ESO Annual Report 2018 Posals to ALMA Every Year
ESO European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere Annual Report 2018 ESO European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere Annual Report 2018 Presented to the Council by the Director General Xavier Barcons The European Southern Observatory ESO, the European Southern Observa tory, is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe. It ESO/M. Claro has 16 Member States: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the Host State of Chile, and with Australia as a Strategic Partner. Several other countries have expressed an interest in membership. Created in 1962, ESO carries out an ambi tious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful groundbased observing facilities, ena bling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three worldclass observ The VLT at the Paranal Observatory at sunset. this interferometric mode, the telescope’s ing sites in the Atacama Desert region vision is as sharp as that of a telescope of Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. The VLT is a unique facility and arguably as large as the separation between La Silla, located 2400 metres above sea the world’s most advanced optical instru the most distant mirrors. For the VLTI, level and 600 kilometres north of Santiago ment. It is not just one telescope but an this can be up to 200 metres. de Chile, was ESO’s first observatory.
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