ESO

European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere

Annual Report 2012

ESO

European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere

Annual Report 2012

presented to the Council by the Director General Prof. Tim de Zeeuw The European Southern Observatory

ESO, the European Southern Obser­ ) vatory, is the foremost intergovern-­ mental astronomy organisation in Europe. It is supported by 15 countries: Austria, josefrancisco.org ­Belgium, Brazil1, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Several other countries have expressed an interest in membership. ESO/José Francisco Salgado ( Salgado Francisco ESO/José Created in 1962, ESO carries out an ambitious programme focussed 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 The ridge at La Silla. and organising cooperation in astro­ nomical research. forefront of astronomy, and is still the The VLT is a most unusual telescope, third most scientifically productive in based on the latest technology. It is ESO operates three unique world-class ground -based astronomy (after Paranal not just one, but an array of four tele­ observing sites in the Atacama Desert and the Keck Observatory), the Paranal scopes, each with a main mirror of re ­gion of Chile: La Silla, Paranal and site, at 2600 metres above sea level, with 8.2 metres in diameter. With one such ­Chajnantor. ESO’s first site is at La Silla, the Very Large Telescope array (VLT), telescope, images of celestial objects a mountain of height 2400 metres, 600 the V­ isible and Infrared Survey Telescope as faint as magnitude 30 have been kilo ­metres north of Santiago de Chile. It is for Astronomy (VISTA), the world’s largest obtained in a one-hour exposure. This equipped with several optical telescopes survey telescope, and the VLT Survey corresponds to seeing objects that with mirror diameters of up to 3.6 metres. Telescope (VST), the largest ­telescope are four billion times fainter than those designed to exclusively survey the skies seen with the naked eye. The 3.5-metre New Technology Tele­ in visible light, is the flagship facility of scope (NTT) broke new ground for European astronomy. Paranal is situated One of the most exciting features of the ­telescope engineering and design. It was about 130 kilo­metres south of Antofa­ VLT is the option to use it as a giant the first in the world to have a computer- gasta in Chile, 12 kilometres inland from ­optical interferometer (VLT Interferometer controlled main mirror, a technology the P­ acific coast in one of the driest areas or VLTI). This is done by combining the developed at ESO and now applied to in the world. Scientific operations began light from two or more of the 8.2-metre most of the world’s current large tele­ in 1999 and have resulted in many ex­ telescopes and including one or more scopes. While La Silla remains at the tremely successful research programmes. of the four 1.8-metre movable Auxiliary ) twanight.org ESO/B. Tafreshi (

Panoramic view of the Chajnantor Plateau 1 Brazil, having signed an Accession Agreement in showing the site of the Atacama Large Millimeter/ December 2010, will officially become the 15th submillimeter Array, taken from near the peak of Member State of ESO on completion of the requi­ Cerro Chico. site ratification process.

2 ESO Annual Report 2012 A beautiful sunset from the top of Cerro Paranal, home of the Very Large Telescope.

­Telescopes (AT). In this interferometric The next step beyond the VLT is to build vide the observatories with the most mode, the telescope has vision as sharp a European Extremely Large optical/ advanced instruments. ESO’s ­offices in as that of a telescope the size of the infrared Telescope (E-ELT) with a primary Chile are located in Vitacura, ­Santiago. ­separation between the most distant mir­ mirror 39.3 metres in diameter. The E-ELT They host the local adminis­tration and rors. For the VLTI, this is 200 metres. will be the “world’s biggest eye on the support groups, and are home to ESO/ sky” — the largest optical/near-infrared Chile astronomers when they are not Each year, about 2000 proposals are telescope in the world. The E-ELT will at the observatories. This site also con­ submitted for the use of ESO telescopes, ad ­dress many of the most pressing un­ tains the new ALMA Santiago Central requesting between three and six times solved questions in astronomy. It may, Office. ESO Vitacura has become an more nights than are available. ESO is the eventually, revolutionise our perception of active node for training new generations most productive ground-based observa­ the Universe, much as Galileo’s telescope of researchers, acting as a bridge tory in the world and its operation yields did 400 years ago. The final go-ahead between scientists in Europe and Chile. many peer-reviewed publications: in 2012 for construction is expected in 2013, with alone, more than 870 refereed papers the start of operations at the beginning of The regular Member State contribu- based on ESO data were published. next decade. tions to ESO in 2012 were approximately 133 million euros and ESO employs The Atacama Large Millimeter/submil­ ESO’s headquarters are located in 717 staff members. limeter Array (ALMA), the largest ground- Garching, near Munich, Germany. This is based astronomy project in existence, the scientific, technical and adminis­trative Artist’s impression of the European Extremely is a revolutionary facility for world astrono­ centre of ESO where technical develop­ Large Telescope in its enclosure on Cerro my. ALMA comprises an array of 66 12- ment programmes are carried out to pro­ Armazones. and 7-metre diameter antennas observing at millimetre and submillimetre wave­ lengths. ALMA was inaugurated in 2012 and is lo­cated on the high-altitude

Chajnantor Plateau, at 5000 metres above Calçada ESO/L. sea level — one of the highest astro­ nomical observatories in the world. The ALMA project is a partnership between Europe, East Asia and North America, in coop­eration with the Republic of Chile. ESO is the European partner in ALMA.

The Chajnantor site is also home to the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) a 12 -metre millimetre and submillimetre ­telescope, operated by ESO on behalf of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astron­ omy, the Onsala Space Observa­tory and ESO itself.

ESO Annual Report 2012 3

Contents

The European Southern Observatory 2 Foreword 6 Introduction 7 Science 10 Research Highlights 11 Offices for Science 22 Allocation of Telescope Time 26 Publication Digest 30 Operations 32 La Silla Paranal Observatory 33 Data Management and Operations Division 40 European ALMA Support Centre 44 Programmes 46 Instrumentation for the La Silla Paranal Observatory 47 ALMA 54 European Extremely Large Telescope 64 Engineering 66 Technology Division 67 Software Development 72 Administration 76 Finance and Budget 78 Human Resources 80 List of Staff 84 Organigram 89 Office of the Director General 90 Legal Service 91 Chile Relations 92 International Relations 94 Committees 98 Council 99 Finance Committee 101 Scientific Technical Committee 102 Observing Programmes Committee 104 ALMA Proposal Review Committee 106 Users Committee 107 Outreach 110 Calendar of Events 116 Glossary of Acronyms 118

ESO Annual Report 2012 5 Foreword

Pride, success and big challenges the technical building, located at 5000 ready to start construction, a situation ­characterised the year 2012 at ESO. metres above sea level; the location of that has driven the participating ESO Achieving 50 years of cooperation in the ALMA Residencia has been decided Member States to sign up for the pro­ astronomy and building and operating and the architectural design is nearing gramme. Ways to bring forward the start some of the most productive ground- completion. Everything is ready for of the construction are being explored by based telescopes in the world is a good a worldwide celebration in March 2013 ESO management and Council. reason for pride for all members of the when the President of the Republic of big ESO f­amily — staff, astronomers, Chile, Sebastián Piñera, will inaugurate I should like to dedicate a few lines to institutes, industries and governments the observatory together with authorities highlight something obvious but impor­ and also Council. Celebration activities from ESO Member States and the other tant, namely that ESO is part of the took place all across the Member States, ALMA partner regions. As expected, research and development system of its raising society’s awareness of ESO’s stunning scientific output from ALMA Member States. ESO provides oppor­ remit and success. In particular I should started appearing ­during the year. The tunities to these Member States in the like to thank the Ministers and high-level first scientific papers have been pub­ terms of science, technology, industrial dignitaries, colleagues and friends who lished, with the majority of them involving activities, employment and cooperation. joined us at the celebration in Munich on astronomers from the ESO region. Even At the same time, ESO is funded by the 11 October. This year also provided an in its early configuration, ALMA is pro­ governments of the same Member States opportunity for a retrospective apprecia­ viding amazing astronomical data and in line with the Convention and assoc­ tion of the impressive scientific and scientific breakthroughs, whilst giving just iated protocols. While the overall financial ­technological progress that ESO has a glimpse of the progress that will be environment is being impacted by na­ enabled during its half century of history. achieved in the years to come when the tional budget realities, it needs to be rec­ Astronomy, the scientific discipline that array is complete. ognised and appreciated that the govern­ aims at knowing and understanding the ments of the ESO Member States are Universe, would not be the same today This year, Council passed a major mile­ doing their best to guarantee their partici­ without ESO. This coming year, 2013, stone towards the next big ESO project, pation in ESO’s programme. The chal­ will see the celebration of another 50th the European Extremely Large Tele- lenge ahead for Council is to maintain and anniversary — that of the first site agree­ scope, by approving the creation of the further strengthen this support in view ment with the Republic of Chile, which E -ELT programme. This required the of the very challenging programme that marked the start of a long and fruitful col­ ­positive vote, and associated financial we have collectively defined and to laboration. commitment, of two thirds of the Member ­continue making ESO a success story, States. This was reached provisionally thus helping our Member States evolve The fact that La Silla–Paranal continued, in June and fully in December. The Mem­ towards a knowledge-based society. for another year, to be one of the most ber States that paved the way to this successful scientific infrastructures in the important achievement at the time of the world should not prevent us from realis­ December Council meeting — Austria, ing and celebrating this very fact. Keep­ Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, ing the observatories up and running with France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the highest efficiency and with state-of- Sweden, Switzerland and the United the-art instrumentation is something that Kingdom, the latter with a provisional does not normally make it to the front positive vote — will hopefully soon be page of the newspapers, but it is what joined by Denmark, Portugal and Spain. ultimately makes an international scien­ The ESO Council has been unanimous President of the ESO Council tific organisation a success story. A key in showing interest in, and support for, Xavier Barcons ingredient in this success is the very the project, with the difference in the tim­ competent, engaged and dedicated staff ing of joining the programme being, who work at ESO. hopefully, a short-term interim situation. The goal is that the E-ELT, like ALMA and Enormous progress was achieved with the VLT, will soon become part of ESO’s ALMA during the year. The number of core programme, fully shared by all Mem­ accepted antennas increased dra­ ber States. matically to 51, while the remainder are already in Chile for integration. Some Construction of the E-ELT in full needs of the technologically more advanced not only the commitment of the current items (front ends, back ends) are essen­ Member States, which are pledging tially fi­ nished; the ESO-delivered perma­ ­additional funds for this project, but also nent power supply system is already the ratification by Brazil of its accession ener ­gising ALMA’s Operations Support to the organisation as its 15th Member Facility near San Pedro de Atacama and State. The E-ELT project is technically

6 ESO Annual Report 2012 Introduction

This year was special for many reasons, the newly created Pacific Alliance, not only because it marked ESO’s 50th at ­tended by the Presidents of Chile, anniversary, but also because of the Colombia, Mexico and Peru (with a brief major progress achieved in a number of appearance by the King of Spain), as well areas. as a visit by Minister Schavan of ESO’s Host State Germany in late September. Belgium, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands created ESO in 1962, The ratification of the Brazilian Accession with the dual aims of providing astrono­ Agreement started making further pro­ mers with a large telescope with which to gress when the responsible ministries study the southern night sky and of fos­ submitted the ESO file to the Casa Civil tering collaborations in astronomy. A year on 30 May. The governments of many later, ESO selected Chile as the Host Member States and of Chile continued to State for its planned observatory, and encourage the Brazilian government to subsequently achieved its initial objective move forward and this led to the further with the construction of the La Silla critical decision taken by President Dilma Observatory, with its flagship 3.6-metre Rousseff in early 2013 to send the ESO telescope starting operations in 1976. In file for ratification to the Brazilian National the past half century, ESO’s programme Congress and the Federal Senate. has expanded far beyond the original goal through the construction of the Another major milestone was the formal world -leading ground-based observatory approval of the E-ELT as a supplemen­ on Paranal — hosting the VLT, the VLT tary programme as defined in the Con­ Interferometer, VISTA and the VST; par­ vention. Provisional approval in June ticipation in the APEX partnership operat­ (with six Member States in favour, four in and the detection of molecular gas in gal­ ing a 12-metre submillimetre antenna favour ad referendum and four absten­ axies at redshifts of almost six. The on Chajnantor; participation in the inter­ tions) was followed by confirmation in re ­sponse to the Cycle 1 call for proposals continental partnership that has now December, when the required two-thirds was even larger than in the previous year nearly completed the construction of the majority of ten was reached. At the time (Cycle 0). world’s largest radio telescope, ALMA, of writing, 13 of the 14 Member States on Chajnantor; and the planned construc­ have joined the programme, and the The second generation VLT instrument tion of the 39.3-metre diameter E-ELT on remaining one is expected to join in the KMOS achieved first light and the ­Armazones, with a projected start of near future. As progress is made towards re ­placement laser for the VLT adaptive operations early in the next decade. The ratification in Brazil, the project is mov- optics laser PARSEC was shipped to number of Member States stands at 14, ing ahead, with the first calls for t­enders Chile. A major intervention on Unit Tele­ with Brazil poised to join as the first non-­ being made, following successful and scope 4 (UT4) was carried out early in the European Member State, and other informative industry days in various Mem­ year to prepare it for the arrival of the countries expressing interest in joining in ber States and at ESO Headquarters. components of the Adaptive Optics Facil­ the near future. ity. The Paranal team was also instru­ ALMA construction is on track for com­ mental in recovering from a failure of the The 50th anniversary celebrations includ­ pletion in 2013 and, by the end of the hydrostatic bearings on UT4 in Septem­ ed a special all-hands overview in March, year 2012, most of the ESO deliverables ber, through a dedi­cated around-the- a staff party in Garching in September, were complete. Seventeen AEM antennas clock effort that was much appreciated attended by the Council President, and a were accepted, with 15 in the array at all round. Both VISTA and the VST are in Gala Dinner on 11 October that clearly the Array Operations Site (AOS) and the regular operation and ­produce exciting increased ESO’s profile at the highest remainder in the verification phase or in science. The overall efficiency is still government levels in the Member States mechanical integration at the Operations being improved in good coordination with and in Chile. There were many activities Support Facility (OSF). The permanent the Principal Investigators and the Public in the Member States and the books power supply was commissioned and the Survey Panel. The ESO telescopes con­ Europe to the Stars by Govert Schilling location of the Residencia was agreed. tinue to be highly oversubscribed and the and Lars Lindberg Christensen and The The Early Science observations, with a scientific productivity increased once Jewel on the Mountaintop by Claus limited number of antennas, have already again. Discoveries included a planet ­Madsen, which were specially commis­ pro ­vided stunning demonstrations of orbiting our nearest star system, Alpha sioned for ESO’s 50th anniversary, were the tremendous power of the array, and Centauri, with HARPS; the most powerful published and well received. The num- included the discovery of interstellar quasar by X-shooter; and the measure­ ber of high-level visits to the observatories building blocks of amino acids, the struc­ ment of the inner structure of a quasar also increased, including the early June ture of planet-forming discs, detailed with unprecedented sharpness, provided summit — taking place on Paranal — of mapping of mass loss from evolved stars, by intercontinental very long baseline

ESO Annual Report 2012 7 ­millimetre interferometry with the involve­ will enable ESO to pursue its ambitious during the year in the areas of leadership, ment of APEX. programme and start the construction internal communication, and perfor­ of the E-ELT. mance management, with further steps The financial situation of the entire pro­ planned for 2013. gramme is under pressure for a number Early in the year, the results of a staff of reasons beyond ESO’s control, some engagement survey carried out by an long term and some short term. The external company were presented. These ­latter required austerity measures to be showed that ESO is doing well in many implemented in September, with the areas, including overall engagement, but prospect that these could be lifted by late that there is room for improvement in 2013. The longer term threats to the several directions. The mana­ gement finances of the Organisation are being team drew up a global action plan, as a Tim de Zeeuw addressed in a number of ways that result of which good progress was made ESO Director General ESO/B. Bailleul ESO/B.

This VLT image of the Thor’s Helmet Nebula was taken on the occa­ sion of ESO’s 50th anni­ versary, 5 October 2012, with the help of Brigitte Bailleul — winner of the Tweet Your Way to the VLT! competition.

8 ESO Annual Report 2012 On the evening of 11 October 2012 a Gala event to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the European South- ern Observatory took place in the Kaisersaal of the Munich Residenz in Germany. To mark the occasion, senior representatives of the ESO Member States and its host nation Chile, among them seven Ministers and two Ambassadors, and of the observatory itself, signed a proto- type m­ irror segment of the European Extremely Large Telescope.

ESO Annual Report 2012 9 Science

10 ESO Annual Report 2012 Research Highlights

Birth and evolution of massive stars

ESO’s facilities continue to provide Some revolutionary changes in our determined assuming that single and exciting science results. As part of the understanding of how massive stars are binary stars of high mass evolve in the 50th anniversary celebrations, the born and evolve have taken place over same way. ESO@50 workshop examined the sci­ the past few years, and several of these entific successes of the past, today’s have been driven by observations made In a binary system, however, the evolu­ challenging questions and promises with ESO telescopes. tionary path of a massive star may for the future. It also very nicely deline­ be drastically altered by the presence ated the transition of ESO from an With masses larger than 15 times that of of a nearby companion. Since stars optical/infrared to a multi-wavelength the Sun, stars of spectral type O are rare expand as they evolve, those in binary organisation. The celebrations also and short-lived. Nevertheless, by ­virtue pairs with short orbital periods (e.g., up provided an opportunity to present of their high luminosities, strong stellar to about 1500 days) exchange mass. ESO to a wider audience through, winds and catastrophic demise, massive The more massive star of the pair can be amongst other channels, two books stars heat and enrich the ­surrounding stripped of its entire envelope, resulting and a full-length movie. gas clouds from which new generations in the loss of much of its original mass. of stars form, and so drive the chemical The companion star gains mass and The scientific career path at ESO evolution of galaxies. M­ assive stars end angular momentum, triggering mixing has been reformulated in the new their lives in luminous explosions, as processes in the stellar interior that mod­ Astronomer Charter. The Fellowship core -collapse supernovae or gamma-ray ify its evo­lutionary path. In very close programme was assessed through bursts (GRB), which can be observed binaries, the two stars may even merge. a questionnaire that collected the throughout most of the Uni­ verse. The nature of the binary interaction is views of all former and current ESO largely determined by the initial orbital Fellows. Overall, the programme is In the past decade, and largely owing to period and mass ratio. The relative roles seen as extremely successful and observations made with ESO telescopes, of inter­action scenarios and the overall important for scientific career devel­ it has become clear that a large fraction importance of binary versus single-star opment. The procedures and validity of massive stars are in binary systems. evolution have so far remained uncertain of the observing proposal selection What was not known, however, was because of the paucity of direct meas­ process were evaluated through a whether and to what extent the ­evolution urements of the intrinsic distributions of working group whose report came to of these massive stars in binaries was orbital parameters. the conclusion that the overall system affected by the presence of a companion. is still valid and should be amended Thus critical parameters, such as the Spectroscopic VLT observations of the only through small changes. ESO’s shape of the initial mass function (dis­ O star population in six nearby galactic goal of providing the best and most cussed in the 2011 Annual Report), were open stellar clusters have, for the first effective service to the astronomical community in its quest for new discov­ eries is unchanged. s The research highlights reported in s 60 60 this section are designed to com­ Intrinsic number Intrinsic number object plement the press releases (http:// object of binaries of binaries of www.eso.org/public/news/archive/ of 40 Number of 40 Number of year/2012/) by providing an overview detected detected binaries Intrinsic distribution umber of progress in several selected subject umber binaries areas in which ESO facilities have Intrinsic distribution ve n been used to provide substantial input. ve n 20 20 Observed distribution Cumulati Cumulati Observed distribution 0 0 110 1001000 10 000 1.00.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0

Orbital period (d) Mass ratio: M2/M1 This figure illustrates the way in which the observed indicate the most probable simulated number of number of binaries can be used to derive the intrin­ detected binaries, which agrees very well with sic distributions with orbital period and mass ratio. It the actual observed number of binaries. Crosses shows the cumulative number distributions of loga­ denote the observed cumulative distributions for rithmic orbital periods (left) and mass ratios (right) for systems with known periods (34 in total) and mass the sample of 71 O-type objects, of which 40 are ratios (31 in total). The lower dashed lines indicate Left: This pair of pictures shows a view from identified binaries. The horizontal solid lines and the the best simulated observational distributions and the en­trance to the Paranal Observatory site in associated dark green areas indicate the most their statistical uncertainties. The dark blue areas northern Chile, looking towards the summit of ­probable intrinsic number of binaries (49 in total) and indicate the most probable intrinsic number distri­ Cerro Paranal, as seen in 1987 and at present. its statistical uncertainty. The horizontal dashed lines butions and their errors.

ESO Annual Report 2012 11 time, allowed the simultaneous measure­ Cumulative fraction of O stars at birth ment of all the relevant intrinsic multi­ 0% 26%71% 75 %

plicity properties in a systematic and n

1.0 a homogeneous way from a sample con­ re ractio

taining five times as many stars as ve te Effectively se in

­previous investigations and covering the supern ov r r single

~29% re t fo t fo

full range of periods and mass ratios rele­ sequence fo 0.8 be limi vant for binary interactions. limi Envelope main

y ted

ted stripping After detailed modelling to remove statis­ ~33% dop dop A stripping A during densit

tical biases, the VLT investigation found 0.6 Merge ty that about 70% (± 10%) of all massive ~24% Accretion stars are in binary systems (see the figure & spin up on page 11). By itself this result is not or CE ~14% probablili

­dif ­ferent from what other investigations, c using a variety of methods and tele­ 0.4 Intrinsi scopes, have estimated. What is new is Ac cr s etio that the VLT results have, for the first n & spi n u p time, allowed the orbital periods of these M o r co m m 0.2 e on en velo s binary systems to be estimated. rg pe evolu e E tion (CE) nve w lop Secondarie i e st th rippin g imarie In comparison with previous work, the se

c Pr on new observations show no preference for da ry equal-mass binaries, but actually find that 0.0 1 10 100 1000 10 000 the distribution of mass ratios (M2/M1; Initial orbital period (d) right panel) is uniform between M2/M1 = 1 This figure shows the relative importance of different tions of systems that are expected to merge (red), and M2/M1 ~ 0.3. More importantly, the new research finds a much steeper dis­ binary interaction processes. All percentages are experience stripping (yellow), or accretion and com­ expressed in terms of the fraction of all stars born as mon envelope evolution (orange). The pie chart com­ tribution of orbital periods than previously O -type stars, including single O stars and O stars in pares the fraction of stars born as O stars that are thought possible (left panel of the figure binaries, either as the initially more massive compo­ effectively single (white) or in wide binaries with little on page 11), with a strong preference for nent (the primary) or as the less massive one (the or no interaction effects (light green) to those that shorter periods. The implications of this secondary). The coloured areas indicate the frac­ experience significant binary interaction. result are nicely illustrated in the figure above right. panion. But even more striking is the These results herald a veritable revolution The pie-chart in the centre of the figure ­indication that close to one quarter of all in our understanding of massive stars. above right tells us that the evolution O stars (24%) will merge with their binary In turn, understanding how massive stars of the vast majority of O stars that are companion, a process that will com­ form and evolve is paramount to under­ part of a binary system — whether the pletely change the nature of these stars, standing how the ensemble of galaxies primary or the secondary — will be including possibly explaining how very — and hence the Universe — acquires its ­significantly affected by mass and angu­ massive and even extremely massive metals. So we should look forward to lar momentum exchanges with the com­ stars may form. exciting times ahead.

Gamma-ray bursts

During a period of just a few minutes, extremely short so that the identification 1997, ESO telescopes have played a cen­ gamma -ray bursts become the most of the sources for subsequent follow-up tral role in unveiling the physical proper­ luminous objects in the Universe before with large telescopes relies on X-ray ties of this extraordinary class of objects. rapidly fading over a few days or weeks images taken by instruments aboard the to disappear beyond the reach of even same satellites that detect the gamma For example, it is now well established the most powerful telescopes in the radiation. Ever since the first optical that there is a strong connection between world. The burst of gamma rays itself is counterpart of a GRB was identified in the long-duration GRBs and supernova

12 ESO Annual Report 2012 explosions, in the sense that the progeni­ All-sky map of the 236 GRBs tors of these GRBs are massive stars that discovered by the Swift satellite between 2005 and 2007. The end their lives as core-collapse superno­ circles are long-duration bursts, vae of types i b and i c. Much has been and the squares short bursts, learned about the astrophysics of GRBs which generally do not trace and much of this progress has been distant ga­ laxies. The complete sample studied by the VLT is reported in previous issues of the Annual indicated in red. Report. So, although ESO telescopes continued to play a leading role in these endeavours in 2012, this time we will report on recent progress in the study of the galaxies that host the GRBs rather than in the GRBs themselves.

Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (LGRB) are powerful tracers of star-forming gal­ axies that can be used as beacons to probe the early stages of galaxy forma­ tion in the Universe. Thus, searches for the optical counterparts of LGRBs have led to the discovery of tens of galaxies at high redshift. The early study of LGRB hosts indicated that an unexpectedly large fraction of them were hydrogen Lyman -alpha emitters — a reliable indi­ GRB 050714B GRB 050803 GRB 050819 GRB 050822 GRB 050922B cator of active star formation activity — which are substantially less frequent amongst the populations of distant gal­ axies identified by other methods, in ­particular by the Lyman-break technique (Lyman -break galaxies; LBG). Larger samples studied with the VLT, however, GRB 051001 GRB 051006 GRB 051117B GRB 060306 GRB 060805A have shown that this early impression was not correct, and that Lyman-alpha emitters are indeed rare among GRB hosts as well.

A massive study selected 69 southern GRB 060919 GRB 060923B GRB 061004 GRB 070103GRB 070328 GRBs for the purpose of studying the properties of their host galaxies using several instruments on the VLT notably FORS1, FORS2, ISAAC and X-shooter. Mosaic of the fields of 17 X-ray-localised GRBs with The figure upper right shows the spatial no optical/near-infrared afterglow. Blue and green distribution of these objects, compared circles identify the X-ray positions as obtained with to all the GRBs discovered by the Swift GRB 070621GRB 070808 different techniques. The optical counterpart identi­ fied by the VLT is shown by the bars in each plot. satellite between roughly 2005 and 2007.

Deep VLT images allowed the identifica­ A crucial step in investigating the pro­ The resulting sample of GRB hosts pro­ tion of the hosts of 32 previously un-­ perties of the host galaxies is to measure vided, for the first time, an unbiased identified bursts which, combined with their redshifts. By combining the new ­sample where the statistical properties previous work, provided a sample of VLT observations of the hosts with previ­ of this class of galaxies can be studied 54 GRBs with secure host identifications. ous prompt observations of the after­ free from the selection effects that have These galaxies are generally rather faint, glows — mostly obtained using the VLT plagued previous investigations. A par­ reaching magnitudes of almost 28 in the rapid -response mode, which is absolutely ticularly interesting issue, outlined above, R- band. This is illustrated in the lower essential given the short duration of the is the detection of Lyman-alpha emis- right figure for a subsample of 17 objects afterglow phase — redshifts for 53 of the sion lines. To that end, deep FORS1 for which the afterglows were originally original sample of 69 bursts were spectroscopy was obtained for 20 of the seen by the X-ray detectors on board secured. 27 objects with redshifts in the range Swift. z = 1.8–4.5 (for which Lyman-alpha can

ESO Annual Report 2012 13 be detected within the spectral grasp of ) 050820A 070802 050401 070611 ǥ FORS1). Two-dimensional (position/wave­ ( 2 l –1.6σ –1.3σ –0.8σ –0.4σ length) plots of the relevant portions of 0 these spectra are shown in the figure on –2 the right. Spatia

) 060607A 050730 060526 050922C ǥ

( 2 This same figure shows that only 7 of the l –0.3σ –0.3σ 0.7σ 0.7σ 20 ob­jects, 35%, have a statistically sig­ 0

nificant detection of Lyman-alpha. It also Spatia –2 shows that in these seven cases the line ) is shifted relative to the systemic velocity ǥ 060604 061110B 060115 060714

( 2 l 0.7σ 1.4σ 2.3σ 2.5σ of the galaxy (indicated as Vrest = 0) by 0 several hundred kilometres per second. –2 This suggests that the ­emission origi­ Spatia nates in a wind that may possibly be driv­

) 050908 050315 070506 060707 ǥ en by a starburst in the host galaxy. ( 2 l 2.6σ 3.4σ 4.0σ 5.3σ ­However, the strength of Lyman-alpha 0 indicates relatively low rates of star

Spatia –2 ­formation in these galaxies as compared, for example, to Lyman-alpha emitters ) 060605 070721B 060908 070110 ǥ

( 2 identified using narrowband imaging fil­ l 6.3σ 7.1σ 8.2σ 10.1σ ters on the VLT. This appears to indicate 0 that, contrary to what was previously –2 thought, LGRB hosts could contain sub­ Spatia stantial amounts of dust. Alternatively, –1000 0 1000 –1000 0 1000 –1000 0 1000 –1000 0 1000 –1 –1 –1 –1 it may be that LGRBs do not occur at Vrest (kms ) Vrest (kms ) Vrest (kms ) Vrest (kms ) high redshifts in the youngest galaxies. Cut -outs of the FORS1 spectra for 20 GRB hosts boxes, and this illustrates the spatial extension of the Another study, using extremely deep of redshifts z between 1.8 and 4.5. The expected line -emitting regions. re ­gions for Lyman-alpha are shown by the green infrared exposures with HAWK-I, has the aim of identifying the hosts of LGRBs in a sample of three even higher redshift images from the VLT (or HST) that we place in small galaxies that are too faint (z > 5) objects. have become accustomed to seeing in to be detected with even the most power­ reports and in press releases, they never­ ful telescopes. Since their star formation The resulting images shown in the figure theless serve to illustrate the fact that, rates are low, LGRB hosts are either low- below — probably the deepest ever in science, negative results (in this case mass galaxies or, contrary to what has ­taken with HAWK-I — all resulted in blank images) may also provide important hitherto been assumed, are very dusty, ­negative detections. A similar result was and useful information, a fact that is which would suggest a high metal con­ obtained by a third team using deep sometimes disregarded by time allocation tent. ALMA 345 GHz observations of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images committees. In this particular case, the host galaxies of GRB 021004 (z = 2.3) of a sample of six GRBs at z > 5. negative detection is telling us that if our and GRB 080607 (z = 3.0) detected the assumption that LGRBs are good tracers higher redshift galaxy but not the other While these images of empty sky are of the sites of star formation at high-z is one. Neither of the two galaxies are rap­ quite different, and much less exciting, correct, much — and probably the major­ idly star-forming and this is consistent than the beautiful images of celestial ity of — star formation at high-z takes with both being at the faintest end of the

GRB 080913 GRB 060927 GRB 060522

HAWK -I images of three GRBs at z > 5. The ­position of the source, obtained from imaging of the afterglow, is indi­ cated by the green 5ǥ 5ǥ 5ǥ circle at the centre of each figure.

