Astronomical News

Reflecting on the usefulness of the Hid- of the datasets had already been identi- Links den Treasures competition, we can fied by our team prior to the competition, 1 This work is carried out using the purpose-built say that it undoubtedly has served to fur- and were at some stage of processing, software developed in-house called the ESO/ESA/ ther increase the visibility of ESO and showing that the ESO Science Archive NASA FITS Liberator, available at: http://www.­ its data. Almost thirty of the submitted has few hidden gems remaining. spacetelescope.org/projects/fits_liberator/. 2 images have some potential to be re­­ To follow ESO’s social media accounts access: http://www.facebook.com/ESOAstronomy or leased publicly, and half a dozen were so http://twitter.com/ESO_Observatory impressive that they will become ESO References 3 The web page of the competition is at: http://www. Photo Releases over the next few months. eso.org/public/outreach/hiddentreasures Haines, C. P. et al. 2006, MNRAS, 371, 55 It is also interesting that four of the best Patat, F. et al. 2010, A&A, in press, arXiv:1011.6156

Fellows at ESO

Andrea Ahumada has also given me the opportunity to do outreach. I feel that I am lucky to do what I have always been fascinated by astron- I do for living, so outreach is very impor- omy. As a young girl, when I watched the tant to me, because in this way I can give first episode of Cosmos (by Carl Sagan), something back to people. I had a dream: to become an astronomer. Now, after almost 30 years, I am writ- In two months I will move to Bologna ing these lines as an ESO fellow. This Observatory (Italy) for my fourth year as achievement was possible because my an ESO fellow. This is a wonderful parents and my oldest sister were piv- ­scientific opportunity for me because I otal in my career: they believed in me and have started working on the BOCCE supported my dreams. (Bologna Open Clusters Chemical Evolu- tion) Project. In Bologna there will be Cordoba (Argentina), where I was born, new challenges, and I am very happy has a long and proud history in astron- Andrea Ahumada about having the chance to live in Italy, omy, so, I had the opportunity to study where my great-grandparents came from. astronomy at the FaMAF (Facultad de at Paranal Observatory, where I work with Matematica, Astronomia y Fisica), and the world’s most powerful telescopes While I am writing this, my last turno at finally, under the supervision of Professor and instruments, I have learnt new tech- Paranal is coming up soon. I feel strange J. J. Claria, I obtained my PhD at the nical skills, with the opportunity to ob- and a little sad to be leaving. Most of National University of Cordoba (Argen- serve, in the same night, with different those whom I have met in Santiago and tina) in 2004. Since then, my main topics techniques, a large spectrum of astro- Paranal are really nice people; working of research have been Galactic open nomical objects, from comets to very dis- here I had the opportunity to make new clusters and star clusters of the Magel- tant objects, such as gamma-ray bursts. friends, and also I had the chance to lanic Clouds. During my career, as an During the night shifts, I am the support meet Juan Manuel. Memories of the observational astronomer, I have been astronomer for Antu’s (UT1) instruments. three years that I have spent in this beau- able to observe with many different tele- After all this time in Paranal, I still con- tiful country will stay for ever in my heart. scopes, and fortunate to go from small tinue to be amazed at how unique it is to (at the Bosque Alegre Observatory, Ar- spend a night there. gentina) to big ones (at Paranal Observa- Bram Venemans tory). I remember the first time that I vis- Working at ESO has been very beneficial ited those telescopes, I was fascinated! for my development as a scientist, pro- When I was around 12 years old, I be- viding me with important opportunities to came interested in astronomy for the I joined ESO in April 2008, and as an advance in my research and to expand first time. Amateur astronomers had Argentinian, I only had to cross the Andes my network of scientific collaborations, organised a public viewing of a lunar to come to Chile. With functional duties while continuing with the old ones. ESO eclipse, which made a big impression

