) and, more specifically, through the National Astronomic Observatory (OAN). When it was established in 1979, IRAM (Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique) was the first multinational European radio astronomy institute. This facility is made up of two observatories with complementary telescopes and headquarters in Grenoble, Fran- ce, where most of the instruments (receivers, spectrometers) and software are developed, with the latter being used by a large part of the world's radio astronomers.