14 ESO Annual Report 2012 dusty galaxy distribution responsible 6 Extinction curves — the for the submillimetre background. GRB 070802 amount of light of different colours removed on the In both cases the infrared luminosity, GRB 080605 5 GRB 080607 path to Earth — of four < 11 GRB 080805 LIR ~ 4 × 10 LSun. GRBs as indicated in the SMC legend. Various extinction LMC This result could, however, contradict 4 MW curves­ ob­served in the Milky HD 210121 Way and the Magellanic new polarimetric observations of the Clouds (SMC and LMC) are afterglow of one GRB at z ~ 1 obtained V shown for com­parison. /A

λ 3 with the VLT using the rapid-response A Among the many lines of mode, which show no traces of interstel­ sight in the Milky Way, that of HD120121 is particularly 2 lar polarisation. On the other hand, outstanding. GROND on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre tele­ scope on La Silla, has detected strong 1 dust silicate features in the restframe ultraviolet spectra of distant LGRBs, pro­ viding direct evidence for dust in their 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 67 host galaxies. 1/λ (μm–1)

The history of galaxy formation in the Universe

The standard model (known as ΛCDM; dominated by dark matter responding have devoted significant amounts of Lambda Cold Dark Matter), used to to gravitational forces. Thus, clusters of ­telescope time over the past 20 years to explain the formation of structure in the galaxies, galaxies and ultimately stars, conducting large imaging surveys. In Universe, postulates that the Big Bang form inside these dark matter haloes. The order to maximise their potentialities, produced the vast number of particles gas — from which stars will eventually imaging surveys must be followed up by that interact with other particles only form — is initially very hot and falls into the spectroscopic observations needed through gravity and the weak force these haloes, which act as gravitational to determine galaxy redshifts with the (β- decay). These weakly interacting mas­ traps, and there the gas must cool down required accuracy. sive particles (WIMPs) do not interact before stars are able to condense. The either with electromagnetic or nuclear processes governing the transformation Two Large Programmes on the VLT using forces, and so cannot be seen directly or of hot gas into stars involve complex VIMOS have been collecting redshifts detected through strong interactions physical and chemical interactions that for large numbers of galaxies in different with atomic nuclei. Thus WIMPs are ex­ are rather difficult to calculate from first areas of the sky: the VIMOS VLT Deep cellent candidates to explain the approxi­ principles. Therefore, although the phys­ Survey (VVDS) and zCOSMOS, a Large mately 25% of the energy density of the ics leading to the formation of dark Programme to measure the redshifts Universe that is invisible: dark matter. ­matter haloes is reasonably well under­ of about 30 000 galaxies in the HST Cos­ The ΛCDM paradigm postulates that stood, modelling the formation of galax­ mic Origins field. VVDS and the first part most of the remainder of the energy den­ ies and stars is a notoriously difficult of zCOSMOS — zCOSMOS-bright — sity of the Universe is in the form of a problem that requires the use of empirical have now been completed after several mysterious component called dark energy recipes inferred from observations. years of observations. A number of inter­ or the cosmological constant (Λ). The esting results from both surveys have standard model also postulates — guid­ Thus, observations are essential in guid­ been published in the past two years, ed by observations — that dark matter is ing our first steps in understanding how mostly devoted to piecing together the cold in the sense that its particles move galaxies form. The properties of galaxies puzzles relating to galaxy formation in the at velocities that are small compared are observed to evolve very little — if at Universe. with the speed of light: hence Cold Dark all — from redshifts z ~ 1 until the pre­ Matter. sent. This means that, if we want to catch When plotted in a colour–magnitude dia­ evolving galaxies in the act, we must gram, galaxies define a deceptively In the ΛCDM scenario, the first structures observe large numbers of distant galax­ ­simple distribution: red galaxies (with low that grow from the primordial density ies in order to triage outliers and derive star formation rates) concentrate along fluctuations, imprinted on the Universe by general laws. This implies large cosmo­ a narrow strip in colour known as the red quantum processes in the Big Bang, are logical surveys, and many obser­vatories sequence, whereas blue (star-forming;

ESO Annual Report 2012 15 12.0

11.5

11.0 Mass Quenching

Mass 10.5

log

10.0 Environment Quenching Merging 9.5 Quenching

9.0 00.1 0.20.3 0.40.5 log (1+z)

Schematic representation of the colour–magnitude Diagram showing the dominant mechanism for the diagram of galaxies. quenching of galaxies as a function of mass and redshift in typical environments. Merging and envi­ ronment quenching, although very distinct obser­ mostly spiral and irregular) galaxies Quenching, according to recent ­zCOSMOS vationally, both reflect the underlying merger of dark ­occupy a much broader region called the results, comes in three flavours: mass matter haloes. blue cloud, with few galaxies distributed quenching, environmental quenching, and between them in the green valley. The merging quenching (see the figure above, ­figure above (left) shows a schematic of right). Merging occurs when the con­ Mergers come in two flavours depending this distribution. ditions for the collision between two gal­ on the mass ratio R of the two merging axies, or two dark matter haloes, are such galaxies: minor mergers, where the R << 1, The paucity of galaxies in the green valley that the two merge to become a larger and major mergers for which R ≈ 1. Major implies that galaxies evolve from the blue one. Naturally, therefore, a great deal of mergers are believed to be a mechanism cloud (star-forming) to the red sequence effort has been devoted to studying the whereby spiral galaxies (discs) are trans­ (passive) in a rather short time, so there properties of galaxy pairs in both VVDS formed into elliptical galaxies (spheroids). must be some, not yet fully understood, and zCOSMOS. Analysis of the first An ambitious programme to study the mechanism that inhibits, or quenches, the 10 000 galaxies of the zCOSMOS-bright kinematics of VVDS galaxies with t­he VLT star formation very efficiently. The nature survey showed that galaxies in pairs integral field unit spectrograph SINFONI of quenching has therefore become one ­contribute a significant fraction of the star (MASSIV; Mass Assembly Survey with of the holy grails of modern extra­galactic formation in the Universe, as shown in SINFONI in VVDS) suggests that the astronomy and is one of the problems the figure above, right. ­fraction of galaxies that have undergone being tackled by zCOSMOS. major merger events since z = 1.5

1 Left: Comparison between specific 3.91 0.3 fMM α (1 + z) star formation rate (SSFR) distribution 0.8 of isolated galaxies 0.1 compared to that of ­galaxies in pairs 0.05 MM

of different separa­ f ion tions as indicated 0.6 MASSIV by the colours: fract

VVDS–Deep blue: < 100 h−1 kpc; 0.01 green: < 50 h−1 kpc; DEEP2 red: < 30 h−1 kpc. COSMOS 0.4 2MASS/SDSS Cumulative 0.0 0.51.0 1.5 z 0.2 10–10.5 Gas -rich major merger fraction of M* ∼ 10 MA galaxies as a function of redshift.

0 –3 –2 –1 01 log (SSFR/Gyr–1)

16 ESO Annual Report 2012 –27.5 14.0

–27.6 13.5

)) ~2–3L* ʘ ellipticals M SMGs

–27.7 –1

(h 13.0

alo h )

eg –27.8 (d

g (M 12.5 c lo

De QSOs –27.9 12.0 bright LBGs –28.0 11.5 0 1 2 3 45 Z –28.1 SMGs galaxies Broad schematic for the evolution of halo mass ver­ sus redshift for SMGs, showing the approximate 53.5 53.4 53.3 53.2 53.1 53.0 52.9 52.8 halo masses corresponding to likely progenitors and RA (deg) descendants of SMGs. Lines indicate the median growth rates of haloes with redshift. SMG host Distribution of 50 LESS (LABOCA) SMGs with red­ haloes are similar to those of QSOs at z ~ 2, and shifts 1 < z < 3 and ~ 50 000 Spitzer/IRAC galaxies correspond to bright LBGs at z ~ 5 and massive in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South. The ellipticals at z = 0. SMGs are shown individually while the density of ­galaxies is given by the greyscale. increases sharply with redshift (see the ensemble properties of this class of Present -day (z = 0) massive elliptical figure below, right) indicating that major ­galaxies, and the Large Bolometer Array ­galaxies are the descendants of SMGs at mergers have played a sig­nificant role Camera (­LABOCA) on APEX provides z = 2–3, which in turn originate in bright in the build up of the red se­quence of one of the best suited for this kind of LBGs at even higher redshifts. The massive elliptical galaxies. These results study. But even with large bolometer array ­LABOCA survey also shows that the must be confronted with observations cameras the largest deep map with powerful starbursts in SMGs represent a that the luminosity function of massive ­LABOCA (called LESS) shown in the figure short -lived but universal phase in the galaxies (i.e., the density of galaxies above (left) covers a mere 0.35 square evolution of massive galaxies, associated as a function of redshift) has not evolved degrees. with the transition between cold, gas- significantly sincez ~ 1, which would rich, star-forming galaxies (the blue imply that mergers affect mostly the sizes A sophisticated clustering analysis of cloud) and passively evolving systems of elliptical galaxies, but not their lumi­ the 50 galaxies in the LESS survey with (the red sequence). nosities. redshifts between z = 1 and z = 3, allowed the typical masses of the dark- With its sensitivity and angular resolution, Much progress in this field is expected matter haloes of these galaxies, ALMA is the prime instrument to study 12 when the analyses of zCOSMOS-bright ­Mhalo ≈ 6 × 10 MA (where MA is the these faint star-forming galaxies at high and the ongoing zCOSMOS-faint sur­ mass of the Sun) to be inferred. This redshift. ALMA Cycle 0 observations veys, which will reach to z = 3, are com­ result is quite similar to the masses of LESS sources have shown that most pleted. inferred for the dark matter haloes of the of the highest luminosity SMGs are actu­ hosts of QSOs (quasars). This provides ally multiple systems, implying that the Another powerful way of studying the strong support to evolutionary scenarios submillimetre luminosity function of high ­formation of massive red-sequence in which powerful starbursts and QSOs redshift galaxies falls off more sharply ­ellipticals is to directly observe their pro­ occur in the same systems. than previously thought from single dish genitors at high redshift, and, in par­ surveys. Another notable early result from ticular, a class of massive star-forming Numerical simulations of the evolution of ALMA is the detection of [N ii] 205 µm line galaxies known as submillimetre galaxies dark matter haloes of these masses at z = 4.76 which, in combination with (SMGs) which, being very dusty, emit ­provide a fairly accurate picture of the the previous detection of the [C ii] 158 µm most of their luminosity at far infrared and evolution of massive elliptical galaxies line from APEX, allowed the constraint submillimetre wavelengths. Again, large from z ~ 5 until today, shown in the figure of the metallicity of this system to be close surveys are needed to investigate the above (right). to the Solar value.

ESO Annual Report 2012 17 Chemistry of the interstellar medium and prebiotic molecules

The chemical enrichment of the interstel­ –202–1010 3.2 0 030 lar medium and the chemistry of complex 0.8 H18 O 203 GHz A and possibly prebiotic molecules has RII 0.4 2 always been one of the major goals for 0.0 RQ the ALMA Observatory right from its con­ HDO 225 GHz A ception. The first year of ALMA science 1.0 has demonstrated the power of this revo­ 0.5 lutionary facility in this field. Several 0.0 18 new results were published based on the H2 O 692 GHz A1

) 0.8 1ǥ Gaussian kernel ALMA science verification datasets –1 0.4 on the Orion KL region and on the young 0.0 beam

solar analogue protostellar system y –0.4 18 (J H2 O 692 GHz A1

IRAS 16293-2422. y 0.3

nsit 0.0 te An important highlight was the detection DX In H18 O 692 GHz B of abundant glycolaldehyde, a simple –0.3 2 0.3 sugar connected with ribonucleic acid Left: ALMA Band 9 continuum image of IRAS 16293- 0.0 (RNA) chemistry, in IRAS 16293-2422. 2422. The inset shows one of the glycolaldehyde H18 O 692 GHz B Off ALMA Bands 9 and 6 observations lines detected by ALMA (in red). The yellow spectrum –0.3 2 re ­vealed at least 13 transitions from this is from the peak of the continuum emission shown 0ǥ 2 south simple sugar in the gas phase. The in the image, where a redshifted absorption is appar­ 0.2 ent. This is the signature of inflow towards the inner ­spatial distribution and kinematics of the regions of the system. The blue spectrum shows the 0.0 molecular gas show that it is inflowing more extended region of emission. Right: Lines of –0.2 water isotopologues (marked in red) detected in into the inner ~ 30 astronomical units of –20 –10 0 2.7 10 20 30 IRAS 16293-2422. The lower four spectra are from the system and so is located in the V (kms–1) the ALMA Band 9 dataset. sys re ­gions where planet formation is ex­ pected to occur. These initial results, those in the discs and envelopes around ivity allowed the detection and measure­ shown in the figure above left, prove that young protostars is much less than pre­ ment of the lower mass-loss rate in the pre ­biotic molecules can be efficiently viously thought. The ALMA measurement wind following the large event connected –4 produced during the early phases of star of HDO/H2O (9.2 ± 2.6) × 10 is only a to the thermal pulse. The remarkable ­formation and delivered into the proto­ factor of three higher than the value meas­ ­spiral pattern detected in the wind shows planetary discs and planets. ured on Earth and is consistent with the that the star that is losing the mass is a values measured in Solar System comets member of a binary system. Detailed Water is also a key molecule for life on (see figure above right). smoothed-particle hydrodynamical mod­ Earth. While the Herschel satellite has elling of the observations shows that detected water in a number of proto­ Another very important early contribution 10% of the mass is expelled during the stellar environments, ALMA is proving to from ALMA to the understanding of the thermal pulse event and approximately be the key instrument with which to chemical enrichment of the interstellar 40% in the following 1800 years. This detect the rare isotopes and to spatially medium is related to the study of the leads to the conclusion that approximately resolve the emission. The ALMA obser­ mass loss in the asymptotic giant branch three times more mass is returned to vations reveal the regions where the ice (AGB) star R Sculptoris. The ALMA the interstellar medium in this phase than mantles are sublimated close to the CO(3–2) observations in Band 7 (shown previously thought. Surprisingly — and proto ­stars and measurements of the iso­ in the figures below) reveal the detailed contrary to model predictions — the de­ topic abundance ratios seem to suggest mass -loss history from this evolved star tached shell around R Sculptoris does that the difference between the isotopic since the last thermal pulse, approxi­ not show any measurable slowing down abundances in the oceans on Earth and mately 1800 years ago. ALMA’s sensit­ since the ejection.

0500 1000 1500 lo Left: ALMA Band 7 CO(3–2) 20 g (d 16 –4.5 rest velocity channel map 0.30 M/

Flu of the AGB star R ­Sculptoris.

–5 dt The detached shell and the 10 14 Mass 0.25 x (s ) (J –1

) inner spiral emission are ola r ǥ y

( 0.20 shown together with the –5.5 –l pe 12 et (kms os 0 masses prediction of the best-fit r fs y s 0.15 beam ­spiral model. Right: Mass-

Of –6 10 ra ocit l

te loss history (dashed line) and 0.10 , –10 ) Ve –6.5 pe velocity (solid line) of the 8 0.05 r ye best-fit model to the CO(3–2) data. The dots show the –20 –7 ar

0 6 )) measured velocities from the 20 10 0 –10 –20 0500 1000 1500 molecular gas emission. Offset (ǥ) Time (yr)

18 ESO Annual Report 2012 Formation and early evolution of planetary systems

Planet formation is thought to occur 00 0.10.2 0.3 ­within protoplanetary discs in the first few ­million years of pre-main sequence 210–1 –2 evolution of the stellar systems. The most 2 a b CO 2 widely accepted scenario involves the growth of solids, originally in the form of interstellar dust grains, from micrometre- 1 1 sized particles to pebbles, boulders and planetesimals. This phase is followed by the growth to planetary-sized rocky cores and possibly gas accretion for the 0 0

for ­mation of giant planets. The process ) of planet formation is closely related to the disc properties and their evolution as –1 –1

disc dissipation processes remove the seconds

raw material for assembling planets. rc (a Newly formed giant planets interact with –2 Continuum –2 the disc, possibly accelerating its evo­ 2 2 lution. While infrared observations mostly c d trace the disc inner regions and atmos­ position phere, millimetre waves probe the outer

regions of the disc and the disc mid- ngula r 1 1 plane, tracing the bulk of the cold and A dense material in the disc. High angular resolution observations of discs in the 0 0 millimetre continuum and spectral lines allow us to trace the dust properties and the gas physical, chemical and kinemati­ –1 –1 cal structure during the planet formation process.

ALMA observations of the dust emission –2 2 μm HCO+ –2 from the mid-plane of a disc surround- 2 1 0 –1 –2 2 10–1 –2 ing a young brown dwarf demonstrated Angular position east (arcseconds) that grain growth to pebble size can also be efficient in these environments. This Top left: ALMA Band 7 continuum emission image map (colour scale) showing that the inner dust- finding challenges current models of of HD 142527, showing the uneven distribution of evacuated cavity of the disc contains abundant dust grains in the outer disc. Bottom left: Near-infra­ molecular gas. Bottom right: ALMA HCN(4–3) inten­ grain growth and evolution, which did not red coronographic image of HD 142527 showing sity (contours) and velocity map (colour scale) show­ predict efficient growth to large sizes in the disc’s upper atmosphere asymmetries. Top right: ing the inflow of dense gas from the outer disc to the these systems, and suggests that rocky ALMA CO(3–2) total intensity (contours) and velocity inner regions of the system. planet formation in brown dwarf systems is possible.

The disc–planet interaction is thought to ALMA Band 7 observations of the proto­ of the dense gas revealed the presence shape the evolution of the late phases planetary disc surrounding the inter­ of dense gas flows connecting the outer of disc evolution, known as the transi­ mediate-mass pre-main sequence star disc to the inner disc and providing a tional disc and debris disc phases. Key HD 142527 confirmed the presence of supply of material that accretes onto the results were obtained with ALMA on a large gap in the dusty disc, most likely central star. Models of disc–planet inter­ the dust and gas distribution in discs as to be the result of the presence of one or action do predict that planets may be shaped by young planetary systems. more massive planets (see figure above). involved in the transfer of material from The ALMA Band 7 observations of the The CO(3–2) observations confirm the the outer disc to the inner regions of the debris disc surrounding the nearby star presence of molecular gas in the disc system. Fomalhaut constrain the properties of the across the gap, consistent with the plan­ planets shepherding the dust ring to be ets being the cause of clearing most in the superEarth mass range. This result of the high density gas and dust in the is not consistent with the previously gap. Other clearing mechanisms, such detected planet candidate inside the dust as photoevaporation, would completely ring, which was also not confirmed by remove the gas from the gap and the subsequent observations. inner disc. ALMA HCN(4–3) observations

ESO Annual Report 2012 19 References

The following papers were used as sources for the science highlights.

Basa, S. et al. 2012, A&A, 542, A103 Boley, A. C. et al. 2012, ApJ, 750, L21 Casassus, S. et al. 2013, Nature, 493, 191 Chini, R. et al. 2012, MNRAS, 424, 1925 De Ugarte Postigo, A. et al. 2012, A&A, 538, A44 Hickox, R. C. et al. 2012, MNRAS, 421, 284 Hjorth, J. et al. 2012, ApJ, 756, 187 Jakobsson, P. et al. 2012, ApJ, 752, 62 Jørgensen, J. K. et al. 2012, ApJ, 757, L4 Kampczyk, P. 2013, ApJ, 762, 43 Kruhler, T. et al. 2012, ApJ, 758, 46 López-Sanjuan, C. et al. 2012, A&A, 548, A7 Maercker, M. et al. 2012, Nature, 490, 232 Milvang-Jensen, B. et al. 2012, ApJ, 756, 25 Nagao, T. et al. 2012, A&A, 542, L34 Peng, Y.-J. et al. 2010, ApJ, 721, 193 Pentericci, L. et al. 2011, ApJ, 743, 132 Persson, M. V. et al. 2013, A&A, 549, L3 Ricci, L. et al. 2012, ApJ, 761, L20 Rossi, A. et al. 2012, A&A, 545, A77 Sana, H. et al. 2012, Science, 337, 444 Svensson, K. M. 2012, MNRAS, 421, 25 Tanvir, N. R. 2012, ApJ, 754, 46 Wiersema, K. 2012, MNRAS, 462, 2 Wang, W.-H. et al. 2012, ApJ, 761, L32 Zafar, T. et al. 2012, ApJ, 753, 82

The Lupus 3 dark cloud and associ­ated hot young stars. This cloud lies about 600 light-years from

Earth in the constellation of Scorpius (The Scorpion). Comeron ESO/F.

20 ESO Annual Report 2012

Offices for Science

The Offices for Science in Garching and (Fellow–Student Selection Committee) As usual, ESO hosted many visitors this Santiago endeavour to support the sci­ and co-supervised two students himself year, including more than 50 with long- entific staff and activities at ESO, as well during that period. term stays of at least one month. We had, as its wider community and projects. for instance, the pleasure of hosting This support takes many forms, including Paranal astronomer Henri Boffin, who Prof. Joseph Taylor (Nobel Laureate, 1993) hosting and training junior researchers, moved from Garching to Chile in 2010, at ESO Headquarters in Garching, where and fostering scientific collaborations had an outstanding scientific year with he gave a brief but intense account of with the Member States. eight papers published, two of them his career followed by an informal discus­ as first author (including one in the pres­ sion; and Prof. Neil Evans, who signifi­ The ESO astronomers — about 90 Facul­ tigious international journal Science). cantly helped to strengthen the links ty astronomers and 25 scientists — apply The impact of Henri’s research, which between the optical–infrared and submil­ their know-how and areas of expertise combines both observational and theo­ limetre/radio communities, and stayed to provide top-level services to various retical work in the study of close binary for almost a year in Santiago. The ESO parts of the organisation, from assisting stars, was recognised by two ESO press facilities in both Santiago and Garching with the projects and instrument devel­ releases this year, as well as numerous host many astronomers who pass by opment to supporting operations at the successful observing proposals during to contribute to one of the state-of-the-art La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor observ­ the Observing Periods P89 and P90. In instrument developments, ­collaborate, ing sites. Forty ESO Fellows are also addition, Henri co-organised the very or go observing at one of ESO’s sites. closely involved in the operational and successful blue stragglers conference in This steady traffic provides the opportu­ instrumental aspects of the observatory, Vitacura, supervised several students, nity to arrange a broad range of talks, while the 50 ESO Students are building served as co-organiser of colloquia in seminars and short oral contributions, their expertise, advised by ESO staff Vitacura, and continued to be very active covering topics from specific updates on and sometimes also being mentored by in public outreach. instruments to frontline research and ESO Fellows.

For these supporting and collaborative activities to be a success, it is a require­ ment that the staff remain at the forefront of modern astronomy and instrumenta­ tion. This year ESO astronomers have, for instance, contributed to more than 500 research papers by participating in or leading some exciting scientific pro­ jects. As notable examples, we should like to celebrate the year’s ­scientific achievements by two ESO astronomers, one based in Germany and one in Chile.

Daniel Bramich, who joined ESO in 2010, is working within the Data Management ESO staff members and Operations Division in Garching as Daniel B­ ramich (left) and Henri Boffin (below). a member of the Science Data Products group. He has considerable expertise in data processing and with analysis tech­ niques. In 2012 Dan’s scientific record was impressive, as he managed to pub­ lish three first-author papers and more than ten others on various topics includ­ ing differential imaging analysis, globular clusters and micro-lensing searches for exoplanets. Dan led a study which un­ covered a systematic trend in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) p­ hotometric data at the level of its target precision, and which should therefore be accounted for when using such datasets. He also played an active role in the selection of new ESO Student and Fellows via his participation in the ad-hoc committee

22 ESO Annual Report 2012 Participants at ESO’s 50th anniversary conference. general public presentations. Such activi­ – ALMA Community Days: Early Science – Science from the Next Generation ties make the ESO premises a very spe­ in Cycle 1, ESO, Garching, 25–27 June Imaging and Spectroscopic Surveys, cial and unique place to be, providing a 2012 (http://www.eso.org/sci/meet­ ESO, Garching, 15–18 October 2012 very attractive scientific environment. ings/2012/alma_es_2012.html); (http://www.eso.org/sci/meetings/ – 30 years of Italian participation to ESO, 2012/surveys2012.html); In the context of ESO’s 50th anniversary, Rome, 2–3 July 2012 (http://www.eso. – ESO Workshop on Ecology of Blue the Offices for Science arranged a dedi­ org/sci/meetings/2012/ewass2012. Straggler Stars, Santiago, Chile, cated conference intended to provide an html); 5–9 November 2012 (http://www.eso. original perspective on the scientific chal­ – ESO@50 — the first 50 years of ESO, org/sci/meetings/2012/bss2012.html); lenges of the coming decade, building ESO, Garching, 3–7 September 2012 – The First Year of ALMA Science, on the achievements of the science com­ (http://www.eso.org/sci/meetings/ ­Puerto Varas, Chile, 12–15 December munity using ESO facilities. A conference 2012/ESOat50.html); 2012 (http://www.almasc.org/2012/). report was published in The ESO Mes- senger, 150, 67, December 2012.

Conferences organised, co-organised or sponsored by ESO included:

– Joint ESO/IAG/USP Workshop on ­Circumstellar Dynamics at High Reso­ lution, Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, 27 Feb­ ruary–2 March 2012 (http://www.eso. org/sci/meetings/2012/csdyn.html); – Workshop on Observing Planetary Systems II, Santiago, Chile, 5–8 March 2012 (http://www.eso.org/sci/meet­ ings/2012/OPSII.html); – 7th Conference on Astronomical Data The Director General, Analysis (co-sponsored by ESO), Tim de Zeeuw, outlining future perspectives for Cargèse, Corsica, 14–18 May 2012 ESO at ESO’s 50th anni­ (http://ada7.cosmostat.org/); versary conference.

ESO Annual Report 2012 23 The Offices also undertook a web-based survey of current and past ESO Fellows with the goal of assessing the strengths and weaknesses of ESO’s Fellowship programme and identifying ways in which the programme could be improved in the future. The response rate was impressive — 174 out of 222 participants responded. The results, which will soon be summa­ rised in an article for The ­ESO Messenger, point to a high level of satisfaction with ESO’s Fellowship programme and its value to the ESO community. For example, 87% of former and current E­ SO Fellows rated their experience as “excellent” or “very good” and the great majority say that they would definitely recommend an ESO Fellowship to young scientists. As one former Fellow put it, an ESO Fellow­ ship “is a passport to your astronomical future!”

This year has also been quite extraordi­ nary in terms of extending the science programmes that gather together various Participants on the workshop, Science institutes in the Munich area: from the Next Generation Imaging and Spectroscopic Surveys, on the – The Excellence Cluster Universe, stairs of the entrance hall of ESO which assembles more than 200 phys­ Headquarters. icists and astrophysicists from the Technical University of Munich, the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Max Planck Institutes (MPG) and ESO, was successfully extended for a new five-year period. Going beyond the coordination and top-level re ­search conducted by the Excellence Cluster scientists, this new period will see the advent of the Computational Center for Particle and Astrophysics in Munich, where ESO staff will actively contribute. – The International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) programme, a joint inter ­national research school to attract and host PhD students, was evaluated by external reviewers in summer 2012. The outcome is impressive: the pro­ gramme has been praised for its achievements and is being extended for a period of six more years, enabling the training and hosting of the next pool of students, some of whom will develop their research and expertise at The group photo taken at the work­ ESO Garching.­ shop Circumstellar Dynamics at High Resolution against the splendid back­ drop of the Iguaçu Falls.