The Messenger 143 – March 2011 59 Astronomical News

on me. Unfortunately, growing up in After finishing my degree in 1999 at the Garching. One of the great things about the light-polluted city of Amsterdam, Leiden Observatory, I went to the Univer- being at ESO is the possibility of attend- often the Moon was the only object visi- sity of Cambridge for a one-year Master’s ing many of the large number of inter­ ble in the sky at night. I kept my interest in astronomy working at a more numeri- esting workshops and talks that are in astronomy alive by reading lots of cal project. In 2000 I returned to Leiden to organised in the area each year. Besides books, with topics ranging from a start my PhD project. The aim was to continuing to study very high redshift detailed description of the Solar System study the environment of powerful radio objects, working at ESO also gives me to the theory of the Big Bang. When I galaxies at redshifts between two and five the opportunity to be involved in the went to university, I had no doubt what I by searching for overdensities of Lyman-a E-ELT project. I find it very exciting to be wanted to study, and in 1995 I started emission-line galaxies. My project got able to contribute to a project with such my undergraduate studies in astronomy off to a flying start, as three months into importance for the future of European at the University of Leiden. During the my PhD our group received confirmation astronomy. As an undergraduate student first few years of study I somehow was that our VLT large programme had been on my first observing trip I was thoroughly very certain I would finish my degree and accepted. This meant that I had the impressed by the size of the mirror of the start a career outside the academic opportunity to visit Paranal several times NTT, so I can hardly imagine how it will world. This assumption turned out to be to obtain all the data I needed for my the- be to stand next to a 42-metre telescope completely wrong ... sis. The observations went really well, in (hopefully) a few years from now! ­giving me more than enough results to My ideas for the future radically changed write several papers and to fill my thesis. when I was doing my Master’s project After defending my PhD thesis in 2005, at the Leiden Observatory. The research I went back to Cambridge, this time to consisted of reducing multicolour imag- work as a research associate at the Insti- ing data. Shortly after choosing my pro- tute of Astronomy. My work there focused ject, my supervisor asked me whether on studying galaxies and quasars at the I wanted to go for an observing run with highest redshifts (z > 6), using, amongst the NTT on La Silla. Although scientifically others, data from large public surveys like the observing run was not a huge success SDSS and UKIDSS. (lots of clouds!), I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Exploring various ways to As nearly all my research made use of get the best results and to make new dis- large amounts of ESO data, applying coveries fascinated me and by the time for an ESO Fellowship was the obvious I finished my Master’s thesis, I was deter- next step for me. Currently, I am in my mined to pursue a career in astronomy. third year as an ESO Fellow working in Bram Venemans

Personnel Movements

Arrivals (1 January–31 March 2011) Departures (1 January–31 March 2011)

Europe Europe Drouart, Guillaume (F) Student Dremel, Günther (D) Administrative Clerk Lakicevic, Masa (SRB) Student Feng, Lu (VR) Student Riesel, Jürgen (D) Administrative Clerk Jalali, Behrang (IR) Student Sartoris, Barbara (I) Student Müller, André (D) Student Schmid, Erich (D) Software Engineer Nilsson, Kim (S) Astronomer Westmoquette, Mark (GB) Fellow Völk, Elisabeth (D) Secretary/Assistant

Chile Chile Barria, Daniela (RCH) Student Andreoni, Gaetano (I) IT Quality Assurance Manager Gourgeot, Florian (F) Student Emmerich, Alejandra (RCH) Secretary/Assistant Jager, Henderikus (NL) System Engineer Gallegos, Leonardo (RCH) Telescope Instruments Operator Jones, David (GB) Fellow Gutierrez, Flavio (RCH) System Administrator Lieder, Stefan (D) Student Lassalle, Jacques (F) Safety Engineer Pozzobon, Matteo (I) Senior Mechanical Engineer Lira, Luis Felipe (RCH) Legal Advisor Rioseco, Diego (RCH) Legal Advisor Planesas, Pere (E) Test Scientist

60 The Messenger 143 – March 2011