24 ESO Annual Report 2012 The peculiar galaxy Centaurus A (NGC 5128) is pictured in this image taken with the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile.

ESO Annual Report 2012 25 Allocation of Telescope Time

The tables show the requested and The numbers for ALMA Early Science The APEX and LSP numbers include only scheduled resources for ESO Periods 90 Cycle 1 include only ESO Principal Inves­ proposals submitted during the periods and 91 and for ALMA Cycle 1. This is tigator (PI) proposals and the highest of interest. Current Large Programme divided into the lengths of time — in ranked projects amongst them. The runs approved in previous periods, Guar­ nights for La Silla Paranal (LSP) and requested and allocated numbers of runs anteed Time runs and Public Survey runs APEX, but in hours for ALMA — for each and amount of time (in hours) per fre­ are not included. The pressure is com­ instrument/band and telescope. quency band are reported. puted as the ratio between the requested and allocated time. The last two columns present the total telescope time alloca­ tions and the fractions per instrument. ) twanight.org ESO/B. Tafreshi/TWAN (

The crescent Moon setting over the Paranal ­Observatory in Chile. The earthshine, which is s­ unlight scattered off the Earth and illuminating the lunar disc, is well seen, as are the planets Mercury and Venus.

26 ESO Annual Report 2012 Telescope Instrument Requested Scheduled Requested % Scheduled % Pressure Total % runs runs time time allocation

UT1 CRIRES 101 52 118 16.8 % 58 23.7% 2.02 58 23.2% FORS2 486 196 585 83.2% 188 76.3 % 3.12 193 76.8% Total 587 248 703 246 2.86 251

UT2 FLAMES 111 24 174 21.5 % 31 16.6 % 5.57 91 31.3 % UVES 182 68 233 28.8% 57 30.0% 4.13 58 19.9 % X-shooter 320 112 402 49.6% 101 53.4% 3.99 143 48.8% Total 613 204 809 189 4.29 292

UT3 ISAAC 50 38 47 12.1 % 34 20.0% 1.36 34 17.9 % VIMOS 187 94 214 55.6% 106 61.8 % 2.03 121 63.0% VISIR 145 47 124 32.3 % 31 18.2 % 4.00 37 19.1 % Total 382 179 385 171 2.25 192

UT4 HAWK-I 163 59 136 21.9 % 39 18.0 % 3.53 39 17.2 % NACO 257 134 240 38.6% 108 50.5% 2.22 111 49.2% SINFONI 201 63 246 39.5 % 68 31.5 % 3.64 76 33.6% Total 621 256 622 214 2.90 225

VLTI AMBER 127 45 93 35.3% 28 31.1 % 3.29 48 25.6% MIDI 134 37 66 24.9 % 13 14.5 % 4.97 42 22.4% Special VLTI 88 37 105 39.8% 50 54.3% 2.12 97 51.9 % Total 349 119 265 91 2.90 187

2.2 -metre FEROS 45 35 186 67.0 % 106 80.3% 1.75 106 80.3% WFI 18 6 92 33.0% 26 19.7 % 3.52 26 19.7 % Total 63 41 278 132 2.10 132

3.6 -metre HARPS 61 64 395 100.0 % 176 100.0 % 2.25 338 100.0 % Total 61 64 395 176 2.25 338

NTT EFOSC2 77 30 318 59.1 % 119 67.5 % 2.68 190 56.6% SOFI 48 17 220 40.9% 57 32.5% 3.86 146 43.4% Total 125 47 538 176 3.06 336

APEX LABOCA 35 18 83 36.0% 36 32.2 % 2.31 40 34.4% SABOCA 12 7 17 7.5 % 10 8.7 % 1.79 10 8.4% SHFI 43 19 131 56.5% 66 59.1 % 1.97 66 57.2 % Total 90 44 231 112 2.06 116

ALMA Band 3 169 12 543 30.8% 32 15.1 % 16.83 N/A N/A Band 6 196 17 502 28.5% 71 33.5% 7.0 4 N/A N/A Band 7 237 30 584 33.1 % 82 38.5% 7.12 N/A N/A Band 9 58 10 135 7.6 % 27 12.9 % 4.91 N/A N/A Total 660 69 1764 213 8.28

ESO Annual Report 2012 27 The APEX telescope on the ­Chajnantor Plateau. APEX, the ­Atacama Pathfinder Experiment, is a ­collaboration between the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, the Onsala Space Observatory, and the European Southern Observatory. APEX is designed to study warm and cold dust in star-forming regions both in the Milky Way and in distant galaxies. F.Kamphues ESO/

28 ESO Annual Report 2012 ESO Annual Report 2012 29 Publication Digest

In 2012, the ESO user community pub­ ESO publications 1996–2012 lished over 870 refereed papers, the 900 highest number ever in a single year (see top right figure). This brought the total 800 number of papers using ESO data from 700 1996–2012 to 9455. An overview of ­publication numbers can be found at 600 http://www.eso.org/sci/libraries/telbib_ pubstats_overview.html. The statistics 500 are linked to the corresponding records in the telescope bibliography (telbib) 400 database. 300

More than 10 000 articles from selected 200 astronomy journals (A&A, A&ARv, AJ, ApJ, ApJS, AN, ARA&A, EM&P, ExA, Icar, 100 MNRAS, Nature, NewA, NewAR, PASJ, PASP, P&SS and Science) were screened 0 during 2012 in order to identify those 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 that use data from ESO telescopes and VLT/VLTI Other LSP facilities Survey telescopes ChajnantorTotal instruments to achieve new scientific results. Approximately 8% of the papers Refereed papers using ESO data, 1996–2012. telescopes or observations obtained during “private” qualified for inclusion in telbib. Papers can use data from more than one facility. periods are not included. VLT/VLTI: Papers using data generated by VLT Survey telescopes: Papers using data generated and VLTI instruments, including visitor instruments by the ESO survey telescope VISTA. The VLT/VLTI provided data for 614 for which observing time is recommended by the Chajnantor: Papers using data generated by APEX ­peer -reviewed papers. This repeats the ESO OPC, e.g., VLT ULTRACAM, VLTI PIONIER. or ALMA, including visitor instruments for which strong increase in the number of papers Other LSP facilities: Papers using data generated observing time is recommended by the ESO OPC, by other facilities of the La Silla Paranal Observatory, e.g., P-Artemis, Z-Spec. Other visitor instruments that could be seen in 2010 and 2011 including visitor instruments for which observing (e.g., APEX/CONDOR) are excluded. Only papers (see top right figure) and suggests that time is recommended by the ESO OPC, e.g., NTT based (entirely or partly) on ESO APEX or ALMA a ­plateau has not yet been reached. With ULTRACAM. Papers based on data from non-ESO time are included. an average number of approximately 17%, the fraction of papers based on archival VLT/VLTI data was fairly stable 70 The number of papers during the years 2006–2011. In 2012, this based on ESO/APEX 60 observations and data number increased considerably. A quar­ from all APEX partners, ter of the 614 papers (154 publications) respectively. used exclusively or partly (i.e., in combi­ 50 nation with new ESO observations) data 40 retrieved from the ESO archive. ­Forty

­percent of these archival papers (64 out 30 of 154) were based on ESO data prod­ ucts (http://archive.eso.org/cms/eso- 20 data/eso -data-products.html). Among them, the GOODS survey played a spe­ 10 cial role as it provided data for 36 papers (almost 24%) of all VLT/VLTI archival 0 papers in 2012. 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 ESO/APEX All APEX partners La Silla’s research output has remained stable during the past ten years, as ESO’s survey telescope, VISTA, with its 40 papers based on ESO/APEX time. The ­illustrated by the 276 papers published in VIRCAM camera, has produced science number of papers per year using ESO/ 2012 based on data obtained at that papers based on regular observations APEX data and observations provided by observing site. This number includes only since 2011. In the past year, 30 papers all APEX partners (ESO, The Max Planck papers using data obtained at La Silla were published, mostly using data from Society, Onsala, Chile) are shown in the facilities for which observing time is the VVV, VIKING, VMC, UltraVISTA, VHS figure above. recom ­mended by the ESO Observing and VIDEO surveys. ­Programmes Committee (OPC); non-ESO This year, the first science results based telescopes or observations obtained Scientific results using data from APEX on ALMA observations appeared, leading ­during “private” periods are not included. led to 66 refereed publications, including to a total of 19 refereed papers. The great

30 ESO Annual Report 2012 majority (16) involved European ALMA Papers featured in ESO press releses 1999–2012 Distribution of papers featured in observing time or science verification ESO press releases (1999-2012) by Others journal. data (13). The ALMA bibliography is main­ 2.2% tained by the librarians at ESO and Science 4.7% National Radio Observatory (NRAO) as well as by the National Astronomical Observatory Japan (NAOJ). For each paper using ALMA data, the programme ID(s) are recorded, along with the cor­ responding ALMA partner (Europe, North Nature 19.7% America, East Asia, Chile, the Joint ALMA Observatory [JAO]), observing type

(standard, large, target of opportunity, A&A 48.4% director’s discretionary time, science veri­ fication), and use of archival ALMA data, MNRAS if any. Programme IDs in ­telbib records 4.1% will be linked to the obser­vations in the ALMA archive as soon as it becomes AJ 2.2% available.

ApJ/S 18.8% Between 1999 and 2012, 319 papers based on ESO data were featured in ESO press releases, which translates into about 23 papers per year, or almost one every other week. telbib records of sci­ ence papers discussed in press releases can be accessed directly from the ESO press release web pages (http://www. eso.org/public/news/); similarly, the pub­ lic telbib interface provides a link to the press release page. The large majority of featured papers were published in the journal A&A (48.4%), followed by Nature (19.7%) and ApJ/ApJS (18.8%). The frac­ tion of papers per journal is illustrated in the top right figure.

The statistics discussed here are ex­ tracted from the ESO telescope biblio­ graphy (telbib), a database of refereed papers that use observational data from ESO telescopes and instruments. telbib is maintained by the ESO librarians. In the course of the year, several new features have been added to the public interface (http://telbib.eso.org). In particular, search Screenshot of a visualisation of the top five VLT The complete list of all 2012 papers can results can be used in a variety of ways. instruments that provided data for papers published be found at http://www.eso.org/libraries/ 1999–2012, retrieved via the public telbib interface In addition to the export function, which (http://telbib.eso.org). Currently greyed-out facilities telbib_info/AR/ESO_AnnualReport_publi­ allows users to create comma-separated can be displayed by clicking on the legend. cations2012.pdf. The file includes those (.csv) or tab-separated (.txt) files of the papers written by the ESO users’ com­ retrieved articles, it is now possible to vis­ munity based on ESO data, followed by a ualise search results. Available options separate listing of refereed publications include a graphical view of the number of instruments that provided data for papers by ESO scientists with or without use of papers per instrument, year, or journal published from 1999 to 2012. Only these ESO data. as well as the use of archival data. All five instruments are visible in the graph; graphs are interactive, i.e., information many others that also provided data Please see the ESO libraries homepage can be displayed or hidden based on the for papers, but for a smaller number, are http://www.eso.org/sci/libraries.html user’s preferences. As an example, the currently greyed out. They can be dis­ for updated summaries of publication bottom right figure shows the top five VLT played should the user wish to. statistics.

ESO Annual Report 2012 31 Operations

ESO/J. Dommaget

32 ESO Annual Report 2012 La Silla Paranal Observatory

The Directorate of Operations is Operations scheduled for planned engineering and responsible for all science operations- maintenance activities to guarantee related activities including the prepara­ The ESO Very Large Telescope at P­ aranal the continuous performance of the tele­ tion and execution of observing pro­ operates with four 8.2-metre Unit Tele­ scopes and instruments: this includes grammes, the operation of the La Silla scopes and a suite of ten first generation time slots for the commissioning of new Paranal Observatory (LPO) with its instruments and the first of the second instruments and facilities. Out of the La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor sites, generation instruments. The Laser Guide available science time for the VLT, 4.4% and the delivery of raw and calibrated Star Facility (LGSF) provides two of the was lost due to technical problems data. This involves user support, data three adaptive-optics-supported instru­ and about 11% due to adverse weather flow management, operations techni­ ments of the VLT with an artificial refer­ conditions. On La S­ illa, bad weather cal support and the development and ence star. The VLT Interferometer com­ accounted for losses of about 13% and maintenance of a science archive bines the light from either the Unit technical problems for 2.2%. The average as provided by the Data Management Telescopes or the Auxiliary Telescopes technical losses of the VLT are unusually and Operations (DMO) Division. The to feed either one of the two interfero­ high this year, but are dominated by a Science Archive Facility holds all the metric first generation instruments with single but extended failure of the hydro­ data obtained with ESO telescopes as a coherent wavefront, further stabilised static bearing system of UT4 between well as highly processed, advanced by the VLTI fringe tracker, or to the VLTI 18 September and 7 October. Also, the products derived from them. Included ­visitor instrument focus. The survey tele­ average technical losses of La Silla are in the directorate is ESO’s contribution scopes VISTA and the VST are both in higher than usual, in this case due to a to ALMA operations through the Euro­ regular operation. damaged lateral support of the main mir­ pean ALMA Support Centre (EASC). ror of the NTT, discovered after the re- On La Silla, the New Technology Tele­ coating of the main mirror in July. Analy­ Highlights of Operations in 2012 have scope, the 3.6-metre, and the 2.2-metre sis of the problem and the subsequent been the successful implementation telescopes operate with a s­ uite of six implementation of a remedy required of the quasi-real-time scientific data instruments. The La Silla site further sup­ 12 days, during which time the telescope transfer from the Paranal, La Silla, ports seven national telescope projects. could not be operated. APEX and ALMA Observatories to the Science Archive Facility in Garching; The observatory also provides the The VISTA survey telescope delivered the successful deployment of a new operational support for the Atacama 285 nights of survey observations out of generation of observation support Pathfinder Experiment with its 12-metre 350 scheduled nights. The VST survey tools for the VLT, the VLTI and the sur­ ­submillimetre radio antenna located telescope started science operation on vey telescopes; the successful de­ on the high plateau of Chajnantor at an 15 October 2011 and delivered 268 ployment of a Phase 3 infrastructure altitude of 5000 metres above sea level nights of survey observations out of 349 for advanced science data products and its suite of heterodyne and bolometer scheduled nights in 2012. from Public Surveys and Large Pro­ facility instruments, together with a num­ grammes in the Science Archive Facili­ ber of visitor instruments. Complementary to regular VLT opera­ ty; and the successful support of tions, the VLT Interferometer was sched­ European Union (EU) ALMA projects at For Observing Periods 89 and 90, the uled for an additional 230 nights to exe­ all stages, from their preparation, exe­ scientific community submitted 969 cute scientific observations using cution and quality checking through and 937 Phase 1 observing proposals baselines with either the UTs or the ATs. to the data delivery through the Euro­ respectively to the LPO including APEX, The remaining nights of the year were pean ALMA Regional Centre and its which documents the continued high used for technical activities and for fur­ distributed nodes. demand at the ESO observing facilities. ther development and commissioning of Some 80% of the proposals are for the the interferometer and its infrastructure. Paranal site with the VLT, the VLTI, and In addition to 77 engineering nights, VISTA. some 58 nights were invested in the con­ tinued commissioning of the PRIMA The observatory continued its efficient ­facility designed to allow dual-star inter­ operation through the high availability ferometry on the VLTI, 4.4% of the and low technical downtime of its tele­ scheduled VLTI science time was lost Left: The historical image, on top, was taken scopes and instruments — key elements due to technical problems and 18% due around 1970 from the La Silla dormitories and for productive scientific observations. to bad weather. looks up towards the highest point of the moun­ In 2012 a total of 2351 nights were tain. In the present-day photograph, some of the buildings remain, but more have been built scheduled for scientific observations with The combination of high operational over the decades. At the highest point is the ESO the four UTs at the VLT and with the three ­efficiency, system reliability and up-time 3.6 -metre telescope, which started operating major telescopes at La Silla. This is of the La Silla and Paranal telescopes in November 1976 and is still in use today. To equivalent to about 92% of the total num­ and instruments for scientific observa­ the right of the 3.6-metre is the 3.58-metre New Technology ­Telescope, recognisable by the ber of nights theoretically available over tions has again resulted in a high scientific angular, metallic appearance of its enclosure. the whole year. The remaining 8% were ­productivity. We have counted 614 peer-

ESO Annual Report 2012 33 reviewed papers published in 2012 in Scientific data transfer ­different scientific journals, which are rates between February 2012 and February 2013 at least partially based on data collected as daily averages (out­ with the VLT and VLTI instruments at going — green, incom­ ­Paranal. In addition, 30 refereed papers ing — blue). An average were published referring to observations daily transfer rate of 10 Mbits/s corresponds with VISTA and the VST at Paranal, and to 105 GB of data trans­ 276 referring to ESO-operated telescopes ferred per day. The at La Silla. Sixty-six papers were based top panel shows the on APEX observations, out of which traffic between the ESO Santiago office and 40 used observations made during the ESO Headquarters. The 24% share of ESO time. Since they middle panel shows ­started operations in 1999, the VLT and the traffic between the VLTI have produced a total of 4844 publi­ ALMA Santiago Central Office and the ESO cations — more than one per day. ­Santiago office. The lower panel shows the traffic between Paranal Scientific data transfer and the ESO Santiago office. While scientific publications are undoubt­ edly the most important final product of an observatory, another fundamental metric of productivity is the quantity of scientific data delivered. The Paranal Observatory alone produced — with the Science Archive Facility in Garching (for clearance of 5.25 metres between floor VLT, VLTI, VISTA, and the VST — 45 TB the latest developments in the Science and crane hook. The clean area can be of scientific and calibration data this year. Archive Facility see the DMO section sealed with a hermetically sealing roller Beginning in July, all scientific data from below). Not only the astronomers in the door to avoid contamination. The integra­ all ESO’s observatories in Chile are now community can take advantage of the tion hall has all the necessary infrastruc­ transferred to the ESO Science Archive fast scientific data transfer for their ture and is large enough to host two large Facility in Garching via a network. Ship­ research, but the observatories can instruments at the same time. A clean air ping of physical media such as DVDs and obtain quasi-real-time feedback on the conditioning system keeps the humidity hard disks has been almost completely quality of the delivered data from the at 40–45%. The illumination is low energy discontinued. Quality Control group in Garching. This consumption and the floor lining is con­ group processes and analyses the ductive. There are four standard service The bottom panel of the top right figure ­cientific and calibration data with a par­ connection points available. These allow shows (in green) the outgoing data ticular focus on data quality, data com­ up to three 10 kW closed-cycle coolers ­transfer rates from Paranal to the ESO pleteness and the health of the scientific to be connected, and for a connection office in Santiago using the dedicated instruments that produced them. to a 40 kW uninterruptable power supply EVALSO fibre link, which was put into full and to a compressed air and cooled operation in March 2012. The middle media supply to be made. There is a local panel shows the data transfer rates from Paranal Observatory area network available for the instrument the ALMA Santiago Central Office (SCO). control and connection to the public The top panel shows in blue the incoming Instrumentation and infrastructure ­network at the basecamp. The outfitting traffic to the Garching Science Archive The observatory is eagerly awaiting the of the new integration hall is well adapted Facility, which includes, in addition to the arrival of the second generation VLT to the new and more stringent require­ Paranal and ALMA scientific data streams, instruments KMOS, SPHERE and MUSE. ments for the assembly, integration and the scientific data streams from La Silla In preparation for these new, complex verification phase of the instruments to and APEX which were ­added in February and also large facility instruments, Paranal come. KMOS was the first instrument to and July respectively. On peak days, has built and prepared a new dedicated arrive at Paranal and took advantage of a total of more than 450 GB of scientific instrument integration hall next to the this new facility for several months before data flow into the ESO Science Archive mechanical workshop building at the it was moved to UT1 in November for Facility in Garching. basecamp. The integration hall comprises commissioning. three ­areas: a main hall consisting of All data files from an observing night at a Class 100 000 cleanroom 135 m2 in Another major activity for an upcoming the LPO are transferred within 24 hours area, 45 m2 of office space, and a 60 m2 new facility carried out this year was an — the majority of the files within a few (dirty) entrance and unloading area. infrastructure upgrade of UT4 for the minutes to hours — and become imme­ The hall and the entrance area are each Adaptive Optics Facility (AOF). In prepa­ diately available to the PIs through the equipped with a 10-tonne crane with a ration for the future installation of the Four

34 ESO Annual Report 2012 UT4 during the tele­ scope infrastructure upgrade for the AOF in March and April.

Laser Guide Star Facility (4LGSF) and the Paranal basecamp. The telescope came 20 W of continuous output power and is deformable secondary mirror on UT4, back into operation as planned in early very stable. It will be oper­ated in a the telescope and its infrastructure had to May. reduced power mode and is expected to be adapted to their new requirements. propagate up to 7 W of laser power into For the cooling, power, and network sup­ Shortly after KMOS had left the new inte­ Paranal’s sky. Installation at UT4 will start plies, this included the re-­routing of the gration hall in November, it was occupied in early 2013. The laser will then be used existing systems, and the installation again by the next project: PARLA, the to generate an artificial star about 90 kilo­ of additional capabilities on the telescope new laser source for the Laser Guide Star metres up in the at­mosphere. By creating and its infrastructure. This intensive work Facility at UT4. It will replace the original and observing such a bright point of light was organised around a planned main PARSEC laser after six years of operation astronomers can probe the turbulence mirror re-coating for UT4 in March and and is expected to greatly improve the in the layers of the atmosphere above the extended over a total of six weeks. The reliability and the flexibility when operat­ telescope. This information is then used figure above shows UT4 hidden behind ing the LGSF with the NACO and to adjust deformable mirrors in real time the scaffolding necessary to access the ­SINFONI adaptive optics instruments. It in order to correct most of the distortions telescope centrepiece and the telescope takes advantage of the new ­solid-state caused by the constant movement of top ring structure, once the main mirror Raman fibre laser technology that will atmosphere and to create diffraction-­ cell and the main mirror itself had been also be employed in the 4LGSF of the limited images. transferred to the coating facilities in the AOF. The new laser source delivers up to

ESO Annual Report 2012 35 Science operations telescope and instrument operator with­ Additional work packages specify the After 13 years of successful operation out the presence of a support astrono­ technical support to be provided by the of the Paranal Observatory, this year has mer. The fundamental scheduling algo­ contractor to the technical operation and seen an evolution towards a revised sci­ rithm is simple but efficient: “always go engineering and other projects of the ence operations plan for Paranal, which for the most difficult observation which observatory. The third pillar of the obser­ has been dubbed SciOps 2.0. The con­ is just compatible with the constraints vatory’s engineering and maintenance tent of this updated plan is based on a set by the user and the atmosphere”. The strategy is the ­utilisation of external com­ re -organisation of the science operations extension of the short-term scheduler panies that represent the original equip­ staff tasks, primarily in order to improve from the s­ urvey telescopes to the VLT ment manufacturers (OEM) of commercial the efficiency of the core science opera­ and the VLTI was carefully tested over six off -the-shelf equipment used at the tions support to service mode (SM) and months on UT2 before introducing the ob ­servatory, such as all air-conditioning visitor mode (VM) observations and the tools at the other UTs and the VLTI. After systems, compressors, generators, and quality of the astronomical data delivered full deployment in October, the gradual also the multi-fuel turbine power genera­ to the community of Paranal users. The implementation of the SciOps 2.0 opera­ tor. The technical representatives of plan further strengthens the coordination tions plan has started with the goal of OEM equipment have highly specialised of science operations activities within full implementation by mid-2013. Sophis­ expertise relevant to the equipment they and between the department groups by ticated performance metrics have been support and are able to provide equip­ increasing the time allocated to high-level put in place to measure the success of ment certifications and w­ arranties, even­ activities, i.e., activities typically related the implementation and eventually to tually leading to the highest availability and to instrument operation and general document the improved efficiency of sci­ reliability at lowest cost. operational processes. In a nutshell, the ence operations at Paranal. operational changes are articulated along During this year the Paranal Observatory two main lines: first the adoption of a has made major progress in the imple­ classical shift-scheduling scheme for Engineering and maintenance operation mentation of its engineering and mainte­ some (three out of five) of the night-time The engineering and maintenance strat­ nance strategy through a novel and fully support astronomers, whose duty time egy for Paranal Observatory aims at pro­ service -level agreement-based engineer­ is shifted from sunset–sunrise to 15:00 – viding the best possible technical support ing and maintenance support contract 02:00–04:00; and second, the replace­ to the scientific operation of the obser­ with MT Mecatronica Ltda., the Chilean ment of one daytime support astronomer vatory. Consequently it targets the high­ subsidiary of MT Aerospace AG (Germa­ by an operations specialist. The opera­ est possible availability and reliability of ny). In parallel, the ­network of external tions specialist is a new job profile at the all operation-critical systems, builds on companies providing OEM support to the ob­ ­servatory and the first operations spe­ their certification and warranties and, at observatory has been expanded and cialist has been recruited from among the same time, provides a quick response strengthened. The implementation of this the pool of senior telescope and instru­ to problems encountered, while always Paranal engineering and maintenance ment operators. These two modifications keeping an eye on a possible rationalisa­ strategy in a timely fashion is considered allow the recovery of some operations tion of the operation. a crucial step towards the anticipated time, which can then be re-injected into future capability of Paranal to operate high -level astronomers’ tasks. Finally, the At Paranal Observatory, this is a shared and support the VLT and the E-ELT as new job profile of operations specialist and continuous effort of the Engineering one observatory. permits the widening of the scope for and Maintenance departments, support­ qualified science operations staff mem­ ed by a rational level of outsourcing. bers who can now support both day- and ­Dedicated engineering projects intended La Silla Observatory night - time core operational tasks. to keep the observatory at the forefront of research are carried out following the La Silla Observatory continues to operate One prerequisite for the successful inte­ same philosophy. While ESO staff con­ successfully according to the streamlined gration of non-astronomers into the centrate on core business activities like operations model. This La Silla 2010+ night -time science operation was the the maintenance of telescope systems, model supports the continued operations availability of a new generation of opera­ scientific instruments and other critical of the three major telescopes and their tion support tools, in particular of the equipment, and the critical tech­nical instrumentation, i.e., the 3.6-metre tele­ central Observing Tool which has been operations like re-coating of the ­mirrors scope with HARPS, the NTT with SOFI, equipped with novel condition-based and calibration of instruments, the EFOSC2 and visitor instruments, and the quasi -automatic short-term scheduling ­ex­­ternal maintenance partners have 2.2 -metre telescope with FEROS and the capabilities. These new capabilities responsibility for the execution of work Wide Field Imager (WFI). The 2.2-metre are spin-offs from earlier developments, packages at the non-critical and low- telescope operates according to an which have been undertaken for the complexity level of telescope and facility agreement with the Max Planck Institute ­Paranal survey telescopes VISTA and operation. The contractor work packages for Astronomy (Heidelberg, Germany). the VST. These two survey telescopes are defined through specific statements This agreement ensures the continued have been operated from day one in a of work and provided and controlled operation of the 2.2-metre ­telescope until quasi -automatic queue mode by a single according to a service-level agreement. 2013, with an ESO share of 25% of the

36 ESO Annual Report 2012 available observing time. This is in 500 response to continued requests by the community for the FEROS and WFI instruments. The La Silla Observatory 400 also continues to support scientific pro­ jects at the Danish 1.54-metre telescope, the Swiss 1.2-metre Leonhard Euler Tele­ 300 scope, the Rapid Eye Mount telescopes, the TAROT, the ESO 1-metre Schmidt ­telescope and the TRAPPIST telescope. 200

The ESO 1-metre telescope was pre­ pared during the first half of the year to 100 resume operation under an agreement between ESO and Católica del Norte ­University (UCN; Antofagasta, Chile). 0 The astronomical institute of UCN plans y 11 to upgrade the telescope to allow remote y 07 p 07 y 08 p 08 y 09 p 09 y 10 y 12 Jan 07 Ma Se Jan 08 Ma Se Jan 09 Ma Se Jan 10 Ma Sep 10 Jan 11 Ma Sep 11 Jan 12 Ma Sep 12 operation and to install new instrumen­ tation to carry out a three-year research APEX monthly on-sky time over the last six years between 21 December and 20 March due to adverse programme on the multiplicity of stars as of science operation. Up to 500 hours per month weather conditions caused by the altiplanic winter, a have been made available for science observations small number of observations are, however, possible. a function of stellar mass, and on active in 2012. Although APEX does not generally operate galactic nuclei (AGN) black hole masses.

The Niels Bohr Institute (Copenhagen level. A total of 252 days and nights were and an aging infrastructure at the high University, Denmark) and the Astronomi­ scheduled for science observations with site of Chajnantor and at the basecamp cal Institute Ondřejov represented by APEX, out of which 212 could actually in Sequitor near San Pedro de Atacama. the Academy of Science of the Czech be used, resulting in a total of 3942 hours Therefore, the APEX partners have Republic have signed an agreement to of on-sky science time. This corresponds agreed to a re-investment plan. In 2012 jointly refurbish and operate the Danish to an 80% increase of the on-sky time reinvestments were made in the areas of 1.54 -metre telescope at La Silla until compared to the year of 2007, showing the computing infrastructure, critical the end of 2014. The refurbishment of the that APEX has reached operational matu­ spare parts, e.g., for the wobbler, and an ­telescope, its infrastructure and control rity at a high level of observing efficiency. upgrade of the chiller compressor. system, and also the the Danish Faint More than 500 hours per month of on- Object Spectrograph and Camera sky time were made available for science The agreement between the APEX part­ (DFOSC) was efficiently carried out under observations in both May and August ners makes provision for a further ex­ the l­eadership of the Czech company (see the figure above). tension until 2017 conditional on the eval­ ProjectSoft HK during the year. The tele­ uation of the scientific competitiveness scope can now be fully operated remote­ The APEX project is a partnership of APEX in the coming years. This will be ly from the Czech Republic and Denmark between the Max Planck Institute for reviewed in early 2013 by an external and has started carrying out the Danish Radio Astronomy (MPIfR, Bonn, Germa­ review of the project. The competitive­ MiNDSTEp project, whose main goal is ny, 50% share), ESO (27% share) and ness of APEX in the era of a fully opera­ to monitor ongoing microlensing events the Onsala Space Observatory (OSO, tional ALMA will depend strongly on its with high photometric precision, and the Sweden, 23% share), originally foreseen survey capabilities and therefore on the Czech NEOSource project to obtain high- to terminate after six years of science results of the ongoing receiver develop­ precision photometry of asteroids. operation, i.e. by the end of 2012. How­ ments by the APEX partners, in particular ever, considering the success of the in the area of large-sized cameras with ­project, all APEX partners have ex­ several thousands of detector elements. APEX pressed their wish to continue the project to extract the maximum scientific bene- The Atacama Pathfinder Experiment fit from this unique facility. Therefore, (APEX) continued to operate its 12-metre the APEX operation agreement has been antenna with its suite of heterodyne and extended to 31 December 2015 with bolometer facility instruments and visitor unchanged shares of observing time. instruments in a quasi-continuous 24 -hour operation mode. This maximises As a consequence of the extension of the the exploitation of the exceptional condi­ lifetime of the project, new investments tions available at the site of Chajnantor in the antenna and the infrastructure are at an altitude of 5000 metres above sea required to overcome obsolete hardware

ESO Annual Report 2012 37 These images symbolise how the computing power used by ESO has increased dramatically with time. Both photographs show Austrian astronomer Rudi Albrecht in front of ESO’s computer systems, but on dates separated by decades. The historical image was taken in 1974 in the ESO offices in Santiago, Chile. The present-day photograph was taken in the Data Centre at ESO Headquarters in Garching bei München in Germany, in front of a rack con- taining a system over five million times more powerful than the machine he was using back in 1974.

Data Management and Operations Division

The Data Management and Operations Division provides user support and ­operates and guides the development of the data flow system for the La Silla Paranal Observatory and ALMA (for the European community). The concepts of VLT end-to-end operations form the basis of the science operations model proposed for the E-ELT as part of its ­construction proposal. This defines direc­ tions for the further development of ­operations on Paranal, and of the infra­ structures that support them, over the coming years.

User Support Department The newly re-styled homepage of the user portal, The User Support Department (USD) which is easier to navigate once logged in. completed two major and important up­ grades of the main tools necessary for the preparation, support and execu­ would benefit from being executed first, European ALMA Regional Centre tion of observations: a new ticketing before moving on to a different set of ­system plus a significant upgrade of the observations (e.g., imaging OBs sharing With the start of Early Science observa­ Phase 2 Proposal Preparation (P2PP) the same filter in a multi-band pro­ tions in September 2011, the 2012 tool and the Observing Tool (OT). gramme). ­European ALMA Regional Centre (ARC) concentrated on following the European The new cross-departmental Remedy- Because of the additional complexity, PI projects from their preparation, exe­ based ticketing system (aka PROP, the upgraded tools were first deployed at cution and quality checking through to Portal for Reporting of Operational Prob­ the Kueyen Telescope (UT2) in March/ data delivery. In addition to this, face-to- lematics) went live in March 2012. This April and then at all other telescopes in face support has commenced. This is new deployment was fully transparent to September/October. This deployment one of the core functions of the ALMA the users, who now benefit from also was accompanied by the release of other project provided by the ARC nodes being able to contact us via a web form enhancements to our operational inter­ throughout Europe. The support includes with pre-defined options, which help faces. First, the new tools now allow ser­ help with proposal preparation, data to iden­tify the issues more readily. The vice mode PIs to delegate their Phase 2 reduction and, soon, archival research. major advantage of this new portal is tasks to somebody else; a feature long- Ao face-t -face visit can be arranged mostly for ESO Operations, since all awaited by our users’ community — 20% through the ALMA Helpdesk. To date, operationally linked groups/departments of all Period 90 SM PIs have already 23­ re­quests for face-to-face support have are now gathered in one place and are ­taken advantage of this new feature. Sec­ been recorded by the Helpdesk, 18 of able to share information. ondly, the installation of a new night log which asked for support for data reduc­ tool on Paranal made it possible to re- tion of Cycle 0 projects and the remaining For version 3 of P2PP and the OT, the style the progress report pages that USD five for Cycle 1 proposal preparation. In USD, in close collaboration with Paranal offers to its SM users. These are now addition to these formal requests, face- Science Operations, evaluated in detail directly extracted from the night reports to -face support is being regularly provid­ the complexities brought to the system and include information about the quality ed to scientists from institutes hosting by 13 additional VLT/I instruments. Both of the executed observations. This facelift the ARC nodes or to users coming from of these tools had already been deployed culminated in December with the launch neighbouring institutes. at VISTA and the VST from the very start of a new email subscription service to of the Public Surveys. A robust ranking night reports for Paranal SM PIs and/or PIs or Co-Investigators requesting sup­ algorithm was implemented in the up­ their Phase 2 delegates. In short, users port are assigned to an ARC node based graded OT to take advantage of the new can now be notified every time one on their geographical location or possi- features included in the P2PP v.3 tool. of their observations has been executed. ble col­laborations, and to a specific ARC Users now have the possibility to link The USD also organised two Phase 2 node person who will help them for the time­ -critical Observation Blocks (OBs), Users’ Workshops at ESO Headquarters duration of their visit. Some ARC nodes to concatenate those observations that in Garching (January and July), present­ have dedicated funding to support these need to be carried out back-to-back ing the new tools and providing face-to- visits, other users obtain funding from (e.g., science + calibration) and to group face support to the users. their home institutes. RadioNet3 MARCUs the OBs of a given programme that (Mobility for ARC Users) network funding

40 ESO Annual Report 2012 is also available for users who do not the expected and published ranges. to a step in the process and data flows have access to a local ARC node, or who ­Taking advantage of the fast data transfer seamlessly from one box to the next. In have scheduled a face-to-face visit to a link, the quality control loop between addition to the capability to run the data node other than their local node. ­Paranal and Garching is routinely closed reduction modules, Reflex provides, on a timescale of about one hour. During amongst other things, the capability to At the end of their visit, all users are 2012 the group processed about 8 TB organise and associate the input data, as requested to fill out a face-to-face visit of VLT/VLTI raw data in 180 000 process­ well as the capability to insert custom feedback form, in order to capture the ing jobs. The creation and distribution tools written in popular languages (cur­ user experience. Observers who visit an of these products was discontinued in rently python). This new release adds fea­ ARC node for the purpose of data reduc­ October 2011 in favour of self-­service tures guided by feedback from previous tion usually grant access to their data to access through the ESO Science Archive versions and marks the end of the main the ARC node prior to the visit in order to Facility (see below). In addition, close to development of the infrastructure. From speed up the process. About a third of 25 TB of data from the survey telescopes this point on, the effort will be largely the users reported that the data reduction VISTA and the VST were processed to focussed towards enhancing the quality carried out during their visit was sufficient monitor the instruments’ performance of the data products from selected in­ to achieve their scientific goals, while and data quality. This is more than three struments. In this respect, the year saw another third were planning some addi­ times as much as the entire suite of the the release of a greatly improved pipeline tional reduction steps after they returned other 14 VLT/I instruments on Paranal. and calibration plan for the reduction to their home institutes. The remaining of X-shooter echelle data. This is one of 30% did not provide any relevant feed­ In accordance with ESO policy, advanced the most popular instrument modes back. The visitors graded themselves in science data products from Public Sur­ on the VLT, based on the experience from equal numbers as novice, intermediate veys and Large Programmes are being the first years of regular science opera­ or expert in their interferometric data returned to the Science Archive Facility tions. Reflex now supports the following reduction skills and, in their large majori­ by their respective PIs for the community instrument modes: UVES, X-shooter ty, ranked the ARC staff assigned to them at large to exploit. The Archive Science echelle, FORS spectroscopy and VIMOS as very competent and friendly, providing group has developed, in close collabora­ integral field units (IFUs; these four instru­ very positive feedback on the interaction. tion with the Software Development ments account for about 50% of the ­Division, a set of standardised procedures time scheduled at the VLT). The first two Relevant output was also captured by the and tools to streamline this process, are interactive and fully scientific work­ second ALMA user satisfaction survey dubbed Phase 3 by analogy with the sub­ flows, while the latter two are more basic carried out in September among all regis­ mission of observing proposals (Phase 1) and, with limited interactive capabilities, tered ALMA users. The survey showed and the specification of the detailed are intended to facilitate the data reduc­ that 93% of those who answered the rel­ observing strategies (Phase 2). In the tion process. Work is in progress towards evant parts of the survey characterised course of 2012, the Phase 3 infrastructure a full scientific validation of the FORS the quality of the face-to-face support as was extended to include the handling and and VIMOS spectroscopic pipelines, above average. publication of source catalogues which together with the upgrade of the respec­ are, arguably, the ultimate data product tive Reflex workflows to full interactivity. APEX activities at the ARC department from Public Surveys. Archive users are have been carried out as usual by the now able to browse the content of the APEX group. The group supported the catalogues for a number of scientific cri­ Science Archive Facility last observing run of the Z-spec visitor teria in order to identify and download the instrument, which provides an important entries of interest. Interactions with the The Science Archive Facility is now the synergy with ALMA. Some first results survey teams proceed on a regular basis only distribution point for all ESO data. were submitted in combination with to ensure smooth Phase 3 operations This includes access to proprietary data ALMA Cycle 0 data. In 2012, the APEX and the continuing growth of the archive for both visitor and service mode runs, project moved to a network-based trans­ content of data products. which is limited to the corresponding fer of the new APEX science data to the Principal Investigators and their author­ PIs, reducing the delay in data access ESO’s efforts to improve the scientific ised delegates for the duration of the pro­ from a few months to a few days, thereby quality of the data products, a task co- prietary period (typically one year). On allowing the users to provide input for ordinated by the Science Data Products average, the files become available from ongoing observations. group, continued this year with the final the Science Archive Facility within a major public release of Reflex, again the few hours of the observation. The archive outcome of close collaboration with the calibration selector service allows the Data products Software Development Division. Reflex is association of calibrations and ancillary a software platform that runs ESO data files to raw science files for further pro­ The Data Processing and Quality Control reduction modules in a user-friendly way. cessing. The new design of the home­ group works closely with the Paranal The data reduction cascade is rendered page of the Science Archive Facility gives ­Science Operations department to assure graphically in the form of a scientific easy access to the different data collec­ that all instruments always perform within workflow, where each box corresponds tions hosted there.

ESO Annual Report 2012 41 Following the addition of 50 TB of new data this year, the total archive holdings approach the 300 TB mark. Close to 37 000 archive data requests were made during the year, triggered by queries posted on the archive main query and instrument-specific query pages. These correspond to the activities of more than 2000 unique archive users. The total number of files served through the ESO Science Archive Facility approached eight million.

Major new releases of data products include images and catalogues from Public Surveys on the VISTA telescope. The first releases of data products from Public Surveys on the VST, as well as of Spectroscopic Public Surveys on the NTT and VLT/FLAMES, are due in 2013.

The Science Archive Facility remained a strong contributor to ESO’s scientific ­output as measured by the number of refereed publications. In fact, almost a quarter of the refereed papers from VLT/I published during the year used exclu­ sively or partly (i.e., in combination with new ESO observations) data retrieved from the ESO archive (more details in the Publication Digest section of this report).

The re-vamped homepage of the ESO Science By agreement with the European Space Archive Facility provides easy access to the different Agency (ESA), the European copy of data collections hosted there. the Hubble Space Telescope archive was

The old and new data- processing hardware for the Paranal data stream (left and right picture, respectively). The old one consisted of over 30 blades in a blade centre, while the new one is based on a blade chassis with only eight multicore servers. This replacement will dramatically reduce the data centre footprint, saving power, cooling and overall maintenance costs, while ensuring statef -o -the art perfor­ mance to meet the chal­ lenges of handling a complex data stream.

42 ESO Annual Report 2012 transferred from the ESO Headquarters and provides operational web support as request handler; the replacement of the to ESA’s European Space Astronomy well as administration and development data -processing hardware for the Paranal Centre in Spain, from where it continues for an operational problem reporting sys­ data stream and the deployment of PROP. its operations. tem in support of the ESO data flow. Operations Technical Support has been The department was instrumental in pro­ the driving force behind a standard Operations Technical Support viding support to ESO’s science opera­ ­hardware environment at ESO. This tions. Major milestones this year included agreed hardware environment, spanning The Operations Technical Support the installation of the European ALMA all information technology (IT) areas, Department operates the ESO Data Regional Centre computer cluster; the will simplify the system management ­Centre, maintains the operational and extension of the capacity of the Oracle activities. service-specific computer systems, man­ relational database management system; ages mission-critical database servers the deployment of the ALMA archive ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Padilla C.

Correlator technician Juan Carlos ­Gatica with one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world, installed at ALMA AOS at 5000 metres above sea level, high in the Chilean Andes.

ESO Annual Report 2012 43 European ALMA Support Centre

The European ALMA Support Centre, for­ decision -making bodies of ALMA and mally instituted at ESO on 1 October ESO. The process was governed by the 2009, ramped up staff and activities dur­ ALMA development plan principles, ing the year as ALMA moved further which were agreed between the ALMA into early operations in parallel with con­ partners in 2011. The basic principle is struction. EASC has developed into the to establish one coherent ALMA devel­ face of ALMA for the European scientific opment programme across the three community and the international ALMA ALMA partner regions, with each partner partners for ALMA operations. EASC is managing the approved development an important component for the success projects according to their own rules and of ALMA, both for its performance as traditions (which ESO does for Band 5). a scientific instrument and for ESO as a With respect to the development pro­ partner in the ALMA project. gramme, the role of EASC is to ensure and enable high quality proposals from EASC responsibility comprises the roles the European instrumentation com­ of ALMA Regional Centre operations, munity, coordinate and manage the pro­ ALMA offsite technical maintenance and gramme and development projects in development support, ALMA science Europe, as well as represent Europe in and outreach. The high-level scientific the international ALMA collaboration. representation and scientific guidance of the European ALMA project will continue Following the very successful first call to be provided in the operations phase for studies for ALMA upgrades and by the European Programme Scientist, developments in Europe in 2010, EASC who acts in close collaboration with the prepared the second call this year, to VLT and E-ELT Programme Scientists to be issued in 2013. The primary aims have exploit the scientific synergies with ESO’s not changed: give European groups the other major programmes. opportunity to propose ALMA upgrades that may later be implemented as part For the scientific user community, the of the ALMA Development Plan; support central ARC at ESO Garching and the the development of conceptual and ARC nodes in Europe are the primary detailed designs for ALMA upgrades; and interfaces to the individual ALMA users. encourage relevant long-term research The share of core and additional func­ and development. During this year, several tions between the central ARC and the of the supported studies were com- ARC nodes is detailed in the ARC node pleted (preparations for ALMA Band 5 implementation plan. This year the ARC full production; Band 9 upgrade options; and the ARC nodes were shown to implications and cost for the system be crucial in providing the users in ESO ­doubling the IF [intermediate frequency] Member States with high quality data bandwidth for the back ends) while from ALMA Early Science Cycle 0. The ­others are ongoing (phasing ALMA for European model of distributed ARC (sub-)millimetre very long baseline inter­ nodes has proven very efficient in serv- ferometry (VLBI) observations; supra-THz ing the users’ community. In parallel, interferometry with ALMA; components prepa ­rations for Early Science Cycle 1, and the science case for ALMA Band 2). scheduled to start in early 2013, were carried out. Outreach and media presentation of ALMA and its achievements are provided The ALMA partnership foresees continu­ by the ESO education and Public Out­ ous upgrades and the development of reach Department (ePOD), in coordina­ new software, front ends (e.g., additional tion with the outreach department of JAO receiver bands) and other hardware or and those of the other ALMA partners. system capabilities during the operations phase. The interface at ESO for the ­technical community in Europe is the EASC’s ALMA Technical Support group. This year the first ALMA upgrade and development project, equipping the full array with Band 5 receivers, has been A European antenna at the ALMA Array Operations approved by all relevant advisory and Site.

44 ESO Annual Report 2012 ESO/Max Alexander ESO/Max

ESO Annual Report 2012 45 Programmes

46 ESO Annual Report 2012 Instrumentation for the La Silla Paranal Observatory

The year 2012 will go on record as one KMOS commissioning This meant that all the telescope and of the most significant in ESO’s 50-year instrument systems, working together for history, with the approval of the E-ELT The formal period of testing and verifi­ the first time, were able to position the as a new supplementary programme cation of KMOS began this year, pro­ star to within 2 millimetres. The use of by the ESO Council in December. This ceeding from laboratory tests to on-sky KMOS was quickly expanded to working decision lays the foundation for the commissioning. Initially, engineers and with all 24 IFUs simultaneously and then project to move forwards into full con­ scientists from ESO in Garching and to testing scientific targets. KMOS is struction. On ALMA, major break­ in Chile worked with the consortium at designed with observations of multiple throughs were achieved in the areas of the UK Astronomy Technology Centre galaxies in clusters in mind in order to antenna acceptance and integration to ­verify the instrument. This work culmi­ meet one of the main scientific goals of of the front ends, capitalising on the nated in KMOS passing Provisional the instrument — namely studying the considerable hard work expended to Acceptance in Europe (PAE), which for­ mass assembly of galaxies as a function bring these key ESO deliverables into mally authorises delivery to the observa­ of redshift. Some representative targets a smooth and rapid delivery process. tory. KMOS was delivered in two con­ for this science case were observed, In terms of instrumentation, the first signments: the instrument itself travelled showing that the dynamics of these sys­ light of KMOS marked a high point in by air, but the large cable rotator could tems could be measured as expected. the delivery of second gen­eration only be sent by ship. Both arrived in As well as observing 24 single, well-­ instruments for the VLT. The integra­ Antofagasta at the end of August. The separated targets, KMOS can also map tion and first commissioning on sky of instrument was reassembled and tested larger areas of the sky. This mode was this complex cryogenic instrument in the integration hall on Paranal to check tested on observations of nearby galaxies went extremely smoothly and is a tes­ that no damage had resulted from the and even of the planet Jupiter. This really tament to the hard work, professional­ transport. Installation on the ­telescope’s demonstrates the versatility of the new ism and careful planning of all involved. Nasmyth platform followed. Thanks to the spectrograph. Further periods of testing high level of preparation from the consor­ are planned in 2013 before the instrument tium and ESO engineers on Paranal, the is offered to the astronomical community. schedule for the integration held to within one day and lasted just over one month.

In November, the instrument was cooled to its operating temperature of 115 K to KMOS is the silver structure at the centre, surrounded start the commissioning. First light on sky by the blue ring structure that connects it to the VLT was achieved on 21 November. At first Unit Telescope 1, appearing on the left. On the right the large silver cylinder supports the extensive just a single star was acquired within the KMOS electronics and allows them to rotate as the field of view of one of the 24 KMOS IFUs. telescope moves across the sky. ) glphoto.it ESO/G. Lombardi (

Left: The historical image, on top, taken in mid- to -late 2004, shows the VISTA building under construction. The present-day picture shows the telescope after its completion.

ESO Annual Report 2012 47 This picture of Jupiter was taken by multiple expo­ sures using the 24 KMOS arms to obtain a single giant IFU datacube. Each point in the image is a This picture shows first light with the KMOS multi- spectrum and the entire picture contains more than IFU spectrograph on the VLT. The target star 35 000 spectra. A quick selection of the wavelengths appeared perfectly at the position expected as to include in the image reveals the auroral glow at shown on the monitor. Jupiter’s poles.

Instruments approved or under quality with Strehl ratios reaching 90% The ESPRESSO ultra-stable high-­ ­construction in the H- band in good (0.65-arcsecond) resolution optical spectrograph (PI: Pepe, ­simulated seeing. In September, a ther­ Geneva) progressed on schedule, enter­ The IFU spectrograph MUSE (PI: Bacon, mal tent was installed around SPHERE, ing its final design phase and advancing Lyon) continued into its final integration and the complete instrument was oper­ in the final design of all major compo­ phase. When commissioned, the instru­ ated at temperatures between 5 and nents such as the coudé train and spec­ ment will provide a huge 1 × 1-arcminute 20° Celsius to confirm the specified oper­ trograph. There was continuing progress field of view, with each 0.2-arcsecond ating environment. SPHERE is currently in the detailed design of all instrument pixel giving a complete spectrum, with undergoing PAE testing and shipment is subsystems. ESPRESSO has major inter­ 90 000 spectra obtained in a single shot. planned for summer 2013, followed by faces with the VLT that have required Unfortunately, problems were discovered installation at the VLT and first light in the considerable work in order to use the with the manufactured field-splitting late northern autumn. combined focus as a way of achieving optics unit, which required a new unit to be procured. This had the effect of slow­ ing progress and so commissioning will be delayed until late 2013. Nonetheless the end-to-end verification of three MUSE channels was successfully accomplished in the laboratory during the year.

Following the assembly readiness re- views of the individual instruments and sub ­systems, this was the year for put­- ting SPHERE (PI: Beuzit, Institute of ­Planetology and Astrophysics of Grenoble [IPAG]) — ESO’s planet-finder instru- ment — together in Grenoble. The last system to be integrated was the SAXO extreme adaptive optics (XAO) system in March. Since then, SPHERE has been tested f­ully integrated, operating through templates and using data reduction The SPHERE instru- ­recipes to obtain results. Despite some ment is shown here fully assembled in problems with the high-order deformable the integration lab at mirror, SAXO delivers a very good image Grenoble -IPAG.

48 ESO Annual Report 2012 maximum observing flexibility. The instru­ Image taken during ment detectors are a key item on the GRAAL’s mechanical assembly in the integra­ ­project critical path and a Final Design tion hall at ESO Head­ Review for these took place mid-year, quarters in Garching allowing early procurement. The outcome bei München, Germany. of the review was successful and the contract for the procurement of the detectors was signed in July. The coudé design concept was revisited and is now frozen to allow the final design work to proceed. Further development of the spectrograph optical design was also carried out, introducing a simple and more efficient camera, and eliminating the use of slanted volume phase gratings as cross dispersers, since these were found to be too risky in terms of sensit­ ivity to alignment and efficiency. recommissioned after the intervention. one of its lasers to im­prove both the reso­ Progress has been made in preparing the lution and sky coverage in comparison Important progress was made in the future operation of the AOF, and laser with the current NACO and SINFONI Adaptive Optics Facility project with the traffic control s­ oftware has been tested in instruments. Opportunities exist for exter­ start of integration of the final subsys­ Paranal, a slope detection and ranging nal institutes to collaborate with ESO on tems. By the end of the year most main technique (SLODAR) upgrade was the construction of the instrument and a subsystems were completely assembled, launched and requirements for site moni­ call for proposals was issued. enabling the project to launch the AOF toring were issued. system test phase in 2013. Many key ele­ A four-month Phase A study for the ments under contract with industry were The ERIS project to build a new facility at ­Cassegrain U- band Brazilian ESO Spec­ delivered to Garching. REOSC (France) the UT4 Cassegrain focus to feed both trograph (CUBES) has been successfully delivered the first science-grade thin shell an infrared imager and an upgraded completed with a review in September. for the deformable secondary mirror ­SINFONI integral field spectrograph with A Brazilian consortium (PI: Barbuy, Co-PI: to Microgate/ADS (Italy). The Netherlands adaptive optics (AO)-corrected wave­ Castilho), in collaboration with ESO’s Organisation for Applied Scientific fronts was approved. ERIS will use the Instrumentation Division staff, has devel­ Re ­search (TNO) delivered the four launch deformable mirror of the AOF as well as oped an instrument design and operations telescope units for the laser guide star facility and TOPTICA (Germany) validated the design of the 20 W sodium laser with extensive testing of a pre-production unit. Finally, Microgate/ADS delivered the deformable secondary mirror to ESO Garching in December, an exciting mile­ stone, which passed without major dif­ ficulty. The adaptive optics wavefront sensor modules, GRAAL and GALACSI, were completely integrated with optics and all electronics, including the SPARTA real -time com­puters. The ASSIST test bench was also completed and accepted from the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA) in October. Four of the required 12 low-noise wavefront sen­ sor cameras (E2V CCD220 chips) were also delivered. In April, a major interven­ tion was performed on the UT4 telescope to prepare the structure for the arrival of the AOF. The interfaces were imple­ mented for the 4LGSF and a complete upgrade of the cooling system was The new deformable secondary mirror for the AOF is shown assembled in the integration hall at ESO ­carried out, along with other cabling at the end of 2012, ready for further calibration and activities. The telescope was successfully testing.

ESO Annual Report 2012 49 concept based on a detailed science with Paranal. The remaining critical issue PRIMA analysis team was formed and case. These were presented to the Sci­ relates to how to deal with non-common received high priority to investigate the ence and Technical Committee (STC) in path errors in the metrology injection. origins of the problem and to find solu­ October, who approved the go-ahead as The MATISSE (PI: Lopez, Côte d’Azur tions. The source of the large systematic an Instrumentation Division project con­ Observatory, NICE) project has now errors was quickly narrowed down to tingent on Brazil becoming a full member closed all pending actions from the optics a problem with the stability of the base­ of ESO. and cryogenics Final Design Review line (optical distance between telescopes) and the Final Design Review has been as seen by the PRIMA end-to-end metrol­ The laser frequency comb (LFC), a revo­ officially closed. MATISSE will increase its ogy: due to optical effects the baseline lutionary way of achieving a series of originally planned spectral resolution by was moving by several centimetres, while ­precisely equally spaced and stable lines using new grisms. A first cryostat, oper­ an accuracy of approximately 50 micro­ for spectrograph wavelength calibration, ating at the required temperature, has metres is needed. It was clear that a was approved for construction for the been completed. modification of the PRIMA metrology was HARPS spectrograph in 2011. This year necessary, extending it to include all the memorandum of understanding was A number of changes were made at the the mirrors of the VLTI except for the tele­ signed between ESO, the Instituto de VLTI during the year. At the end of 2011 scope primary mirror. A rapid extension Astrofísica de Canarias (Spain) and the the VLTI Infrastructure Department was of the metrology revealed a very strong Federal University of Rio Grande do moved from the former Telescope Divi­ polarisation of light propagating into the Norte (Brasil). The project aims to deliver sion to the Instrumentation Division. This VLTI. This effect is a showstopper for the a turnkey LFC for the HARPS spectro­ allowed a restructuring of the general PRIMA metrology and it is also present graph and comes as a natural extension VLTI development project into several for normal interferometric applications, of the development activities carried out separated projects linked to specific sci­ affecting their sensitivity and accuracy. In in recent years to demonstrate the feasi­ entific applications, as is commonly done addition, the polarisation aspect is of bility of this technique in astronomical for VLT instruments. The individual pro­ utmost importance for the future GRAVITY spectrographs. Meanwhile, the analysis jects included (i) the development of the instrument. PRIMA is therefore currently of the data of previous test runs has astrometric mode of PRIMA; (ii) the being used to fully investigate and under­ led to the demonstration of a short-term design and manufacturing of NAOMI, the stand the polarisation behaviour of the internal stability better than 3 cm/s, i.e., adaptive optics system for the Auxiliary VLTI, to analyse its detailed effects both at the exo-Earth detection limit, a result Telescopes; (iii) the development and for PRIMA and GRAVITY measurements, that was published in the May issue of improvement of the VLTI infrastructure and to find practical solutions to recover Nature. The HARPS+LFC system is necessary for the second generation the metrology function and the expected expected to be commissioned by the end instruments GRAVITY and MATISSE, accuracy. This experimental phase is of 2013 and to be offered to the com­ including the reduction of UT vibrations; ­currently being carried out. When this is munity in 2014. It should allow the detec­ and (iv) the construction of a second completed, astrometric testing of PRIMA tion of planets with only few times the ­generation fringe tracker to enhance the is expected to recommence around mid- mass of the Earth orbiting within the scientific output of these instruments. 2013. habi ­table zone of nearby solar-type stars. New managers from other departments and divisions were assigned to the VLTI In parallel, a small element of PRIMA has projects and reinforced the VLTI team been put to good use: the fringe sensor VLTI instruments and infrastructure in order to accelerate the implementation. unit has been offered for observations development Two new staff members were recruited: in combination with the first generation Julien Woillez as PRIMA instrument sci­ instrument MIDI. The fringe-tracker Progress on the two new instruments entist and Jean-Philippe Berger as VLTI boosts the performance of MIDI on the for the VLTI continued this year. The Programme Scientist. Their tasks include Auxiliary Telescopes by increasing Final Design Review for the GRAVITY (PI: helping the La Silla–Paranal programme the limiting magnitude and improving the Eisenhauer, Max Planck Institute for manager to coordinate the activities quality and accuracy of the data reduc­ Extraterrestrial Physics [MPE]) wavefront of the various VLTI projects and prioritise tion. This mode is now used routinely in sensor was held in March and a number them according to scientific objectives. Paranal.­ of critical actions were identified and The VLTI projects are now being struc­ are currently being addressed. Impor­ tured and documented according to the tantly, the SAPHIRA wavefront sensor standards used by all other VLT instru­ detector (currently under development) ments and will be managed in an inte­ has passed crucial tests, retiring one of grated way. the significant risks for the project. The Right: This image shows one of the four ATs on interfaces in all laboratories and on the At the end of 2011, it became clear that ­Cerro ­Paranal, which form part of the Very Large telescopes have been clarified between the PRIMA astrometric mode would not ­Telescope. They are used for interferometry, which GRAVITY, ESO and the MATISSE and reach the required accuracy, falling short allows multiple ATs, or the even larger Unit Tele­ scopes, to combine their power and see details up ESPRESSO teams. Hardware obsoles­ by a large factor and strongly affecting to 25 times finer possible than with the individual cence is being addressed in collaboration the PRIMA science case. A dedicated telescopes.

50 ESO Annual Report 2012 ) glphoto.it ESO/G. Lombardi (

ESO Annual Report 2012 51

H.H.Heyer ESO/

The background image was taken in December 2012 and shows an aerial view of the central antennas that com­ pose the Atacama Large Milli­meter/ submillimeter Array. The AOS building can also be seen on the right and, at the very far right, the APEX antenna. The historical image of the Chajnantor Plateau above was taken in 2002, before the construction of ALMA started.

52 ESO Annual Report 2012 )/ESO wingsforscience.com ormier ( ormier N - Clem & Adri Bacri Adri & Clem

ESO Annual Report 2012 53 ALMA

ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/ submillimeter Array, is a large interfer­ ometer for radio wavelengths ranging from 0.3 to 9.6 millimetres. It is in an advanced state of construction by an international partnership between Europe, North America, and East Asia in collaboration with the Republic of Chile. Ultimately this new observatory will comprise 66 high precision antennas with state-of-the-art receivers located on the Chajnantor ­Plateau of the Chilean Andes at 5000 metres above sea level in the district of San Pedro de Atacama. The 12-metre antennas will be placed in configurations with reconfigurable base­ lines ranging from 15 metres to 16 kilo­ metres. Resolutions as fine as 0.005 arc­ seconds will be achieved at the highest frequencies, a factor of ten better than the Hubble Space Telescope at optical wavelengths. Aerial view of the OSF at 2900 metres above sea the European, Japanese and North American part­ ­level. In the foreground is the antenna integration site ners, before being taken to their final destination on where the antennas are assembled and tested by the Chajnantor Plateau. In 2012 ALMA construction has pro­ gressed significantly to the point that it is expected to be completed in 2013. The first scientific observations, ALMA Early of this receiver band has led to a deci­ Manned operations at the AOS are lim­ Science, started in September 2011 and sion to fully equip ALMA with Band 5 ited to an absolute minimum due to continued throughout 2012 with at least as the first development project. the harsh environment. The AOS techni­ 16 antennas. The major highlights at the – Commissioning of the permanent ­power cal building hosts the correlator, a spe­ end of 2012 included: system was completed and operations cialised computer that processes the dig­ started to feed the OSF and the AOS itised signals from the antennas before – ALMA Early Science and science veri­ technical building initially. they are transmitted via fibre optic lines to fication produced stunning science – The design of the ALMA Residencia the data storage facilities at the OSF. data. First results have been published was completed. with astronomers in the ESO Member ESO has, within the agreement conclud­ States making a strong contribution. ed with its international partners, as­sumed – The call for proposals for ALMA Cycle 1 Site construction work responsibility for providing several major (scheduled to start in 2013) resulted in construction works on all three ALMA 1134 proposals, with 43% coming from The ALMA Observatory comprises three sites. In addition, ESO has managed the the ESO Member States. sites: construction of the roads leading from – A LMA construction proceeded well. the Chilean public highway to the OSF Eleven European antennas were – the ALMA Operations Support Facilities (15 kilometres), and continuing to the ­delivered in 2012, bringing the total to at 2900 metres above sea level; AOS (28 kilometres). This year safety bar­ 17. FE deliveries were completed — – the Array Operations Site, located at riers and traffic signs were installed, including the Band 7 re­ceivers and 5000 metres above sea level on the ­completing the construction of the road, receiver cryostats — except for two FE Chajnantor Plateau; and apart from the final element, which is the assemblies which will be provided to – the Santiago Central Office at ESO’s fully featured intersection with the public the observatory in early 2013. Vitacura premises. highway that is being studied in collabo­ – By the end of 2012 there were 51 an­ ration with Chile’s Ministry of Public tennas (77%) from the three ALMA The OSF is the operations centre for the Works, the Ministerio de Obras Publicas. partners at the 5000-metre site, entire ALMA Observatory and is also 40 of 12 metres in diameter, and 11 of the place where the final assembly of the At the OSF, ESO’s infrastructure contri­ 7­ me­tres in diameter. antennas is carried out. The assembly, butions are: – First spectra and fringes were obtained integration and verification of antennas with the Band 5 receivers, provided and other advanced equipment is com­ – the OSF technical facilities building; under European Union Framework Pro­ pleted there before they are transported – the permanent power supply system for gramme 6 (EU FP6) funding. The scien­ to the AOS. the entire ALMA Observatory; and tific interest and successful development – the ALMA Residencia.

54 ESO Annual Report 2012 The completed OSF technical facilities The LPG storage building has been in use since 2008. facility: the tanks are covered in sand for In 2012 the erection of a multi-fuel power enhanced safety. generation system at the OSF, consisting ESO/C. Cabrera of three turbines each with a capacity of 3.8 megawatts, was completed, and the plant was commissioned. However, after successful tests, one of the three turbines stopped working on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for reasons that are being investigated. The main fuel storage facility, with a total capacity of 600 cubic metres of LPG, was also completed and is now fully operational. The medium voltage distribution system that distrib­ utes the power generated across the facilities at the OSF and to the AOS was also completed and, after commission­ ing, entered into operation. Wooden model of the After the extreme precipitation that ALMA Residencia. occurred early in the year, which caused substantial damage to the road and to the underground medium voltage cable

installation connecting the OSF to the ESO/Kouvo & Partanen Oy AOS, it was decided to issue a contract for a design that defines measures which would increase the tolerance to extreme weather events. This design was con­ cluded with the delivery of a detailed plan. However, due to the rather high esti­ mated cost, no decision has yet been taken on the implementation.

The design of the ALMA Residencia, en­ compassing 120 rooms and all the re­ Besides providing the 192 antenna antenna steel structures (mounts) are quired facilities such as the kitchen, dinin­ g ­foundations at the AOS (completed in manufactured in Aviles, in northern Spain. room, general services, leisure facilities, 2010), ESO was responsible for installing There they are pre-aligned with great etc. — contracted to the architectural high accuracy interfaces on them. This ­precision before they are shipped to Chile office Kouvo & Partanen (Finland) — start­ was a delicate and challenging activity from the nearby harbour. The main dish ed early in the year and went through since the required precision in positioning structures and the receiver cabins, both three reviews (preliminary, critical and the interfaces is a few micrometres over made out of carbon fibre reinforced plas­ final) to reach completion. However, the a range of several metres, to be achieved tics, are fabricated, pre-assembled and project deemed it necessary to change in a rather harsh environment at 5000 measured in France. For overseas trans­ the location in order to reduce interference me ­tres above sea level. The work was port they are mounted on shock-limiting with the existing infrastructure, as well completed this year. transport frames that ensure a safe road as to limit the risk of flooding in the case ­journey to Antwerp, and then on to Chile. of extreme weather. This change required Other parts of the antennas are either an additional effort by the contractor to ALMA antennas shipped directly to Chile from their pro­ adapt the design to the new location and duction sites (like the reflector panels), or this will be completed in early 2013. ESO is providing 25 high-precision anten­ are integrated into the mount or the This additional activity, together with the nas to ALMA, each 12 metres in diameter. receiver cabin prior to each individual envisaged complex ­bidding phase for The antennas are manufactured by the shipment. the construction contract, could cause a AEM consortium, which is composed of delay in the readiness of the building Thales Alenia Space (France and Italy), The final integration of the antennas takes with respect to the original schedule, MT -Mechatronics (Germany) and Euro­ place at a large work area at the OSF, moving the completion date into the first pean Industrial Engineering (Italy). Com­ where various antenna foundations were half of 2015. ponent manufacture is spread across constructed in 2008. These foundations Europe at various subcontractors. The are used to perform the mechanical and

ESO Annual Report 2012 55 electrical assembly of the antennas, the ESO efforts also contributed to these me ­tres were done expeditiously. The commissioning and the finishing work. results. The antenna team had been con­ main reflector surface has always been stantly reviewing the acceptance test set without problems at around (or better This year the delivery rate of the Euro­ procedures to optimise the testing pro­ than) 11 micrometres root mean square pean antennas increased considerably. gramme without assuming unnecessary (RMS), therefore providing a margin with This resulted in eleven units being hand­ risks. Whenever the experience gained respect to the specification and the error ed over to ALMA, bringing the total num­ with testing and operating the antennas budget. This has allowed a steady flow ber of European antennas delivered so allowed a step in the test process to of antennas to the Array Operation Site. far to 17. This result is quite re­markable, be eliminated, this was discussed with By the end of the year fifteen European considering that an extremely severe AEM and implemented. The total time for antennas were operating at the AOS. altip ­lanic winter disrupted acceptance testing an antenna was reduced from testing activities between January and approximately ten weeks to typically six The performance of the antennas at the April. There were various reasons for this weeks. The number of equipment tools AOS has been excellent, and basically success, some the responsibility of AEM needed for testing was increased so confirms the measurements made at the and others of ESO. First of all, industrial that it was possible to test up to three OSF. In terms of pointing accuracy, all production in Europe continued with antennas simultaneously with at least two the antennas are around the 1-arcsecond a regularity that ensured a steady flow of looking at the sky. Finally, the high level RMS level in absolute pointing. Further, material to Chile. In Chile the AEM con­ of enthusiasm and effort from the people by means of astro-holography it has been sortium was able to optimise the assem­ involved also contributed to the good possible to verify the accuracy of the bly process through various logistical and results. reflecting surface directly on some of the personnel measures. The best use of units at 5000 metres above sea level. It time was made possible by doubling the By the end of the year, all eight of the was shown that the antennas did not on -site presence of AEM staff with key remaining antennas were positioned on experience measurable changes in shape technical skills, providing the flexibility to assembly pads, each at a different stage. as a result of their journey, that the error shift people between the various anten­ Two were in acceptance testing, while the budget assumptions made at acceptance nas under construction. AEM also modi­ two last antennas had just ­commenced are correct, and that the antenna shape fied the organisation of the workflow their assembly. It is expected that the is largely independent of temperature by introducing an antenna manager. The antenna project will be completed within variations. Tracking, pointing and on-the- antenna manager is responsible for the the third quarter of 2013. fly mapping have also worked flawlessly antenna from the moment of its position­ at the AOS. ing on a foundation until its delivery to The year has also been very important ALMA. The typical time between the start for confirming the excellent performance ESO has been systematically tracking of integration and the final inspection of the European antenna design. The any technical problems affecting the that completes the testing phase was ­setting of the surface to the final specifi­ antennas in order to verify the reliability reduced to only six months, as compared cation, the integration of the front and requirements and to detect any specific to almost a year for previous antennas. back ends (BE), and the testing of the hardware items that require attention antennas prior to their relocation to 5000 as early as possible. On the basis of the

View of the AEM assembly area at OSF from the Holography result for antenna DA57 (European anten­ holography tower, with eight antennas in completion na #17). Left: The measured surface error at less than and four steel structures parked (August 2012). 9 micrometres RMS. Right: The illumination pattern. ESO/P. Calisse ESO/P.

56 ESO Annual Report 2012 ESO/S. Stanghellini Stanghellini ESO/S. Stanghellini ESO/S.

Transport of DA50 (European antenna #10) to the View of ALMA antennas at the AOS. In front, some of high site in August 2010. the European antennas. ESO/S. Stanghellini Stanghellini ESO/S. Stanghellini ESO/S.

View of the receiver cabin of a European antenna Final reflector wash in the AEM area before delivery. equipped with front and back ends.

results obtained, a few minor retrofits progressed according to schedule and The excellent performance resulting in were made to all antennas, eliminating all European FE subassembly production the delivery of 17 FE assemblies during initial issues and contributing to an excel­ tasks could be completed, leaving only the year could be attributed to two lent overall availability of the antennas. the delivery of two FE assemblies by the key factors. Due to an efficient operation, It should be noted that during the full year European Front End Integration Centre with excellent support from the FE sys­ none of the AEM antennas had to be (FEIC) for 2013 (see table below). tems engineers at ESO, the European brought to the OSF for maintenance, and that corrective maintenance was lim­ ited to exchanges of line replaceable Product Delivered by Total Fraction This table shows the units at the AOS. 31 Dec 2012 complete delivery status of major European FE products Band 7 cartridges 73 73 100 % by the end of the year. Band 9 cartridges 73 73 100 % The front ends Cryostats 70 70 100 % Water vapour radiometers 58 58 100 % The European Front End Integrated FE DC power supplies 83 83 100 % ­Project Team (FE IPT) was very success­ Amplitude calibration devices 70 70 100 % ful in meeting its final objectives this European FE assemblies 24 26 92% year. The delivery of the various products

ESO Annual Report 2012 57 FEIC at Science and Technology Facilities The ALMA BE system. Antenna AOS Technical Building Council/Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Parts in yellow are pro­ Photo- vided by ESO. (STFC/RAL, UK) was able to contribute Front End Correlator mixers 13 units. In addition, four units were inte­ grated at the European FEIC and verified Tunable Filter r IF-Processing by the East Asian FEIC in ­Taiwan. The to (8 × 2–4GHz sub-bands) ­latter arrangement was made by ESO Oscila early in the year. The activity was organ­ l Digitiseigitizer Digital De-Formatter Digitiser ca 8 × 4Gs/s –3 bit ADC ised and scheduled under the leadership Clock Lo 8 × 250 MHz, 48 bit cutt of the European FE IPT in May and has Optical De-Mux been a great success due to the close Data Encoder and Amplifier collaboration and commitment of all the 12 × 10 Gb/s groups involved at the East Asia FEIC, Fibre Patch-Panel ASIAA, the European FEIC at RAL and 12 Optical Transmitters from 175 stations the European FE IPT located at ESO. 12 1 WDM Optical Mux to 64 DTS Inputs

Two other major European FE sub­ Optical Fibre assembly production milestones were accomplished. The final Band 7 cartridge, SN73, was delivered in November by with the elements shown in the left half and­ de-multiplexes the optical signal from IRAM, ahead of the contractually agreed of the schematic overview. Signals com­ the antennas and conveys it to the tune­ schedule. The last production cryostat, ing from the front end are processed, able filter installed in the correlator. Each SN70, was delivered in October despite digitised and converted to one optical ­correlator input can be connected to delays due to some performance issues signal transmitting the scientific data each antenna station by means of a fibre with the (industry-supplied) cryo-coolers. through one optical fibre at a rate of optic patch panel and associated patch A close interaction between RAL, respon­ 96 Gbit/second to the AOS tech­nical cables. The table below summa­rises the sible for the cryostat manufacture, and building. The optical demultiplexer supply of BE components by ESO (com­ the manufacturer on these issues avoided (de-MUX)/amplifier receives, amplifies pleted by the end of the year). further delays and kept the cryostat off the critical path. Component Supplier Total Received This table summarises Good progress was made in training JAO the supply of BE com­ Photomixers RAL 619 619 ponents by ESO. staff to maintain the FE IPT deliverables. Digitisers Univ. Bordeaux 281 281 Training for the Band 7 cartridge was Digitiser clocks IRAM 68 68 provided, together with the Institut de Optical transmitter MUX ESO 80 80 radioastronomie millimétrique (IRAM), in Optical fibre patch cables sets Huber+Suhner 2 2 the summer in Grenoble (France). The Fibre patch panels Huber+Suhner 2 2 maintenance activities were evaluated Optical de-MUX and amplifiers ESO 80 80 and some additional training was provid­ Tunable filters Univ. Bordeaux 554 554 ed for the Band 9 cartridges. To enable the JAO to be self-supporting in main­ taining FE products, the necessary spare Fibre optics alignment parts and specialised tooling and test for photomixer produc­ tion at RAL. equipment are being delivered. ESO/H. KurlandczykESO/H. The back end and the correlator

By the end of the year, all BE compo­ nents to be supplied by ESO were pro­ vided to the ALMA Observatory on schedule and have been integrated into the overall ALMA system. The Back End IPT at ESO was closed on 31 December on the completion of its tasks.

The BE system is sketched in the figure above: ESO’s deliverables are shaded in yellow. Each ALMA antenna is equipped

58 ESO Annual Report 2012 Wide -angle view of the racks in one of the four quad­ rants of the correlator at the AOS.

The only major contract concerning the time in order to prepare for the on-site a first quantitative analysis was com­ back end that was still running during transition to the full four-quadrant system pleted. An event upset rate was derived 2012 was the production of photomixers. for later operation with more than 32 for the entire correlator system of These devices allow a radio frequency antennas. Up until September the third 10.3 events per day and, in two cases, (RF) reference s­ ignal to be extracted from quadrant was mainly used as a test bed our analysis suggests that such events an optical/infrared signal that is trans­ to monitor event upsets caused by cos­ were the root cause of two hardware ported via fibre links from the technical mic rays at the AOS site, at 5000 metres problems. A control code allowing us to building to each antenna. All units have above sea level. The fourth quadrant monitor currents has been updated been produced and most have been suc­ was disassembled from the integration accordingly and a strategy to mitigate the cessfully integrated. site in Charlottesville (USA) and AOS on- event upsets by flagging and reloading site acceptance was completed in July. the firmware in the affected hardware is The ALMA correlator is a highly special­ The 64-antenna deployment plan was being discussed currently. ised super-computer processing data prepared, the hardware and software from up to 64 antennas at a maximum were successfully tested and ultimately rate of about 2 × 1015 operations per the handover from the correlator Inte­ ALMA computing ­second. The system performance and grated Product Team to the Joint ALMA main design technical challenges are Office was accomplished in December. ALMA computing is responsible for described in The ESO Messenger, 135, developing, maintaining and supporting 6, and the ALMA Newsletter, 7, 18. The general performance of the 64- all the software for the ALMA Observa­ antenna correlator and its main features tory and its regional centres. The two-quadrant configuration of the were presented at the Early Science correlator was in continuous use at the meeting of the Nordic ALMA Regional This has been a year of transition for AOS for Commissioning and Science Center in Gothenburg and at the SPIE ALMA computing. The team had Verification (CSV) tasks and Early Science astronomical and instrumentation 2012 to master the challenging task of sup­ projects, with no major functional prob­ conference in Amsterdam. porting s­ cience operations in a stable lems reported from CSV or the users until environment, whilst still developing new September. At this date the correlator Collection of statistical data on event and improved software applications operation had to be stopped for a short upsets due to cosmic rays continued and at full steam. The software has improved

ESO Annual Report 2012 59 sig ­nificantly in all areas, with a particular in the year. Responsibility for integration lished in refereed journals. Some of the focus on stability, scalability, performance and testing will be transferred gradually major themes of ALMA science that and usability. The processes for testing to Chile in the course of 2013. ICT-EU appeared through the year are discussed and delivering the software have been also contributes to the Data Processing in the Research Highlights section of the further improved to deliver high quality group for the ALMA data reduction soft­ report (see page 11), and many more software to the observatory. ware, CASA, and the science pipeline results were presented and discussed in and the Control group, both of which are December 2012 at the international con­ It was also the final year during which led by NRAO. ference, The First Year of ALMA Science, ALMA computing was a part of the ALMA jointly organised by JAO and the ALMA construction project. From 1 January The European ALMA Support Centre partners with the co-sponsorship of the 2013, ALMA computing is fully funded by leads the European ICT, with strong EC FP7 Radionet3 project. A detailed the ALMA operations budget. As such ­support from the ESO Software Develop­ account of the conference has been pub­ the European part of the Integrated Com­ ment Division. Other developers come lished in Testi & Andreani 2013, The ESO puting Team is now a department of the from the UK Astronomy Technology Messenger, 151, 50. Most of the presen­ European ALMA Support Centre within ­Centre (UK ATC) in Edinburgh, IRAM in tations are available on the conference the ESO Directorate of Operations. Grenoble, the Max Planck Institute for website (http://www.almasc.org/2012/). Radio Astronomy in Bonn and the Obser­ Many of the science results published in As foreseen in the ALMA operations vatoire de ­Paris. 2012 are based on the ­analysis of the plan, the trilateral ALMA computing Inte­ publicly released SV datasets. During the grated Product Team — with propor­ year, ALMA SV data were released, tionate contributions from Europe, North System Engineering and Integration ­covering a variety of targets suggested America and East Asia — merged with by the external commu­nity and demon­ the computing group at the Joint ALMA The European ALMA System Engineering strating a wide range of instrumental Observatory to form the quadrilateral (SE) team continued to work on all SE capabilities. Detailed information on the Integrated Computing Team (ICT). An activities in close collaboration with the ALMA SV data and plans are available implementation plan with a detailed worldwide ALMA SE. Specifically, system on the ALMA science portal (http://almas­ description of the organisation, its roles verification continued and the European cience.eso.org/alma-data/science-­ and responsibilities, the decision-making team was involved in verifying require­ verification, see also the report by Testi et processes and the interfaces to all stake­ ments such as signal dynamic range, al. 2012, The ESO ­Messenger, 150, 59. holders has been prepared and was cross -talk between polarisation and spu­ approved by senior management in mid- rious signals. ALMA has entered a phase ALMA Commissioning and Science 2012. Most of the required changes have in which work has shifted more and more ­Verification (CSV) activities continued already been implemented, while some to verification, analysis, troubleshooting throughout the year with the aim of com­ will be rolled out in the course of 2013 for and acceptance. In parallel, p­ roject-level missioning and delivering observing practical and operational reasons. Most documentation was kept up to date. modes to the Science Operations team. of the staff members have been kept SE personnel participated in or chaired The CSV work focussed for most of the in their positions at all four partners with design reviews and acceptance events. year on delivering the additional capabil­ only gradual changes foreseen in the ities that will be available in Early Science coming years. This guarantees a smooth The European Product Assurance (PA) Cycle 1 (starting in 2013). In addition, evolution with little impact on the ALMA structure and reporting introduced in several successful campaigns to develop computing stakeholders. 2011 has successfully shown that it can on -axis polarisation and solar observing enable the European ALMA project modes were held throughout the year. The European part of the ICT (ICT-EU) ­manager to identify critical PA issues in The focus of these activities is now shift­ is responsible for several software tools a timely manner and react accordingly. ing to the new capabilities that will be and components, including the ALMA Additionally, an effort to assess the relia­ offered in future cycles, including the new Archive, ALMA common software, the bility, availability, maintainability and Band 4, 5, 8 and 10 receivers, longer Observing Tool, the Phase 1 manager, ­safety (RAMS) status of the European baselines, more complicated correlator the project tracker, the science and user deliverables has been introduced. This modes and full polarisation modes. As in portal, the executive software, the shift- has allowed the identification of missing previous years, European institutes con­ log tool and the telescope calibration critical RAMS elements, ensuring a tinued to contribute significantly to the software. ICT-EU also leads the Software smooth handover to operations. CSV efforts throughout 2012, both partic­ Engineering and Quality Management ipating in the activities in Chile and group for ALMA software, and the Inte­ ­supporting data analysis and algorithm gration and Release Management team. ALMA science development from Europe. The role of the release manager, who will be responsible for the delivery of high The year 2012 was the first year of ALMA Several workshops, meetings and tuto­r­ quality ALMA software to the observa­ science, with the first scientific results ials on ALMA science were organised tory, has been established in Europe and from the analysis of science verification in 2012, mainly in collaboration with the was handed over to the Chilean ICT late (SV) and Early Science Cycle 0 data pub­ ARC network (see page 40) and the

60 ESO Annual Report 2012 science case and components for a receiver cartridge with very wide band 67–116 GHz (covering both the ALMA Bands 2 and 3) and with at least 16 GHz per polarisation instantaneous frequency coverage. A second study is focussing on the science case and instrument, opera­ tions and site constraints for a supra-THz receiver for ALMA (Band 11).

ALMA enhancement programme

This year ESO continued to lead a con­ sortium of six scientific institutions ­providing additional software and hard­ ware to enhance the performance of the ALMA Observatory. These activities, which have been entirely supported through the European Union’s Framework Programme 6 (FP6) since 2006, were successfully completed by 30 September 2012.

IRAM (France) has developed sophisti­ cated techniques for on-the-fly observa­ tions. The University of Cambridge ( ­United Kingdom) has successfully imple­ mented software for radiometric phase corrections, which is already routinely used by ALMA. Specialists from Chalm­ ers University of Technology (Sweden), STFC/RAL (United Kingdom) and the Uni­ versity of Chile have designed, developed and assembled six ALMA Band 5 receiv­ ers, covering the frequency range from 163 to 211 GHz. ALMA SV observations of Centaurus A demonstrat­ ular gas in the plane of this nearby active galaxy. The ing the high resolution and high sensitivity wide-field ALMA data also reveal the rotation pattern of an Five of the Band 5 receivers were mosaic capabilities of ALMA. The colour scale repre­ inner massive disc surrounding, and possibly feed­ sents the line of sight velocity of the CO(1–0) molec­ ing, the central supermassive black hole. installed at the ALMA Observatory and first light was obtained in April with the first interferometric fringes recorded in October. A first test observation in August groups working on the ALMA develop­ completed early in the year and the demonstrated the scientific potential, ment plan studies. The ALMA Commu­nity resulting science case and proposals for even under modest weather conditions, Days were held in June ahead of the production were submitted to the rele­ by observing a SiO maser and water ­Early Science Cycle 1 deadline so as to vant ESO and ALMA bodies. The full pro­ emission. prepare the community for the best use duction project for Band 5 was then of the newly offered ALMA capabilities approved at the ALMA Board meeting in As a follow-up to the very successful (see report from Randall et al. 2012, The April 2012. In 2012 there was also excel­ development of Band 5 and the provision ESO Messenger, 149, 47). The sci­entific lent progress in exploring the options for of six cartridges under the EU FP con­ potential of ALMA as part of the millime­ future upgrade of the Band 9 receiver tract, equipping all ALMA antennas with tre VLBI (mmVLBI) global network was to sideband-­separating operations and Band 5 receivers has been set up as the also discussed in a dedicated workshop in the definition of the work required to first ALMA development project approved in Garching (see Falke et al. 2012, The phase the ALMA array (required to use by all relevant governing bodies of ESO ESO Messenger, 149, 50). ALMA as a station of a mmVLBI network and ALMA and funded by the ESO-ALMA and other appli­cations). Two additional Development Programme. The ALMA upgrade study “Preparations upgrade studies were launched in 2012. for Full Production of ALMA Band 5” was One focussed on the development of the

ESO Annual Report 2012 61

ESO/S. Brunier ESO/S.

The image in the background is an artist’s impression of the Extremely Large Telescope, in its enclosure. The E-ELT will be constructed on Cerro Armazones (seen in the inset image above).

ESO Annual Report 2012 63 European Extremely Large Telescope

The E-ELT project passed a series of ­critical milestones during the year 2012. June brought excitement as the project was approved by the ESO Council with ten positive votes. With this project ap ­proval and its subsequent confirmation in December, the ongoing preparations for the start of contracting in 2013 have assumed a high level of urgency.

The first contract for the construction project was approved by the Finance ­Committee in May. The contract began in the summer, and is now up and run­ ning. This is the design and construction of the large deformable mirror by the ­Italian firm AdOptica and it marks the start of the E-ELT project. This mirror is 2.5 metres in diameter and is the fourth in the telescope train, providing not only corrections for the atmospheric turbu­ The E-ELT M4 mirror support at the Hochbrück lence, but also for aberrations induced by warehouse in early 2012. the telescope itself. It is a critical compo­ nent of the wavefront control strategy for of Cerro Armazones. The power supply and much has been learnt about the the E-ELT and was the critical path item and distribution for, and at, Armazones ­integration and operational challenges in the schedule. As was reported in last has also received a lot of attention from arising from these prototypes. Although year’s Annual Report, the years 2011 and the project team. Power is likely to be a the performance is largely very good, 2012 have been designated as “bridge significant fraction of the operating cost improvements can be made in the ease years” that will allow us to consolidate the of the E-ELT and optimising the design of operation and maintenance that will be design around the 39-metre baseline of the system is an important aspect of in ­cluded into the next design phase or and, most critically, reduce the risk in the the design work. directly into the design and construction project. By launching the contract this contracts in the future. year, one of the critical programmatic The prototyping work has continued at risks has been mitigated. On the techni­ a rapid pace throughout the year. Since The prototype actuators were also pro­ cal front, as was reported last year, inves­ 2010, the ESO warehouse in Garching duced in two flavours, one based on tigations are continuing with respect to Hochbrück has had a separate area des­ ­piezo technology and the other on voice the material for the reference body for ignated for integrating and testing the coils. Although these are procured as this unit. The reference body provides the systems developed and delivered by vari­ in ­dividual components, making sense surface against which the thin (2 millime­ ous contractors. Most of this year’s ac­tiv­ from a maintenance point of view, we tre) sheet mirror is actuated, giving the ities have concerned the primary mirror operate them in triplets, which allows for control system the ability to generate segments. These have been integrated a coherent approach to the global prob­ absolute commands to control its form. in the test stand and equipped with actu­ lem of managing the tip-tilt of the mirror ators and edge sensors. This work has without introducing spurious piston The contract for the design of the access been crucial for developing a clear under­ motions. The combined operation of road to the site has also been concluded standing of the detailed interactions edge sensors and actuators has been and all the planning is underway to start between the whiffletree supports for the achieved with excellent results. These work on site. Care had to be taken in the segments and other components of the activities are critical components of the access route to ensure a minimal impact system. These include the actuators that work to prepare for the construction on the site environment. Site characteri­ provide piston and tip-tilt capabilities for since they ensure that a wide range of sation continues with the meteorological the individual mirrors; the warping har­ issues is addressed. These issues range and seeing conditions being monitored nesses that are integrated into the mirror from what may be considered trivial, continuously and additional seismic support units that enable the manipu­ for example, reserving design volumes measurements being planned. The over­ lation of the mirror shape and the correc­ under the primary mirror to host units, to all characteristics of the region and the tion of the effects of gravity and tem­p­ highly complex control issues, for exam­ particular location received significant erature on the mirror substrate; and the ple, noting the interactions between actu­ attention during the design phase for the edge sensors that monitor the positions ators. telescope. The E-ELT project is now of the mirrors relative to one another. Two investigating the local amplification fac­ sets of mirror supports have been under­ The tests in Hochbrück have also allowed tors arising from the particular geometry going tests with very different concepts the E-ELT project to test its software and

64 ESO Annual Report 2012 One segment of the system is ensuring that we achieve a rapid giant primary mirror of start -up when the contracts are issued. the E-ELT undergoing testing at the Hochbrück warehouse in 2012. The E-ELT Project Science Office has been active in the generation of the revised top level requirements for the E -ELT. This revision followed the decision to move to a 39-metre baseline and a ­single managerial structure that incorpo­ rates the instrumentation programme, the telescope and infrastructure. Addi­ tionally, the top level requirements for the two first-light instruments have been extensively discussed. With the end of Phase B the two committees that provid­ ed support, guidance and oversight to the design project — the E-ELT Science Working Group and the E-ELT Science and Engineering Committee — ceased hardware infrastructure concepts with are being manufactured by Physik Instru­ their activities. A new advisory Project much success. A diverse set of hardware mente of Germany and second gen­ Science Team (PST) has been created, has been interfaced with the ESO system eration edge sensors by Micro-Epsilon of based on volunteers from the commu- without the need for a large software Germany and FOGALE of France. nity selected by ESO. The PST met three effort either from the suppliers or from times this year and has been actively ESO. Much of this is achieved by follow­ The in-house E-ELT team has continued involved in the drafting of requirements ing a move away from the custom solu­ its work on the validation of the baseline for instruments etc. Oversight for the pro­ tions that have dominated science pro­ reference design. Revisions to require­ ject will be provided by the STC and its jects in the past to more industrial ments and lessons learnt from the proto­ subcommittees. engineering norms. Another example of types are being generated for the seg­ such an evolution away from bespoke ment supports, the dome and the main The active engagement of the broader engineering has been the prototyping by structure of the telescope. Some of this community in the E-ELT project has the Danish firm FORCE of a full-scale work is supported by a number of small resulted in a number of workshops and real -time computer for the basic func­ engineering contracts, for example science days during the year. Meetings tions of the adaptive mirror of the E-ELT. Arup in the UK has undertaken a detailed with industrial suppliers were held, cul­ The FORCE system is built using only study of the interface between the tele­ minating in a very well-attended two- four off-the-shelf standard personal com­ scope main structure and the dome. Fur­ day presentation to potential contractors puters and does not employ any dedi­ thermore, the in-house engineering team for the dome and main structure at the cated hardware. Moreover, it operates has proceeded with a painstaking and Allianz Arena in Munich in October. One with standard software making it, in prin­ thorough review of all telescope require­ hundred companies and organisations ciple, portable and economical. Although ments with the object of removing over­ from some 15 countries attended, with this risk had been considered largely lapping constraints and clarifying issues almost all Member States represented, ­mitigated in the past by employing smaller that arose during the Phase B design and many industrial liaison officers in scale prototypes, the full-scale machine stage. Much effort has been expended attendance. Observers from Turkey also and its simplicity have provided a clear in the computational fluid dynamics simu­ took part. Feedback has been very posi­ vision for the future of the high perfor­ lations of the telescope and dome in a tive. Industry days were also organised mance computing needs of the E-ELT. variety of conditions, resulting in a better in Italy and Switzerland, and a visit from understanding of the air flow within the a Chilean delegation was organised in In addition to the mirror segments already dome and an evolution of the ventilation Garching. supplied to ESO by SAGEM/REOSC, requirements. some units are being manufactured by The scientific case for a high-resolution two further suppliers, namely OpTIC The programmatic effort continues with spectrograph was discussed in Cam­ Glyndŵr in North Wales and the Labora­ the work breakdown structure and the bridge in September, that of multi-object toire d’Astrophysique in Marseille. The product tree being incorporated into the spectroscopy in Amsterdam in October, breadth of possible suppliers is under­ scheduling toolkit. This results in many of while in London, a two-day meeting was pinned by using different technologies for the instruments and tools of project con­ held in November at the Royal Astronomi­ the polishing, and provides a very strong trol being firmly embedded in the project cal Society to discuss the E-ELT priorities. indi ­cation of the industrial readiness of structure. For example, the incorporation During the European Week of Astronomy European firms to engage in the E-ELT. of the E-ELT documentation archive and Space Science in Rome, a dedicated Second generation prototype actuators into the ESO product data management session was held on the E-ELT.

ESO Annual Report 2012 65

Engineering

C.Madsen ESO/ J.L. Dauvergne & G. Hüdepohl/ESO

66 ESO Annual Report 2012 Technology Division

The Directorate of Engineering com­ Following the engagement survey that takes account of the design solutions prises the Software Development was carried out in 2011, the Technology proposed by the E-ELT. ­Division (SDD) and the Technology Division has worked to analyse and Division (TEC). The Directorate pro­ implement the suggestions and propos­ The new fibre laser system at UT4 (the vides resources to project and opera­ als that were made to improve workflows PARLA laser, replacement for PARSEC) tions teams in the following engineer­ and staff engagement, as well as to was finalised during the last quarter of ing d­ isciplines: control engineering, ­clarify the strategies. As a result, team 2012 and the final stages of European electronic engineering, information spirit and satisfaction have improved, testing were successful. The parts were technology, mechanical and opto­ with further advances expected when the then shipped safely to Paranal, where mechanical engineering, optical and measures already put into p­ ractice are its integration onto UT4 will tale place ­photonics engineering, software followed up. during the first quarter of 2013. First light ­engineering, and structural and sys­ is planned soon afterwards. tems analysis. Its mission is to deliver The Technology Division has been work­ the requested services with high quality ing to provide an electricity connection and in a cost-effective way. This is to the Chilean national grid for the future Electronic Engineering Department now achieved by optimising the alloca­ Paranal–Armazones Observatory. The tion of resources, developing and local Chilean institutions are providing Although wireless and mobile phone maintaining engineering standards that support to bring a distribution network infrastructure and services are common meet the project requirements, and into Paranal’s vicinity. There are several in our lives, ESO policy has always been promoting synergies between projects companies that are studying the case to strictly forbid their use in the vicinity where applicable. and there is some progress in the matter. of the telescope to avoid potential pertur­ bations to the telescope and instrument The development of the matrix struc­ After the signature of the VISTA agree­ control systems. ture, required to carry out multiple ment that followed the telescope’s deliv­ ­programmes efficiently and in parallel, ery, the VISTA building extension is pro­ This year, electromechanical component will continue until the end of 2013. gressing, with the civil works underway experts from the TEC Electronic Engineer­ and the coating unit dismantled ready for ing Department (TEE) have measured its upgrade. the effects of a wireless service in situ to evaluate the real impact on observations TEC continues to promote ESO in order and potentially grant permission for such to fill the needs for specific industrial a service on our observing premises. technological support from various indus­ tries. This was achieved through ESO’s As part of the LPO obsolescence man­ Industry Days, held this year in Denmark, agement plan programme, the UT1 safety Finland, Italy, and Switzerland. chain upgrade project was approved and the work is proceeding, with comple­ This year, the TEC Mechanical Depart­ tion planned for 2013. The aim of this ment, with support from IT and other project is not only to manage the obsoles­ Divisions, has implemented the new prod­ cence of the telescopes, but also to align uct data management tool, which also their safety levels with the current Euro­ replaces the technical archive for all the pean norm. technical documentation. This is the new ESO standard platform for all technical In October, TEE successfully virtualised and project documentation. an old Virtual Machine Environment (VME) motion controller board using cutting- As part of the Directorate of Engineering, edge field programmable gate array TEC contributed to defining the manage­ (FPGA) technology. Thanks to this proof ment of the ESO Engineering Standards, of concept, we have demonstrated the as well as to the process for keeping their usability of such technology to ad­dress configuration under control. the obsolescence of our control systems at Paranal. The Paranal Observatory is starting to Left: A spectacular aerial view of the ESO Very face concerns with obsolescence. Regarding the E-ELT project, TEE has Large T­ elescope platform, atop Cerro Paranal, in Together with the SDD and the observa­ concentrated its main activities on the M1 the Chilean Atacama Desert. The top of Paranal’s tory itself, TEC has developed a plan to test stand evaluation in ESO facility at summit was a sharp peak, as seen in the aerial mitigate these obsolescence issues — Hochbrück, with preparatory work direct­ shot overlaid, taken in 1991 when the VLT con­ struction started. It had to be truncated by about mainly relating to the electronic, software ed towards the re-development of the M5 40 metres to create a wide platform. and control systems — in a way that control system.

ESO Annual Report 2012 67 Net radiometer installed Mechanical and Cryogenic Engineering on the future E-ELT site. Department

UT4 has undergone its first preparations for hosting the Adaptive Optics Facility. This upgrade includes the installation of

ESO/Paul Lilley & Marc Sarazin new cooling circuits; the modification of cable wraps to increase capacity; the installation of new cables and the rerout­ ing of existing cables inside the centre­ piece. This requires the drilling of 1100 holes and the addition of 9 tonnes of equipment to the centrepiece. The work was completed during a mirror recoating period in order to reduce the telescope downtime, requiring the many experts from Garching and Chile to work together in shifts with very tight deadlines.

An important component for the AOF has Overview of the charge been delivered to ESO, namely the de­ coupled device (CCD) formable secondary mirror for UT4. This assembly for MUSE. is designed to replace the existing sec­ ondary mirror. It has been integrated into ESO/Roland Reiss ESO/Roland a purpose-built test facility called ASSIST and is undergoing system testing at the ESO facilities in Garching. One goal of this facility is to be capable of simulating the optics of UT4 in order to verify the performance of the AO modules (GRAAL and GALACSI) prior to delivery. These AO modules are also currently being inte­ grated and tested in Garching.

The presence of the new document man­ agement system has involved setting up and rationalising many existing pro­ cesses to allow all engineers to work in a single environment. In parallel, a dedi­ cated system to manage 3D CAD files has E -ELT M1 test stand in also been implemented allowing engi­ Hochbrück. neers to easily share designs and ideas. H. -

ESO/H. Heyer The department provided the VISIR infra­ red spectrometer upgrade with a new disperser system, two detector systems and the installation of new prisms. This work has involved redesigning cryogenic sub -units that integrate into the existing instrument.

Optics and Photonics Department

Working with the other TEC departments, a new fibre laser light source, PARLA, has been developed and was shipped to Paranal in November. This laser will be used to upgrade the existing Laser Guide

68 ESO Annual Report 2012 Star Facility on UT4. The goals of the up ­grade are to offer more flexible observ­ Louis Lizon Louis

- ing with the laser and to increase the availability of the system. The laser gen­

ESO/Jean erates a powerful yellow beam at the sodium wavelength of 589 nm which is used to create laser guide stars for adap­ tive optics. It is based on the same Raman fibre laser technology that ESO is devel­ oping for the planned Four Laser Guide Star Facility of the Adaptive Optics Facili­ ty. This future system, which continued development during the last year, will deploy four 20 W sodium laser guide star units on UT4.

New non-circular optical fibres have been evaluated in the fibre laboratory for link- Optical alignment of a new AO module (GALACSI) for ing future spectrographs like ESPRESSO UT4. that require extreme photometrical sta­ bility. For example, octagonal fibres would allow ESPRESSO to measure radial velocities with an unprecedented accu­ racy down to 10 cm/s.

ESO/Gerd Jakob ESO/Gerd PARLA laser with its powerful yellow beam at the A prototype of a compact, high resolution, sodium wavelength of 589 nm. high stability fibre-linked spectrograph to be coupled to an LFC calibration source is under development. The goal is to offer requirements and to the procurement an extremely accurate spectrograph facil­ specifications update of the main struc­ ity for calibration purposes. A preliminary ture, dome and M4 unit. Based on de­ test bench spectrograph assembled with tailed structural, control and ray-tracing off -the-shelf components has reached models, system analysis support was the required resolving power of 100 000. provided to evaluate performance budg­ ets (e.g., wavefront, stroke, deformation) of the complete telescope including its Structures and System Analysis subsystems and to derive requirements ­Department at various specification levels. Earthquake analyses of the assembly telescope, pier The Structures and System Analysis and seismic isolation system were carried Upgraded VISIR grating carousel wheel with prism Department has contributed to the con­ out to evaluate the subsystem accel­ mount. solidation of open issues of the E-ELT erations and the integrity of the structure.

Lateral: 100 μm rms, WFE = 8.5 μm E -ELT wavefront error induced by coupling between edge sensor calibration errors and in- plane trans­lations of the segments. Left: On-axis ESO/Gerd Jakob ESO/Gerd wavefront. Right: Field aberrations at 30 arcsec­ onds from field centre.

GP1: 2.3 nm GP2: 3.7 nm GP3: 2.3 nm

AQUARIUS detector mount for VISIR.

ESO Annual Report 2012 69 E -ELT edge sensor stress distribution.

E-ELT edge sensor finite element model. The 4LGSF optical test assembly on the test stand.

Computational fluid dynamics simulation The ESO standard engineering analysis are no longer available and must be studies of the dome confirmed that a document has been written and released. replaced with modern alternatives. larger louvre area is beneficial to flushing at low wind speeds. TCE provides control engineering sup­ Control Engineering Department port to all E-ELT systems and has a lead­ Considerable progress was made in ing role in the E-ELT M1 test facilities, characterising the metrology polarisation In August the Control Engineering M1 control system, position actuator problems of PRIMA by a measurement Department (TCE) installed, in collabo­ proto ­types and the instrument control campaign on Paranal, adaptation of the ration with observatory staff, ESO Stand­ ­system framework. Prototype sensors VLTIo end-t -end ray-tracing model and by ard Telescope Axis Controllers (ESTACs) and actuators have been tested and inte­ polarisation analysis. Preliminary con­ in all four Auxiliary Telescopes. These grated into the test setup. They are also clusions are that recoating some optics are now fully commissioned with the new placed in the M1 control system in the (e.g., M9, feeding optics) may alleviate controller and show improved perfor­ E -ELT M1 test facilities, and extensive these problems. mance and reliability. tests are in progress.

In addition to contract follow-up, design Preparation for installation on the UTs In the field of adaptive optics, an exten­ and analysis support was provided to the was done and the deployment will now sive study of the impact of latency and LPO projects 4LGSF, NTT, VST and the start, with preparation for a VST upgrade ­jitter on the performance of wavefront UT4 upgrade. running in parallel. real-time computers confirms that the requirements of the E-ELT are adequate. The main contributions to ALMA In the LPO obsolescence management ­concerned the support of the antenna programme, the VLT M1/M3 upgrade was Vibration is an important topic that has acceptance at the OSF and the produc­ approved and the work is continuing, led to a study of damping and rejection tion activities in Europe. This consisted with completion planned for 2013. Many technologies for the E-ELT segmented primarily of remote support from Garching of the VLT systems were put into opera­ mirror system and development of rejec­ of the pointing acceptance activities tion more than a decade ago; they con­ tion algorithms for the adaptive optics of the European antennas, numbers 8–19. tain specific electronic components that systems of the VLT.

70 ESO Annual Report 2012 is a marvel of engineering. of amarvel is telescope VISTA survey The

ESO/C. Malin Software Development

The challenge for the SDD remains the tricks, as well as major updates. A series ment and LabView quality assurance tools provision of the requested resources of IT talks was also initiated, which were further developed. The department and products to each project and opera­ drew interest from a fair number of staff also started activities for the evaluation tions team, whilst monitoring the quality on topics like spam, email security and of software quality assurance methods of the work being done, the standards advanced Outlook features. for programmable logic controller (PLC)- in use and, where appropriate, the com­ based development. Software quality monalities between projects. assurance activities for the support of Software Engineering Department PLCs for ESO instruments were initiated, with participation in the ESO working General IT Department The Software Engineering Department group on evaluation of PLC technology provides the development teams with as a standard control system, and The IT Service Department provides software engineering services such as by gaining exposure to PLC technology. ­general IT services to the whole organi­ the environment and tools to support sation, including support for network and the software lifecycle, software quality communication services, general servers, assurance and control. The department Control and Instrument Software desktops/laptops and applications. The is also in charge of integrating software ­Department mission of this department is to provide, modules and preparing and validating maintain and support a secure, high releases before they are delivered to the The Control and Instrument Software ­performance and reliable IT infrastruc­ customer. Department (CIS) is responsible for the ture. The department consists of two design, implementation and maintenance groups, one in Chile and one in Garching. The Software Engineering Department of control software for the VLT, VLTI and provides support to all main software their instruments as well as ALMA and At the beginning of the year, the old tele­ development projects of the organisation, the E-ELT. Most of the time spent on VLT/ phone system in Vitacura was upgraded including VLT and instrum­ entation soft­ VLTI software is dedicated to the devel­ to a new system. This upgrade was fol­ ware, data flow software, ALMA, and the opment of control software for the new lowed by a complete refurbishment of E -ELT. One of the major projects of the facilities being added to the telescopes. the internal ESO phone book application, department during the year was the providing consistent and up-to-date deployment of the JIRA issue tracking At the beginning of the year, the depart­ ­contact information. In the area of email system for the support of multiple pro­ ment was structured into three groups: and calendar services, the migration to jects. The deployment involved the High -Level Control and Architecture, Microsoft Exchange was completed, migration of a large database of existing Hardware Control, and Real-Time and offering a shared calendar system to all problem reports, mostly for the VLT and Instrumentation Development and Sup­ ESO users. Training was provided to the data flow software, which had been port group. Throughout the year, the users, and several flavours of the Outlook based on Remedy for over a decade. The activity of the department focussed on clients were deployed on Windows and new JIRA system was turned on practi­ work for the VLTSW release, VLT instru­ Mac systems, as well as a web client. cally overnight and has been very quickly mentation development and support, The new email system is fully integrated adopted by the users. E -ELT prototyping activities, and ALMA with the ESO information databases, support. ensuring that all relevant information such Several versions of the VLT software have as the availability of people or fast reso­ been completed and work has started All Paranal telescopes have been up­ lution of email addresses, is provided. for the preparation of the latest VLT soft­ graded to the VLTSW 2011 release, ware release, VLTSW 2013, which will while development has started for the The department improved the manage­ be based on a 64-bit version of the sci­ 2013 release. The department has been ment of user accounts by centralising entific Linux operating system. A project involved in projects for the proactive databases and optimising the account was initiated for the refactoring of the management of technological obsoles­ management lifecycle. This considerably VLT control model. The new test infra­ cence in Paranal, participating in the simplifies user access to the different structure for the VLT software will be development of a plan and working in ­services. The virtualisation of computer based on a mix of virtual machines, phys­ collaboration with Paranal and TEC services has also been a major topic, ical machines, and hardware compo­ ­engineering teams in the M1/M3 cell providing flexibility and agility for the nents like local control units, and will pro­ electronics upgrade. deployment of servers by managing vide better flexibility than the c­ urrent, farms of virtual machines. hardware-based, version control man­ A major prototyping activity took place agement (VCM) system. in the E-ELT software for the local super­ IT services provides effective and friendly vision of the dome and main structure, support to all users. It has also recently Throughout the year, testing services demonstrating the use of state analysis triggered initiatives to improve information for the data flow software components from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). channels to the users: a new intranet IT for the ALMA release 9 series were pro­ At the same time, a lot of work has news service includes information about vided. In s­ upport of the E-ELT project, been done for the implementation of the incidents, service updates, tips and a Windows-based development environ­ control software for the M1 and M5

72 ESO Annual Report 2012 Testing the WS software at MPE (left), GRAVITY cryostat (right).

GRAVITY cryostat user ­prototypes in Garching Hochbrück, using interface. LabView and Data Distribution Service (DDS) as the main software technologies. Support has been given to the PRIMA commissioning activities and the task force of the PRIMA Tiger Team by imple­ menting all features requested with high priority. The PRIMA software has been demonstrated to be very stable and adaptable to the many requests received.

Developments with new PLC technolo­ gies have been initiated and, as part of collaborative work between the CIS and TCE departments of the Directorate of Engineering, the interface to the cryo­ genic controller developed by ESO using Catalogue facility query ­Siemens PLCs was implemented. The page. software has been integrated and tested at MPE in Garching.

In the area of ALMA, the software used for ALMA Early Science has proved to be stable and reliable. Progress has been made on the tests for the new bulk data system, with a view to employing it in operations following tests in Chile in the first half of 2013.

Data Flow Infrastructure Department

The Data Flow Infrastructure Department (DFI) is responsible for the design, imple­ mentation and maintenance of all the data flow system software components, which are critical for the end-to-end operation of the VLT, VLTI, VISTA, VST and some of the La Silla telescopes. The department also participates in the development of some of the ALMA data flow components.

ESO Annual Report 2012 73 This year, following several years of data reduction software and the expo­ ­planning and development, the DFI has sure time calculators. successfully deployed version 3 of the Phase 2 tool chain to all telescopes at In April, the last official release of Munich Paranal. This deployment included the Image Data Analysis System (MIDAS) proposal preparation tool (P2PP), the was announced to the user community. ­service and visitor mode observing tools Developments for MIDAS spanned more (OT, vOT), the VIMOS MaskTracker and than 30 years (Ballester & Peron, 2012, the new night log tool. The main feature The ESO Messenger, 148, 52). The sys­ of this release is the support for schedul­ tem was the foundation of the data ing containers (groups, time links, con­ reduction pro­cesses for the VLT first light catenations of observing blocks) that in 1998 and for the first instruments of allow PIs to express complex, long-term the VLT until the early 2000s when the observing strategies and comprehensive development of pipelines started to be and highly automated night reporting. based on the common pipeline library.

Another major achievement has been the A major area of development for the completion of the ESO Catalogue Facility. department during the year was high- This is intended to support the submis­ performance computing, which was at sion and scientific exploitation of astro­ the core of both release 4 of the CASA nomical catalogues that result from ESO package that is used for the processing observations, first and foremost from the of ALMA data, and release 6 of the com­ ESO Public Surveys, but also from ESO mon pipeline library, which was deployed Large Programmes and from other pro­ on all Paranal telescopes in April. jects which result in the generation of catalogue-type information based on Development of data reduction pipelines ESO observational data. The European for all VLT instrumentation is a major scientific community of astronomers at activity of the department, and the KMOS large is the primary target user group that pipeline was commissioned at Paranal in benefits from this project in terms of data November. access and search capabilities. The PIs for the survey projects will interface with In the area of Reflex scientific workflows, ESO through the catalogue facility for the tutorials were presented to users at delivery of catalogue data products. The the ADA-VII Astronomical Data Analysis archive researchers will use the catalogue conference, and during a tutorial work­ query interface which represents the shop at ESO in October. With the involve­ public interface to the c­ atalogue facility ment of scientific users, new workflows from which the user will be able to query were prepared for release to include and access catalogue data. Powerful including FORS spectroscopy, VIMOS query and data visualisation capabilities, IFU, and UVES-FLAMES data reduction. comparable with other astronomical data archives serving similar data, are a key success factor in becoming the primary access point for ESO Public Survey data.

Pipeline Systems Department

The Pipeline Systems Department is responsible for the design, imple­ mentation and maintenance of the data processing and numerical software ­components that are critical for the end- to-end operations of the ESO data flow systems of the VLT, VLTI, survey and La This picture shows Barnard 59, part of a vast dark Silla telescopes, as well as ALMA. This cloud of interstellar dust called the Pipe Nebula. This new and very detailed image was captured by the includes the common pipeline library, the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre tele­ instrument pipelines, the ALMA/CASA scope at the La Silla Observatory.

74 ESO Annual Report 2012 ESO Annual Report 2012 75 Administration

The image in the background shows the start of construction of the new Headquarters extension in January 2012. The artist’s rendering below envisages how it will look when com­ pleted towards the end of 2013. ESO/Auer+Weber For the second year, the Finance Depart­ structure. The technical building is espe­ manuals for the Headquarters building ment has set up ESO’s annual accounts cially designed to accommodate the and the observatories, as well as the under the IPSAS norms (International instruments for the E-ELT. Completion of ­procedure related to the conformity Public Sector Accounting Standards). construction is scheduled for autumn assessment of equipment. Intense com­ The financial statements for 2011 received 2013. munication efforts were made to apply an audit certificate and were approved the contents in operations and projects. by Council. These were the last steps ESO participated in nine EU Framework Safety advised on the various aspects necessary for full IPSAS compliance. The Programme projects. Engagement with of health, safety and environment pres­ department also made arrangements ASTRONET, RadioNet and OPTICON ervation in a large variety of projects, to secure the cash situation over the con­ projects continues. These are the most ranging from new buildings, scientific struction period of the E-ELT project. important networking projects of the equipment and to scientific infrastructure European scientific community for the projects. Several changes in the Procurement preparation of future scientific and infra­ Department were implemented in order structural developments in astronomy. Safety — in conjunction with the respec­ to improve the service to the internal ESO welcomes the growing number of tive departments — also brought the ­customer. Training and workshops were Marie Curie Fellows, and will continue safety procedures of the Santiago prem­ given at all sites, best practices made encouraging young scientists to apply to ises more in line with Garching. All the available and lead times published in ESO under the new Marie Skłodowska- inspections that were carried out, while order to further improve the quality of Curie Scheme as part of Horizon 2020. revealing minor areas of potential improve­ input and the transparency of the pro­ ment, indicated a good standard of safety curement process. ESO reached an important milestone in and a high level of safety commitment of providing the highest level of security the staff. After the successful two-day industry to all data in its possession by launching event at the Allianz Arena and a series of its new data classification policy. The The administrative information system meetings with industry, the preparatory risk management and compliance proce­ (ERP) was upgraded to utilise web ser­ phase for the E-ELT dome and main dures of ESO were further enhanced. As vices, thus allowing easy access for structure procurement was concluded. part of that development, ESO reviewed all users to relevant information via the its risk on its assets and con­cluded a Employee Self Service module. The sys­ The construction of the ESO Headquar­ ­tender for general insurance brokerage tem now also provides a common ters extension started in January. It services. ­procurement platform for ALMA opera­ ­consists of an office and conference tions in Chile, streamlining the adminis­ building as well as a technical building, In terms of safety, ESO conducted a trative processes between ESO and its connected by a bridge to the existing comprehensive overhaul of all its safety partners.

On 11 June 2012 a ­ceremony took place at ESO’s headquarters to mark the laying of the foundation stone of the extension to the ESO Headquarters building. The President of the ESO Council, Xavier Barcons (second right), the ESO Director Gen­ eral, Tim de Zeeuw (right front), ESO Headquar­ ters extension project manager, Christoph Haupt (second left), and the mayor of the town of Garching, Ms Hannelore Gabor (left front) are seen.

ESO Annual Report 2012 77 Finance and Budget

Financial Statements 2012

Accounting Statements 2012 (in € 1000)

Statement of Financial Position 31.12.2012 31.12.2011 Cash Flow Statement 2012 2011

Assets Cash Flow Cash and cash equivalents 6 342 18 150 Net receipts 166 154 163 760 Inventories, receivables, advances and other 34 313 61954 Net payments –190 964 –196 469 current assets Net cash flow from operating activities – 24 810 –32 709 Non -current assets 1047 302 973 832 Net cash flow from financing activities 13000 — Total Assets 1087957 1053 936 Net cash flow = –11 810 –32 709 Liabilities Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents Short -term borrowing 13 002 — Payables, advances received and other 62 257 40 709 current liabilities Budgetary Reports 2012 Non -current liabilities 394756 332 192 (in € 1000) Total Liabilities 470 015 372 901

Income Budget Budget Actual Accumulated surpluses/deficits 681035 858 522 Pension fund loss/gain –2 998 — Contributions from Member States 165 258 133 119 Other changes in net assets –39 058 235 Income from third parties and advances received 18 161 30 306 Net surplus/ deficit for the year –21037 –177 722 Other income 5 313 3779 Total Net Assets 617 942 681035 Consolidated entities 796 636 Total Income Budget 189 528 167 840 Total Liabilities and Net Assets 1087957 1053 936

Payment Budget Statement of 01.01.– 01.01.– Financial Performance 31.12.2012 31.12.2011 Programme 106 678 83768 Operations 64 745 63459 Operating Revenue Science support 8 640 8 535 Contributions from Member States 132 690 131 487 Cross -directorate functions 39 101 34 976 Contributions to special projects 17 299 13 744 Predicted payment delays –3000 — In kind contributions 1313 15 651 Financing cost 25 18 Sales and service charges 3808 3 818 Consolidated entities 617 509 Other revenue 530 2025 Total Payment Budget 216 806 191 265 Total Operating Revenue 155 640 166 725

Operating Expenses Budget for 2013 Installations and equipment 5 594 27406 (in € 1000) Supplies and services 54 805 40 937 Personnel expenses 78 527 223 662 Income Budget Approved with E-ELT* Depreciation of fixed assets 43 087 49 237 Other operating expenses 459 907 Contributions from Member States 135 541 201156 Total Operating Expenses 182 472 342 149 Income from third parties 14 161 14 161 Other income 1033 1183 Net surplus/deficit from operating activities –26 832 –175 424 Consolidated entities 568 568 Financial revenue 1506 2 620 Total Income Budget 151303 217 068 Financial expenses 1297 4 918 Net surplus/deficit from financial activities 209 –2 298 Payment Budget Non periodic and extraordinary revenue 5 586 — Non periodic and extraordinary expenses — — Programme 69 273 70 389 Net surplus (deficit) from non periodic and 5 586 — Operations 71343 71343 extraordinary activties Science support 8 322 8 322 Net surplus/deficit for the period –21037 –177 722 Cross -directorate functions 43 885 43 885 Financing cost 155 56 * For information only: Considering full ratification from Predicted savings / payment delays –7720 –7720 Brazil and additional income from ten Member States Consolidated entities 568 568 (out of 14) already formally engaged in the E-ELT sup­ plementary programme in December 2012. Total Payment Budget 185 826 186843

78 ESO Annual Report 2012 The External Auditors, Tribunal de Contas The negative cash flow from operating The 2013 approved income budget de Portugal1, have expressed their opin­ activities of –24.8 million euro in 2012 amounts to 151.3 million euro. It includes ion that the financial statements for 2012 reflects the planned excess of payments the regular contributions from the ESO give a true and fair view of the affairs of over received income during the financial European Member States, income from the Organisation. year. The main payments were for ALMA third parties and partners, and other construction and for the Headquarters income. No additional income from either The accounting statements for 2012 extension building. Short-term borrowing the existing Member States or from Brazil show a negative result of –21.0 million of 13 million euro was taken up to cover as a new Member State has been con­ euro. This result arises principally from financing needs, resulting in an overall sidered. The column “with E-ELT” shows the increase in the provision for retire­ cash flow of –11.8 million euro. The cash the expected income assuming the ment benefits at the closing date, follow­ position at 31.12.2012 was 6.3 million approval of the E-ELT construction phase ing the outcome of the actuarial study euro. (All borrowing was repaid by the by the ESO Council and the full ratifica­ of the shared CERN/ESO Pension Fund end of April 2013.) tion from Brazil during the course of the at 31 December 2012. The net employer year. costs for the year appear under person­ The budget for 2013 was approved by nel­ ex­penses. This year the presentation the ESO Council in December 2012. The of the actuarial loss has been changed. approved 2013 payment budget amounts In accordance with the IPSAS standards to 185.8 million euros. It covers the re­ it was recognised directly in the State­ maining commitments for the ALMA con­ ment of Financial Positions, whereas in struction and includes a budget provision

2011 it was included in the personnel for the start of E-ELT construction activi­ 1 expenses for the year. The net assets of ties, subject to the approval of the E-ELT Antonio José Avérous Mira Crespo (Member of the Portuguese Court of Auditors), Maria da Luz the Organisation at 31 December 2012 construction phase by the ESO Council Carmezim (Head of Audit Department) and Antonio amount to 617.9 million euro. during the course of the year. Pombeiro (Senior Auditor).

La Silla, ESO´s first observatory — still one of the premier ground-based observatories in the world.

ESO Annual Report 2012 79 Human Resources ESO/Max Alexander ESO/Max ESO/Max Alexander ESO/Max ESO/Max Alexander ESO/Max parallax raumprojektion/ESO parallax The principal activities of the Human the Staff Association and unions, as accountability and continued develop­ Resources Division (HR) during the past well as through various working groups ment. The Code of Conduct describes twelve months have concerned: in Garching and Chile, has taken place. the basic standards of expected behav­ The performance review working iour in support of ESO’s mission for – HR strategy policy and planning group consists of members of the ESO excellence and professionalism, fairly – Recruitment and selection middle management. The initial results and legally. It will be released in March – Learning and professional develop­ regarding self-appraisal, how to set 2013. ment SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achiev­ – Employee relations and communica­ able, Relevant, Time-bound) objec­ 5. 360° feedback reviews for supervisors tions tives, improving staff performance in and managers – Occupational health and welfare and the case of underperformance, and The main aim of implementing a 360° Social Security how to deal with a disagreement dur­ feedback review is to help supervisors – HR advice and administration ing and after the annual performance and managers to reflect in a structured review, were immediately implemented way on their leadership style, identify­ in the 2012 performance review pro­ ing strengths and weaknesses and de­ HR strategy policy and planning cess. HR then provided presentations fining development plans where there and training to supervisors in Septem­ are deficits, and including consistent As announced and presented to the ber. These training sessions were follow -up. The revised competency Finance Committee and Council in 2011, ­welcomed by the supervisors, who then framework (see above) will form the an engagement survey was rolled out had the opportunity to share experi­ basis for the 360° questionnaire. The in Garching and Chile. A response rate of ence, resulting in constructive com­ basic concept for 360° feedback was 65% was reached and the overall results ments and feedback. By the end of finalised at the end of June and was of the survey were presented to the ESO 2013, the approval of a final review and presented to the ESO management management and to all staff. Feedback the settlement of all foreseen amend­ and staff representatives in July. In line and Division-specific actions were pre­ ments of performance management with the implementation of the compe­ sented to their teams by the respective procedures is expected. HR will then tency framework, it was further devel­ Director and/or Division head. Divisional run training sessions from May to oped in detail and will be implemented and departmental meetings took place August 2013 in order to train staff and in Garching and Chile between April in order to provide feedback, in particular managers. The launch of the new and June 2013. regarding: leadership, delegation of ­processes will take place in September authority, information, com­munication, 2013. 6. Further activities performance management and career Initial concepts were developed re­ development. 3. C ompetency framework garding possible flexible working time In May, ESO’s existing competency and core presence in Garching and Following those meetings, a global action framework was re-worked by an Vitacura, and the implementation of plan was developed by ESO manage­ ­external consultant, a group of nine the process for the publication of inter­ ment and presented to all staff in June. staff members and HR advisors, nal vacancies to foster career devel­ HR -related matters were taken up imme­ in order to improve its applicability to opment and job rotation. A review of diately and this led to the following activi­ performance reviews and recruitment the definition and description of pro­ ties: processes, and to achieve a closer fessional and managerial career paths link with learning and development has also been started. 1. Release of the ESO People Policy in activities. Following the review by two June working groups in August, one in This document, available on the ESO Garching and one in Chile, the com­ Project-oriented matrix management homepage, sets out ESO’s policy on prehensive draft competency frame­ matters regarding working together work is in its final stages of completion. Following the staffing review in 2011, effectively, sharing responsibility, treat­ The updated version will be provided an overall staffing plan was designed ing people with proper respect, and to the management team and subse­ and implemented to allow for a project- finding the right work–life balance and quently to the staff representatives by oriented matrix management scheme is termed the ESO Way. the end of January 2013. to deploy staff efficiently and to meet the evolving demands of ESO. These imple­ 2. Performance management 4. Code of Conduct mentations — as well as the accompany­ HR has reviewed the annual perfor­ In close interaction with ESO manage­ ing restructuring of the Directorate of mance review process. A new perfor­ ment and staff representatives, a Code ­Programmes and the Directorate of Engi­ mance management and professional of Conduct has been developed to neering — led to some open questions development model and associated ensure a shared appreciation of ESO with regard to conducting projects in process have been developed. The ethics and values and their influence a uniform way, as well as the implications ESO management has approved the on working practices with regard to for collaborative relations between func­ draft concept and a validation through integrity, commitment, collaboration, tional managers and project managers

ESO Annual Report 2012 81 and their roles and responsibilities. Thus selected positions were placed in appro­ A training catalogue has been created it was decided to hold a workshop involv­ priate specialist publications and on that provides an overview of all courses ing functional managers from all Directo­ recruitment web pages. All ESO advert­ developed and offered over the last four rates (i.e., de­partment and group heads) isements contain a statement regarding years. The experiences from this cata­ as well as project managers across ESO our commitment to equal opportunities. logue enabled HR to focus its efforts on — involving approximately 80 staff — to the delivery of the following courses: be facilitated by an external consultant. Within the ESO Fellowship Programme, Conflict Management; Time Management; The aim of this interactive workshop is to six applicants were selected with duty The ESO Management Development develop a common understanding of station in Chile and six for Garching. Fur­ ­Programme; language training, a com­ high -level principles and to describe and thermore, six candidates were awarded prehensive MS Office training programme formalise their working relations. In close Studentships in Europe and eight were and the delivery of a fair treatment, interaction with the Director of Engineer­ awarded in Chile. ­courtesy and respect policy training for ing, HR has set up this workshop, which ESO’s managers and International Staff will take place by the end of January Three staff members were temporarily Committee. Training within the EIROforum 2013. transferred to Chile to support the com­ framework came to an end with the missioning activities for ALMA construc­ de ­livery of a last project management tion and the Joint ALMA Observatory. training course attended by ESO Fellows. Recruitment, selection and In addition, 22 members of personnel The Leadership Programme was also reassignment were reassigned internally due to opera­ completed early in the year. tional reassignment or at their request. During the year, 26 vacancy notices were published, prompting a total of 1195 Employee relations and communica- applications. The numbers for recruit­ Learning and professional development tions ment campaigns completed according to contract type were as follows: A comprehensive training programme Regular consultation and interaction with was offered and organised in Garching the International Staff Committee and the and Chile. During the year a total of unions in Chile have continued. A total Contract Type No. of No. of 279 members of personnel attended of 18 meetings in Garching and Chile Campaigns Applications training organised by HR. were held in order to inform, discuss and Staff members 15 342 exchange opinions in the areas of organi­ Local staff members 10 624 Major pieces of work included the area sational development, policy amend­ Fellows 1 229 of 360° feedback and the matrix work­ ments, regulations, health and family shops, the identification of possible ser­ working groups and training actions. vice providers, their briefing, develop­ All positions were advertised on the ESO ment of the respective scope of work, In November, collective bargaining with website. For international positions, and the running of two-phase price the La Silla and Paranal unions took ­notifications were sent to all members of inquiries. A coaching concept and guide­ place. Meetings started in early Novem­ Council, the Finance Committee and line is in preparation to cover develop­ ber and extended towards the deadline the delegates of other ESO Committees, ment needs resulting from the 360° feed­ date contemplated in the previous as well as to national and international back. Major progress was achieved with ­col l­ective contract. The new collective research centres and observatories. In the Fellow Development Programme to contract for the period December 2012 addition, prominent advertisements for be rolled out in 2013. to November 2014 was signed on 30 November. The key aspects of the new collective contract are: no real 40 increase in salary; adjusted compensa­ 35 tions for the VLTI manager, telescope coordinator, and telescope, instruments 30 y and software start-up staff; adjustments

gor 25 of the official holiday calendar; increase te

ca in the number of carry-over leave days; f 20 regulations regarding protection during staf r 15 pregnancy and parental leave; adjust­ pe

% ment of special leave after parental leave; 10 extension of the suspension period of 5 allowances and guaranteeing the pay­ ment of allowances in cases of pregnan­ 0 In 2012, the number of female staff International Paid Local staff FellowsStudents cy and maternity leave. staff associates members represented 23% of the overall count. members The breakdown by staff category is Females by staff category shown.

82 ESO Annual Report 2012 During the course of the year, three Staff members by nationality — 31 December 2012. Rehabilitation Boards examined cases concerning incapacity, illness and pro­ Spain Finland cedural actions. Two Advisory Appeal 5.7% 0.2% Boards were appointed and their sub­ Denmark France stantiated recommendations were fol­ 1.8 % 15.3% lowed by the Director General. Germany United 28.8% Kingdom 9.8% Collaboration and representation of HR Czech Republic Italy ESO HR has participated in monthly 0.0% 16.2% meetings of the ALMA Human Resources Switzerland The Netherlands Advisory Group (HRAG) and contributed 0.9% 4.3% in particular to: the release of the HRAG Brazil Portugal terms of reference, giving advice in union 0.7% 0.7% matters and staff transition from con­ Belgium Sweden struction to operation, the result of the 3.9% 0.9% salary survey for ALMA local staff mem­ bers, the appointments of managers Austria Other 1.1% 9.6% and the development of policies and pro­ cedures.

HR also organised and participated in Following the changes in the regulations Staff departures two meetings of the Tripartite Group, of the CERN Pension Fund, the retire­ which dealt mainly with the development ment age for ESO’s new staff has risen The departures of staff this year fell into of the CERN Pension Fund and Staff from 65 to 67 years, and the contribution the following categories: Regulations, the annual review of remu­ and benefit formulas have been amended. neration and allowances, salary adjust­ An internal review and the decision of ments, the results of the engagement Council in December resulted in the Reasons Staff member Local staff survey and staff policies. adjustment of staff contributions to the member Pension Fund, effective 1 January 2013, Resignation 6 7 One meeting of the EIROforum HR the­ in order to restore and maintain the Expiry of contract 8 0 matic working group took place in ratio between contributions and pension Retirement 3 3 ­February 2012 and some of the issues benefits. Mutual agreement 4 1 discussed dealt with the HR competency Total 21 11 framework and training events for During the past twelve months several re ­searchers in areas of project manage­ amendments within the health insurance ment and presentation skills. scheme took place to adjust and update the medical coverage to the needs and/ or to developments in health care in the Health and welfare and social security Member States. The contribution scheme will be stable for 2013. A working group, consisting of repre­ sentatives of CERN management, ESO management and the CERN Pension HR advice and administration Fund, continued to seek an optimal solu­ tion for the calculation and payment of As part of the comprehensive and ser­ contributions and pensions for newly vice -oriented contract administration recruited ESO staff on the basis of effec­ duties, HR also handles a wide spectrum tive ESO salaries. Several meetings took of personnel-related activities. As an place and promising developments and ­integral part of this service, a variety of results were achieved. A final decision pertinent documents and circulars have on this matter is expected by the end of been produced and issued. March 2013.

ESO Annual Report 2012 83 List of Staff

As of 31 December 2012

Office of the Director Directorate of General Engineering

Tim de Zeeuw Michèle Péron

Administration Division Human Resources Software Development Technology Division Division

Patrick Geeraert Roland Block Michèle Péron Roberto Tamai

Mary Bauerle Patricia Adriazola Angela Arndt Roberto Abuter Dan Popovic José Antonio Abad Laura Comendador Andrés Arias Mercedes Chacoff Luigi Andolfato Eszter Pozna Matteo Accardo Frutos Juan Carlo Avanti Amal Daire Javier Argomedo Marcus Schilling Gerardo Avila Fernando Comeron Katalin Baltayne Nathalie Kastelyn Andrea Balestra Paola Sivera Pablo Jose Barriga Gabriela Gajardo Korompay Katjuscha Lockhart Pascal Ballester Fabio Sogni Campino Nikolaj Gube Jean -Michel Bonneau Anna Michaleli David Bargna Heiko Andreas Sommer Domenico Bonaccini Priya Nirmala Hein Renate Brunner Maria Angelica Moya Thomas Bierwirth Helmut Tischer Calia Isolde Kreutle Marcela Campos Betül Özener Reynald Bourtembourg Rodrigo Javier Tobar Henri Bonnet Elena Llopis Karina Celedon Mauricio Quintana Blanca Camucet Carrizo Roland Brast Diego Rioseco Claudia Silvina Cerda Rosa Ivonne Riveros Alessandro Caproni Stefano Turolla Martin Brinkmann Massimo Tarenghi Alain Delorme Francky Rombout Sandra Maria Castro Jakob Vinther Enzo Brunetto Jane Wallace Evelina Dietmann Marcia Saavedra Alberto Maurizio Chavan Rein Warmels Bernard Buzzoni Andrea Dinkel Nadja Sababa Gianluca Chiozzi Michèle Zamparelli Emanuela Ciattaglia Sabine Eisenbraun Heidi Schmidt Mauro Comin Stefano Zampieri Ralf Dieter Conzelmann Willem Eng Maria Soledad Silva Livio Condorelli William Zinsmeyer Sebastian Deiries Rebonto Guha Roswitha Slater Paula Cristina Correia Bernard -Alexis Delabre Leonardo Guzman Lone Vedsø Marschollek dos Santos Nicola Di Lieto Robert Hamilton Claudio Cumani Canio Dichirico Christoph Haupt Robert Donaldson Martin Dimmler Charlotte Hermant Dario Dorigo Michel Duchateau Kristel Jeanmart Philippe Duhoux Christophe Dupuy Georg Junker Sylvie Feyrin Toomas Erm Katarina Kiupel Vincenzo Forchi Siegfried Eschbaumer Hans -Jürgen Kraus Robert Frahm Michael Esselborn Ignacio López Gil Armin Gabasch Gerhard Fischer Joana Catarina César Enrique García Christoph Frank Lourenco Correia Dabó Fernando Gago Qiao Yun Ma Bruno Gilli Paolo Ghiretti Maria Madrazo Alain Gilliotte Domingo Gojak Alessandro Martis Percy Glaves Ivan Maria Guidolin Christian Muckle Justo Antonio Gonzalez Serge Guniat Hélène Neuville Villalba Ronald Guzman Claudia Ober Thomas Grudzien Collazos Ester Oliveras Carlos Guirao Sánchez Wolfgang Hackenberg Ernesto Orrego Florian Heissenhuber Andreas Haimerl Enikő Patkós Bogdan Jeram Volker Heinz Thomas Penker Yves Jung Guy Hess Leonel Pizarro Robert Karban Renate Hinterschuster Fabian Reckmann Mario Kiekebusch Ronald Holzlöhner Jürgen Riesel Maurice klein Gebbinck Georgette Hubert Elke Rose Jens Knudstrup Gerd Jakob Johannes Nicholas Charles Paul Jolley Schimpelsberger Kornweibel Andreas Jost Guido Serrano Basilio Kublik Dimitrios Kalaitzoglou Erich Siml Uwe Lange Lothar Kern Alexandra Specht Simon Lowery Jean Paul Kirchbauer Albert Triat Lars Kristian Lundin Barbara Klein Arnout Tromp Alisdair Manning Franz Koch Florine Vega Stewart McLay Maximilian Kraus Maritza Vicencio Andrea Modigliani Samuel Lévêque Michael Weigand Christophe Moins Steffan Lewis Yves Wesse Yuka Morita Paul Lilley Irmtraud Zilker-Kramer Michael Naumann Jean -Louis Lizon à Ralf Palsa L’A l l e m a n d Moreno Pasquato Martine Peltzer Werther Pirani

84 ESO Annual Report 2012 Directorate of Directorate of Programmes Operations

Adrian Russell Andreas Kaufer

Roberto Gilmozzi Samantha Milligan Valérie Saint-Hilaire

ALMA Construction Instrumentation E-ELT Division La Silla Paranal Division Division Observatory

Wolfgang Wild Mark Casali Alistair McPherson Andreas Kaufer

Christian Lucuix Eric Allaert Emmanuel Aller Mustafa Basbilir Sergio Abadie Daniel Gaytan Juan Antonio Marrero Gareth Aspinall Carpentier Bertrand Bauvir Margarita Acuña Rodrigo Gesswein Hernandez Claudio Cabrera Fatme Allouche Marc Cayrel Claudio Agurto Julien H. V. Girard Michael Müller Massimiliano Camuri Paola Amico Philippe Dierickx Bernardo Ahumada Philippe Gitton Lothar Noethe Juan Carlos Echaniz Robin Arsenault Peter Murray Gray Yazan Al Momany Frédéric Yves Joseph Lorenzo Pettazzi Petrus Gerhardus Fourie Dietrich Baade Bertrand Köhler Javier Alarcon Gonte Thomas Pfrommer Pieter Hekman Paul Bristow Javier Marti Canales Jaime Alonso Leonardo González Cristian Pontoni Hervé Kurlandczyk Iris Bronnert Katia Montironi Fernando Alvarez Andres González Marco Quattri Robert Alexander Laing Richard Clare Dominik Schneller José Luis Alvarez Sergio González Jutta Quentin Massimiliano Marchesi Klaas Johannes Dekker Nicolas Alvarez Javier Andres González Andrew Rakich Pascal Martinez Françoise Iván Aranda Jaime González Roland Reiss Rainer Mauersberger Delplancke-Ströbele Juan Pablo Araneda Patricia Guajardo Robert Ridings Ferdinand Patt Frédéric Derie Ernesto Araya Carlos Guerra Stefan Sandrock Silvio Rossi Reinhold Dorn Pablo Arias Stéphane Guisard Babak Sedghi Erich Schmid Mark Desmond Oriel Alberto Arriagada Nicolas Haddad Christian Soenke Stefano Stanghellini Downing Karla Aubel Juan Pablo Haddad Mirko Todorović Donald Tait Enrico Fedrigo Francisco Azagra Pierre Haguenauer Sebastien Tordo Gie Han Tan Gert Finger José Báez George Hau Arno Van Kesteren Eugenio Ureta Christoph Geimer Pedro Baksai Juan Pablo Henriquez Gianluca Verzichelli Andreas Glindemann Rogelio Bascunan Cristian Herrera Pavel Yagoubov Juan Carlos González Juan Beltran Gerhard Hüdepohl Elena Zuffanelli Herrera Guillaume Blanchard Rodrigo Huerta Peter Hammersley Israel Blanchard Gerardo Ihle Norbert Hubin Henri Boffin Valentin Ivanov Derek James Ives Carlos Bolados Nestor Jimenez Olaf Iwert Pierre Bourget Ismo Kastinen Lieselotte Jochum Stéphane Brillant Carlos La Fuente Hans-Ulrich Käufl Erich Bugueno Francisco Labraña Markus Kasper Francisco Cáceres Octavio Lavin Florian Kerber Luis Alejandro Cedric Ledoux Johann Kolb Caniguante Alfredo Leiva Harald Kuntschner Michael Cantzler Marcelo López Paolo La Penna Ruben Carcamo Fernando Luco Miska Le Louarn Cesar Cárdenas Felipe Mac-Auliffe Gaspare Lo Curto Mauricio Cárdenas Pedro Mardones Pierre -Yves Madec Arnaud Carlier Kiriako Markar Antonio Ramon Giovanni Carraro Christophe Martayan Manescau Hernandez Duncan Castex Mauricio Martinez Enrico Marchetti Roberto Castillo Eduardo Matamoros Leander H. Mehrgan Monica Castillo Dimitri Mawet Serge Menardi Susana Cerda Angel Mellado Manfred Meyer Cecilia Ceron Alejandra Mena Nicolas Muller Claudia Cid Antoine Merand Luca Pasquini Alex Correa Steffen Mieske Jérôme Paufique Alejandra Cortes Lorenzo Monaco Duc Thanh Phan Claudio De Figueiredo Francisco Miguel Jean -François Pirard Melo Montenegro-Montes Suzanne Ramsay Willem -Jan de Wit Alex Morales Javier Reyes Diego Del Valle Sebastien Morel Piero Rosati Alvaro Diaz Iván Muñoz Gero Rupprecht Reinaldo Donoso Julio Navarrete Marc Sarazin Javier Duk Hernan Nievas Christian Schmid Christophe Dumas Rodrigo Olivares Markus Schöller Michael Dumke Francisco Olivares Ralf Siebenmorgen Carlos Durán Jared O’Neal Jörg Stegmeier Carlos Ebensperger Juan Osorio Josef Strasser Cristian Elao Juan Carlos Palacio Stefan Ströbele Cristian Esparza Rodrigo Javier Parra Marcos Suárez Valles Lorena Faundez Ricardo Andrés Parra Elise Vernet José Figueroa Andres Parraguez Joël Daniel Roger Erito Flores Diego Parraguez Vernet Juan Carlos Fluxa Marcus Pavez Julien Woillez Eloy Fuenteseca Sergio Gaete

ESO Annual Report 2012 85 Directorate for Science

Bruno Leibundgut

Data Management/ ALMA Joint Office/ Operation Observatory

Martino Mattheus Thijs de Romaniello Graauw

Eduardo Peña Paola Andreani Rebeca Aladro Laura Inno Rubén Andreas Andersson Jorge Pilquinao Angelika Beller Alvaro Alvarez Candal Alvaro Iribarrem Sánchez-Janssen Lundgren Juan Pineda Fabio Biancat Marchet Mathias Andre Edmund Janssen Christoph Saulder Denis Barkats Andres Pino Andrew Biggs Manuel Aravena Paulina Jiron Peter Scicluna Ravinder Bhatia Manuel Pizarro Daniel Bramich Joana Ascenso David Jones Raquel Yumi Shida Paulina Bocaz Aldo Pizarro Stella -Maria Daniela Barria Petr Kabath Rowena Sirey Paolo Gherardo Calisse Emanuela Pompei Chasiotis-Klingner Amelia Maria Bayo Aran Noé Kains Vernesa Smolcic Itziar De Gregorio Sébastien Poupar Carlos De Breuck Giacomo Beccari Martin Kornmesser Loredana Spezzi Monsalvo Matteo Pozzobon Nausicaa Delmotte Jean -Philippe Berger Jens -Kristian Krogager Jason Spyromilio William Dent Andres Ramírez Maria Diaz Trigo Jérémie Boissier Mirko Krumpe Christina Stoffer Giorgio Filippi Christian Ramírez Danuta Dobrzycka Margherita Bonzini Carina Lagerholm Leonardo Testi Daniel Fulla Marsa Claudio Reinero Adam Dobrzycki Jutta Boxheimer Claudia del Pilar Lagos Svea Teupke Diego Alex Garcia Sridharan Rengaswamy Nathalie Francine Gabriel Brammer Urbina Grant Tremblay Jorge Ibsen Claudia Reyes Fourniol Joanne Breitfelder Masha Lakicevic Amy Tyndall Henderikus Jager Lidia Riffo Wolfram Freudling Pamela Bristow Youngdae Lee Paula Maria Fernanda Rüdiger Kneissl Miguel Riquelme Monika Gotzens John Carter Stefan Lieder Urrutia-Viscarra Stéphane Leon Tanne Leonel Rivas Jonas Haase Lars Lindberg Jochen Liske Sergio Vasquez Gianni Marconi Thomas Rivinius Reinhard Hanuschik Christensen Gianluca Lombardi Laura Ventura Gautier Mathys Chester Rojas Evanthia Hatziminaoglou Lodovico Coccato Steven Longmore Pierre Vernazza Maurizio Miccolis Pascual Rojas Michael Hilker Luca Cortese Nora Lützgendorf Maja Vuckovic Theodoros Nakos Cristian Romero Wolfgang Hummel Gráinne Costigan Claus Madsen Jeffrey Franklin Wagg Lars Åke Nyman Rodrigo Romero Christian Hummel Silvia Cristiani Matthias Maercker Ke Wang Jose Parra Felix Alberto Rozas Elizabeth Humphreys Joana Mafalda da Cruz Carlo Felice Maria Roger Wesson Evert Pauwels Francisco G. Ruseler John Lockhart Carmo Martins Manara Michael West Neil Matthew Phillips Fernando Salgado Vincenzo Mainieri Timothy Davis Sergio Martin Mark Westmoquette David Rabanus Ariel Sanchez Stephane Marteau Bruno Dias Silvia Meakins Dominika Wylezalek Armin Silber Pierre Sansgasset Alberto Micol Guillaume Drouart Andrea Mehner Fei Yan Giorgio Siringo Jorge Santana Sabine Möhler Paul Elliott Jorge Melnick Fei Zhao Russell Smeback Ivo Saviane Palle Møller Eric Emsellem Julien Milli Herbert Zodet William Snow Linda Schmidtobreick Sangeeta Mysore Anja Feldmeier Guillaume Montagnier Baltasar Vila Vilaro Ricardo Schmutzer Mark Neeser Anna Feltre Andre Mueller Robert Fosbury Eric Villard Nicolas Schuhler Nadine Neumayer Letícia Ferreira Koraljka Muzic (Emeritus Catherine Vlahakis Frédéric Schuller Isabelle Percheron Robert Fosbury Florian Niederhofer Astronomer) Nicholas Whyborn Alex Segovia Dirk Petry Caroline Paolo Padovani Sandro D’Odorico Gert Tommy Wiklind Fernando Selman Francesca Primas Foster-Guanzon Ferdinando Patat (Emeritus Waldo Siclari John Pritchard Dimitri Gadotti Markus Kissler-Patig Astronomer) Peter Sinclaire Suzanna Randall Roberto Galvan-Madrid Fabien Patru Nicolas Slusarenko Marina Rejkuba Hernan Garrido Douglas Pierce-Price Alain Smette Jörg Retzlaff Stephan Geier Jaime Pineda Jonathan Smoker Jesus Rodriguez Ulloa Neale Gibson Magaretha Pretorius Christian Spille Thomas Stanke María Eugenia Gómez Farid Rahoui Michael Fritz Sterzik Felix Stoehr Luis Goncalves Calcada Javier Adrián Rodón Sandra Strunk Dieter Suchar Oscar Alberto Gonzalez Myriam Rodrigues Thomas Szeifert Lowell Tacconi-Garman Garcia Paula Valentina Richard Tamblay Elena Valenti Florian Gourgeot Rodriguez Mario Tapia Mario Van Den Ancker Rebekka Grellmann Francisco Rodriguez Manuel Torres Eelco van Kampen Uta Grothkopf Anthony Rushton Josefina Urrutia Ignacio Vera Sequeiros Jason Harley Grunhut Joel Sanchez Guillermo Valdes Jeremy Walsh Sylvain Guieu Jose Javier Valenzuela Markus Wittkowski Bitten Gullberg Karen Vallejo Burkhard Wolff Olivier Hainaut Right: It was decided as early as 1964, with the ESO Pierre Vanderheyden Veronique Ziegler Hans Hermann Heyer activity increasing in Santiago, to acquire a pied à Paulina Venegas Martin A. Zwaan Richard Hook terre in the city so that ESO would not have to rely Enrique Vera Renate Elisabeth Hoppe on hotels. The purchase of the Guesthouse was Sergio Vera Leo Huckvale completed in March 1965, and it was originally used Jorge Vilaza Gaitee Hussain as an administration office as well as a lodge for Zahed Wahhaj ­visitors. However, in the early 1970s the official ESO Ueli Weilenmann offices were moved to the new building in Vitacura, Luis Wendegass a few kilometres away in the city, allowing the Guest­ Gundolf Wieching house to be used exclusively for the comfort and Andrew Wright convenience of travel-weary astronomers and staff. As can be seen in these two photographs, the Guesthouse has managed to remain a constant in ESO’s ever-changing life.

86 ESO Annual Report 2012

ESO/G.Hüdepohl (atacamaphoto.com) ESO/G.Hüdepohl (atacamaphoto.com) Organigram

As of 31 December 2012

Director General Tim de Zeeuw Office of the Director General

ESO Representation Legal Service General Internal Audit Chile Laura Comendador Directorate Elena Llopis Massimo Tarenghi Frutos

Directorate of Directorate of Directorate of Directorate for Engineering Programmes Operations Science Michèle Péron Adrian Russell Andreas Kaufer Bruno Leibundgut

Data Management Human Software ALMA E-ELT La Silla Paranal European Administration Technology Instrumentation & Operations Resources Development Construction Division Observatory ALMA Division Division Division Division Division Division Division Alistair Division Support Centre Patrick Geeraert Roberto Tamai Mark Casali Martino Romaniello Michèle Péron Wolfgang Wild McPherson Andreas Kaufer Wolfgang Wild Roland Block (Interim)

Outreach HR Chile Finance SITE Instrumentation Project Directors DMO EASC Department Maria Angelica Renate SDD Office TEC Office Claudio Science Engineering Office Office Office Lars Lindberg Moya Brunner Cabrera Dietrich Baade Peter Gray Christensen

Data Flow Instrumentation Logistics and ALMA Technical Office for HR Garching Contracts and Control Antenna User Support Infrastructure Systems Dome/ Facilities, Paranal Support External Heidi Procurement Engineering Stefano Francesca Thomas Andreas Main Structure Francisco Fabio Biancat Relations Schmidt Arnout Tromp Toomas Erm Stanghellini Primas Bierwirth Glindemann Ruseler Marchet Rowena Sirey

Infrastructure Control/ BE Office for Electronic Detector Engineering ALMA Chile Instrument Front End Optomechanics Operations Science Engineering Systems Paranal Computing Jean-Michel Software Gie Han Tan Marc Cayrel Martino Garching Christian Lucuix Gert Finger Arnaud Carlier Erich Schmid Bonneau Gianluca Chiozzi Romaniello Eric Emsellem

Facility, Software Mechanical Science Opera- Operations Office for Control Logistics, Engineering & Cryogenic Computing AO Systems tions Paranal and Technical Science Software Transport Pascal Ballester Engineering Erich Schmid Norbert Hubin Christophe Support Chile Bertrand Bauvir Erich Siml (Interim) Paul Jolley Dumas Dieter Suchar Michael West

System Eng. VLTI Maintenance Observing Pipeline Optics & ALMA Regional & Integration Civil/ Paranal Programmes Systems Photonics Francoise Centre Hervé Delplancke- Infrastructure Fernando Office Pascal Ballester Lothar Noethe Paola Andreani Kurlandczyk Stroebele Alvarez Ferdinando Patat

IT Structure & ALMA La Silla Programme Florian System Analysis Science Gerardo Ihle Scientists Heissenhuber Franz Koch Leonardo Testi

APEX Gundolf Wieching

Left: The historical photograph, on top, shows the ­Residencia under construction at the end of 2000. The building materials have the same colour as the desert to help it blend into the landscape, and the central area of the Residencia is reminiscent of an amphitheatre. Today, as can be seen in the back­ ground image, the area is covered by a 35-metre- wide glass dome, which allows natural daylight into the building. Both the garden and the pool are designed to increase the humidity indoors, allowing staff some respite from the extremely arid conditions in one of the driest places on Earth.

ESO Annual Report 2012 89 Office of the Director General

Professor Tim de Zeeuw, Director General of ESO, speaks at a Gala event to mark the 50th anniversary of ESO. The event took place on the evening of 11 October 2012, in the Kaisersaal of the Munich Residenz in Germany. On the right, ESO’s former Directors General are seen: Prof. O. Heckmann, Prof. A. Blaauw, Prof. L. Woltjer, Prof. H. van der Laan, Prof. R. Giacconi and Dr C. Cesarsky.

90 ESO Annual Report 2012 Legal Service

The Legal Service (LS) contributed to The LS assisted the ESO administration ity from the Director General to ESO the preparation of Council and Finance in the negotiations with the European managers; it assisted the management Committee documents. It participated in Investment Bank and commercial banks during the collective bargaining with meetings of the Council, Finance Com­ to secure cash flow during the E-ELT the local staff and helped with internal mittee, Tripartite Group, and the working construction. The LS contributed to the appeals and with complaints in front groups on new Member States and on preparation of, and gave advice on, of the Administrative Tribunal of the Inter­ CERN Pension Fund matters. It a­ ssisted the on­ going sale of small ESO properties national Labour Organisation; and it in the follow-up of issues concerning in Chile. The LS provided advice to con­ helped with the update and review of the the ALMA Board and the ALMA Direc­ tractors in many different legal areas Staff Rules and Regulations, internal tors’ Council (leading to the drafting of such as compliance with Chilean labour memoranda and administrative circulars an ALMA Trilateral Agreement covering or safety regulations; it supervised the as well as with CERN Pension Fund mat­ ALMA Operations, assistance ­during an procedure for the reimbursement of VAT; ters. environmental inspection visit, etc.). dealt with Chilean civil and labour law­ suits and provided legal assistance to the Additionally, the LS participated in nego­ The LS had high-level interactions with Headquarters Extension Project Office tiations and drafting of various agree­ Member States and with potential new in the interactions with the general con­ ments regarding the use of telescopes at Member States involving the preparation tractor, authorities and architects. The LS La ­Silla by national institutes. of draft accession agreements, partici­ also played a major role in an arbitration pating in informal discussions, etc. procedure, where the final award fully To mark the occasion of ESO’s 50th supported ESO’s position. ­anniversary, the LS was asked to update All legal aspects connected to the E-ELT the ESO Basic Texts, a compendium were also monitored by the LS. This Advice was provided to Human Resources of the founding documents and major included the follow-up of the administra­ in the preparation of various agreements agreements of ESO with its Member and tive authorisations to be granted by the for the secondment of ­personnel; it pre­ Host States translated into all languages Chilean Government regarding the dona­ pared powers of attorney for ESO’s per­ of ESO Member States. The books were tion/concession of the land for the E-ELT sonnel in Chile and dele­gations of author­ handed over to the delegations in October. and property rights issues, as well as environmental and safety matters. The LS also contributed to the discussions with Chilean electricity supply companies for the power supply for the E-ELT and La Silla.

Furthermore, the LS provided advice ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO) regarding immunity issues and the legal status of all ESO sites in cases of illegal mining activities, water and geothermal matters. Environmental aspects, acci­ dents and safety issues were also re­ viewed by the LS. Support was provided on agreements, Nota Verbale and inter­ actions with Chilean national and local authorities.

The ALMA Directors’ Council meeting was held at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan in Tokyo from 17–18 February, with the participation of the directors of the three regional executives on behalf of East Asia, Europe and North America, and the Director of the Joint ALMA Observatory in Chile.

ESO Annual Report 2012 91 Chile Relations

The year 2012 saw ESO entering its 49th The night spent in Paranal by President – Ambassador of Austria in Chile, year of operations in Chile, a period that Piñera, when he observed Eta Carina, HE Dorothea Auer has been marked by excellent support and the following night when President – Ambassador of Sweden in Chile, and interest from all the different sectors Calderón observed the full Moon, were HE Eva Zetterberg of Chilean society. particularly significant for their appre­ – Ambassador of France in Chile, ciation of the Chilean sky and the Euro­ HE Marc Giaccomini It has become increasingly clear that pean telescopes. In addition to these – Ambassador of Italy in Chile, Chile is transforming itself into a country important visits, the year will also be HE Vincenzo Palladino with a strong interest in, and an active remembered for the visits of many other – Ambassador of the Czech Republic in involvement with, worldwide astronomical dignitaries and their delegations, such as: Chile, HE Zdenek Kubanek research, with a perspective stretching – A mbassador from the European Union, back over the 50 years of its relationship – Carlos Pachá, member of the Brazilian HE Rafael Dochao with ESO, and with a forward-looking President’s team – Delegation from CERN view anticipating the next half century. – Congressmen from the Chilean Cham­ – Danish Dark Cosmology Centre delega­ This interest in astronomy and the con­ ber of Deputies, Science Committee tion comitant appreciation of ESO were clear­ – Senators Guido Girardi and J. P. – President of Austria, Heinz Fischer and ly marked by the selection of Paranal as Letelier delegation (Vitacura, December) the site for the event where the Pacific – Former President Alvaro Uribe Alliance Treaty was signed. The presence (­Colombia) The President of Austria, HE Heinz Fischer of four heads of state: Presidents Piñera, – Dr Riita Mustonen, Vice President for and his delegation did not have enough Humala, Santos and Calderón, as well as Research, Academy of Finland time in Chile to visit Paranal, but did visit the King of Spain, ambassadors, and the – Chilean Head of Protocol, Ambassador Vitacura and expressed enormous inter­ foreign ministers of countries interested in James Sinclaire est in what ESO is doing. becoming partners of the Pacific Alliance, – Undersecretary for Tourism, marked a highlight for the visibility of ESO Ms Jacqueline Plass ESO, in collaboration with other observa­ in Chile, with a significant impact in the – R ectors from Finnish Universities tories in Chile, supported the Ministerio press, on television and among the popu­ – German Federal Minister for Education del Medio Ambiente (Ministry for the Envi­ lation in general. and Research, Dr Annette Schavan ronment) in completing and approving – Ambassador of Denmark in Chile, the new norma lumínica (light standards) HE Lars Steen Nielsen which protects the sky in Regions II

The presidents of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru met on 6 June at ESO’s Paranal Obser­ vatory in the Chilean ­Atacama Desert, seeing at first hand the state- of -the-art telescopes and technology at ESO’s flagship site. The presi­ dents gathered at ­Paranal for the fourth Summit of the Pacific Alliance, at which the Alliance’s Framework Agreement was ratified.

92 ESO Annual Report 2012 and IV so that astronomical observations can be continued under the best possible conditions.

The annual contribution that ESO pro­ vides, as part of the promotion of astro­ nomical activities in Chile through the Joint Committee ESO-Government of Chile, once more identified serious projects that support different areas of astronomy: ­academic, outreach, supp­ orting young astronomers and in helping meetings and SOCHIAS (the Chilean Astronomical Soci­ ety). In parallel and in collaboration with its American and Japanese partners, funds were allocated through the Chilean National Commission for Scientific and Technological Investigations (CONICYT) as part of the ALMA collaboration.

As interest in Chile grows there is a con­ tinuing effort to present astronomy to the general public. The Saturday afternoon tours, both to La Silla and Paranal, have seen an increasing number of visitors, indicating the need to focus on this kind of activity. This is particularly pertinent following the start of ALMA operations and in anticipation of the E-ELT ­project. ESO has also collaborated with a govern­ ment initiative that provides support, through mobile observatories, for the dis­ semination of astronomical culture in the country.

Top: President Sebastián Piñera of Chile and his wife, Cecilia Morel, in the Paranal control room on 5 June 2012. In the background we see (from left): the Director of the Observatory, Andreas Kaufer; the President of the ESO Council, Xavier Barcons; the Director General of ESO, Tim de Zeeuw; ESO’s Rep­ resentative in Chile, Massimo Tarenghi; and ESO astronomer Fernando Selman, from Chile. President Piñera participated in observations of the Carina Nebula with the VST.

Middle: On the visit to ESO’s Paranal Observatory on 6 June 2012, the King of Spain had lunch with the Presidents of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. The Presidents were at Paranal for the Fourth Summit of the Pacific Alliance. The King came to Paranal on the last day of his official visit to South America, during which he visited Brazil and Chile, before returning to Spain.

Bottom: On 6 December 2012 the Federal ­President of the Republic of Austria, Dr Heinz Fischer, and fotopresidencia.cl his wife Margit Fischer, visited ESO’s premises in Santiago, Chile. The President was accompanied by Dorothea Auer, Austrian Ambassador to Chile, and Friedrich Faulhammer, Secretary General of the

­Austrian Ministry of Science and Research. Chile, de Gobierno

ESO Annual Report 2012 93 International Relations

Relations with Member States, potential new Member States and other activities

As part of the process of preparing the approval of the E-ELT construction ­proposal, ESO maintained a very close and active relationship with its Member States. This is why, during the course of the year, representatives of ESO visited several ministries in the Member States and hosted national delegations to dis­ cuss plans and priorities. These visits provided the opportunity for individual discussions with ESO on specific issues and concerns, in particular about funding for the E-ELT, seeking to develop a better understanding of the Member States’ requirements and constraints, and to pro­ vide any information and support required by them.

There continues to be a steady flow of enquiries about the costs and implica­ Participants in the European Extremely Large Tele­ tions of membership of the Organisation, scope cost meeting, with a cardboard mock-up of an E-ELT mirror segment. resulting in ESO making numerous infor­ mal contacts with different countries inside and outside Europe concerning continued to maintain a variety of interac­ intergovern­mental scientific research potential membership. This process tions with international organisations organisations that are responsible for included visits by representatives of sev­ and activities across Europe, notably infrastructures and laboratories (CERN, eral potential candidate Member States as a member of EIROforum, a partner­ EFDA -JET, EMBL, ESA, ESO, ESRF, to both ESO Headquarters and ESO’s ship between eight of Europe’s largest European XFEL and ILL). observatories in Chile, as well as visits by ESO representatives to a number of potential candidate Member States.

At the United Nations Committee on the EIROforum Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, where ESO has permanent observer status, ESO continued to be part of Action Team 14, which is responsible for pre­ paring a comprehensive set of recommen­ dations regarding the detection, monitor­ ing, and information and warning system, as well as possible mitigation efforts, for dealing with the potential Near-Earth Object (NEO) threat. ESO was able to offer expert advice to the technical dis­ cussions and make constructive sugges­ tions regarding ground-based observa­ tions as part of the proposals.

Elsewhere, ESO was represented in vari­ ous network activities, including the Square Kilometre Array Founding Board, the OPTICON Board and Executive ­Committee, and the ASPERA Governing Board. In addition to its direct interaction Participants in the EIROforum General Assembly with the European Commission, ESO 2012, held at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) on 15–16 November 2012.

94 ESO Annual Report 2012 50th anniversary Gala event (1975–1987), Harry van der Laan (1988– and the Chilean Minister of Foreign 1992) and Catherine Cesarsky (1999– Affairs, Alfredo Moreno Charme. The anniversary Gala event was held 2007) and current senior representatives on Thursday, 11 October 2012, in the from all the Member States, Brazil and The Gala was a great success and pro­ ­Kaisersaal of the Munich Residenz, seat Chile. Many former and present members vided a forum that showed ESO’s suc­ of the former kings of Bavaria in the of ESO committees also attended, cesses to an audience that is not regular­ ­centre of Munich. The Residenz dates together with prominent retired staff, for­ ly exposed to ESO. A full report and the back to the beginning of the 16th century mer senior staff members and a selection texts of the speeches were published and the Kaisersaal was first built in the of the current staff from Garching. ESO in The ESO Messenger’s 50th anniversa­ 17th century as a large entertainment ­Fellows and Students, acting as guides, ry issue (No. 150, December 2012). room. represented the current and future gener­ ations of astronomers. Eighteen months in the planning, the Gala was an impressive occasion that The speakers were the President of the managed at the same time to capture the Council, Xavier Barcons; the German Photos from the ESO 50th anniversary Gala, held in the Residenz, Munich, on October 11, 2012. warmth and spirit of ESO, celebrating not Minister for Education and Research, Top left: The Kaisersaal in the Munich Residenz, only the history of the organisation, but Dr Annette Schavan; the Bavarian State where the Gala took place. Top right: Tim de Zeeuw, also those who have contributed to its Minister for Science, Research and ESO’s Director General (centre), with ESO Students present success. The guests represented the Arts, Dr Wolfang Heubisch; physics and Fellows. Bottom left: Prof. Lodewijk Woltjer, ESO Director General from 1975–1987, and Prof. Tim four decades of ESO history, including Nobel Laureate, Brian Schmidt; the de Zeeuw. Bottom right: Prof. Brian Schmidt, Physics three former Directors General: Lo Woltjer ­current Director General, Tim de Zeeuw 2011 Nobel Laureate during his speach.

ESO Annual Report 2012 95

The oddly shaped Pencil Nebula (NGC 2736) is pictured in this image, produced by the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. This nebula is a small part of a huge remnant left over after a super- nova explosion that took place about 11 000 years ago. Committees

C.Madsen

ESO/

98 ESO Annual Report 2012 Council

As its governing body, the ESO Coun­ Both the Council and the Committee of cil determines the policy of the organi­ Council (the informal body of Council) Council and Committee of Council 2012 sation with regard to scientific, techni­ normally meet twice during the year, 2012 cal and administrative matters while being no exception. Although, unlike President Xavier Barcons (Spain) delegating the day-to-day running to ­previous years, there was no specific the Director General (DG). Council and requirement for any additional Extraordi­ the DG are assisted by the following nary Council meetings, a number of very Austria Sabine Schindler Daniel Weselka Committees: significant decisions were made during the 2012 meetings. Both Council meet­ Belgium Christoffel Waelkens The Finance Committee (FC) is charged ings were held in Garching, on 11–12 June Sophie Pireaux with the general responsibility of ad­ and 4–5 December. The first Committee Czech Republic Jan Palouš vising Council on all matters of adminis­ of Council meeting was kindly hosted Jana Bystřická/Jan trative and financial management, and by the Czech delegation in Prague on Buriánek making decisions, on behalf of Council, 6–7 March while the second meeting on matters for which they have been returned to Garching on 10–11 October Denmark Uffe Jørgensen Peter Sloth delegated the requisite powers, includ­ to coincide with the Gala event. All meet­ ing the award of major contracts. ings were chaired by the President of Finland Jari Kotilainen Council, Prof. Xavier B­ arcons. Pentti Pulkkinen The Scientific Technical Committee is France Jean-Marie Hameury established as an advisory committee At the June meeting, an update was Christophe Troyaux on matters related to the planning and ­provided by the Council President and operation of ESO and advises Council ESO Director General on a number of Germany Thomas Henning and the DG on policy matters of scien­ ongoing events/actions and the respec­ Thomas Roth tific importance and priorities. tive Directors/Division Heads presented Italy Bruno Marano feedback on all aspects of ESO’s pro­ Matteo Pardo The Users Committee (UC) is made up gramme, including the status of La Silla, of representatives of ESO users from Paranal and ALMA. The status of the The Netherlands Konrad Kuijken Jan van de Donk each Member State and advises the ­ratification process with Brazil was also DG on matters concerning the use of highlighted, as well as progress made Portugal Teresa Lago ESO facilities (telescopes, instruments, with regard to potential new Member Fernando Bello computers, etc.). States. The External Audit Report 2011 Spain Rafael Bachiller was approved by Council and discharge Luis E. Ruiz The Observing Programmes Com­ was granted to the Director General mittee reviews and ranks all observing for the same year. In parallel, the man­ Sweden Claes Fransson proposals and provides a recommen­ date of the Portuguese Court of Auditors David Edvardsson/Catarina Sahlberg dation to the DG for the distribution (Tribunal de Contas de Portugal) was of observing time. The OPC is organ­ extended for three years, covering the Switzerland Georges Meylan ised in topical panels by scientific financial years 2012–14. A main focus Martin Steinacher (Vice ­categories. for discussion was the European President) Extremely Large Telescope and how the United Kingdom Patrick Roche The ALMA Proposal Review Committee programme would be taken forward. John Womersley (APRC) is made up of the APRC chair As a consequence of these discussions, and the chairs of the ALMA Review Council was able to make the important Panels (ARP), of which there is at least decision to approve, by simple majority, one for each of the main scientific cate­ the principles regarding participation gories. APRC reviews the single ranked in the E-ELT supplementary programme proposal list resulting from the merging and also approved — with a two-thirds of the individual ARP rankings and majority of all Member States and pend­ advises the ALMA Directors’ Council on ing confirmation of four ad ­referendum the scientific programme of ALMA. votes — the resolution concerning the approval of the construction of the E-ELT. This was indeed a most significant deci­ sion for ESO as an organisation, for the Left: The underlying picture was taken at ESO’s Garching Headquarters during the historic ESO Member States and for the world of ­Council meeting of 11–12 June 2012 when the astronomy. To end this extremely eventful E -ELT programme was approved (subject to con­ meeting, a ceremony was held to mark firmation of thead­ referendum votes). For a the laying of the foundation stone for the glimpse back in time, compare with the photo (top) of the Council in December 1987, when the new Headquarters extension building, to VLT was approved.

ESO Annual Report 2012 99 which local dignitaries as well as Council Member States who were not in a posi­ for appointments to the various ESO members were invited. tion to change their ad referendum Committees including the ALMA Board, vote. It was agreed that a working group the European ALMA Science Advisory Following attendance at the Gala event in would be established, dedicated to the Committee (ESAC), FC, OPC, STC and October 2012 to celebrate the 50th Anni­ development of the E-ELT. This working the Tripartite Group, as well as the unani­ versary of the founding of ESO, the dele­ group will consist of Council delegates mous­ re-election of the Council Presi- gates ended the year with the December and members of the ESO Executive and dent and Vice President, and the FC and Council meeting. As had been the case will consider the potential options which STC Chairs. Council was also pleased during the previous meeting, this resulted are open to ESO, taking into account to note the appointment of Dr Pierre Cox in further discussion about the E-ELT strategy, risks, etc. In addition to the dis­ as the new ALMA Director. programme and its current s­ tatus, with cussions on the E-ELT, the budget for particular reference to the re­maining 2013 was approved. Elections took place

The ESO Council at its meeting at ESO’s headquar­ ters in Garching, Germany on 4 December 2012. In the foreground on the left is the ESO Director General, Tim de Zeeuw and to the right the President of Council, Xavier Barcons.

100 ESO Annual Report 2012 Finance Committee

The Finance Committee held two ordi­ The Committee approved the award of Finance Committee 2012 nary meetings, both chaired by Mr Johan 16 contracts exceeding €500 000, seven Holmberg. It recommended the budget single -source procurements exceeding Chair Johan Holmberg (Sweden) for the year 2013 for approval to Council. €250 000 and five amendments to exist­ Furthermore, the delegates of the Mem­ ing contracts. Out of these, nine con­ ber States who voted in favour of the tracts, two single-source procurements Austria Daniel Weselka E -ELT supplementary programme urged and one amendment were approved Belgium Alain Heynen Council to approve the related contribu­ by written procedure. Also approved tions for the year 2013 as soon as the were the sale of a piece of ESO land in Czech Republic Věra Zázvorková programme was confirmed. The Commit­ ­Antofagasta and an in-kind exchange tee also dealt with further financial issues for the European ALMA prototype anten­ Denmark Cecilie Tornøe (Vice-chair) such as annual accounts, the external na. The Committee welcomed the report Finland Sirpa Nummila audit report, financial statements, Mem­ on procurement statistics and industrial ber States’ contributions, and financial return coefficients. France Patricia Laplaud scenarios for the E-ELT. To secure ESO’s Germany Gisela Schmitz-DuMont cash position during the E-ELT’s con­ The Finance Committee also discussed struction, an agreement between ESO subjects concerning international and Italy Giampaolo Bologna and the European Investment Bank was local staff as well as CERN Pension Fund supported. matters. The Netherlands Mirjam Lieshout-Vijverberg

Portugal F ernando Bello (May)/ A working group, established by the Maria José Almeida Committee the previous year, presented (November) its results on how to find a new method Spain Inmaculada Figueroa for the calculation of the scale of Member States’ contributions, with the purpose Sweden Tobias Hellblom of decreasing the sometimes sharp varia­ tions. A final proposal will be available at Switzerland Astrid Vassella the next meeting in May 2013. United Kingdom Colin Vincent

Antennas of the A­ tacama Large Mil­limeter/submil­ limeter Array on the

ESO/C. Malin ESO/C. Chajnantor Plateau in the Chilean Andes.

ESO Annual Report 2012 101 Scientific Technical Committee

The STC had two regular meetings. The STC was presented with general The Scientific Technical Committee 2012 The STC subcommittees met before the options for the future of the LPO, in prep­ STC to discuss several of the topics in aration for the submission of a White Austria Josef Hron (ESE) more detail, leading to recommendations Paper to one of the next meetings. The by the STC itself. Committee welcomed this evidence of Belgium Hans Van Winckel (LSP) ESO’s preparations to operate the LPO in the E-ELT era and encouraged ESO Czech Republic Michael Prouza (LSP) 78th STC meeting to continue by exploring a broad range of Denmark Johan Fynbo (LSP) possible strategies, together with the The STC held its 78th meeting from selection procedure for the associated Finland Lauri Haikala (ESAC) 17–18 April in Garching. The La Silla new instrument capabilities, so as to France A nne-Marie ­Paranal Subcommittee (LSP) and the ­better adapt to future scientific opportu­ Lagrange (LSP) European ALMA Science Advisory Com­ nities. mittee met on 16 April and re­ported Germany Matthias Steinmetz the outcome of their deliberations to the The STC reiterated its support for main­ Italy Alessandro Marconi STC. With the end of Phase B of the taining the LPO as a world-leading facility (STC Chair) E -ELT, no further recommendations were into the E-ELT era, with the continuing required from the E-ELT Science and budget envisaged in the Long-term Per­ The Netherlands Marco de Vos (LSP Chair) Engineering Committee (ESE), which spectives document. The STC was Portugal Andre Moitinho (LSP) stood down with effect from June 2012. pleased by the implementation of the fast data transfer (EVALSO infrastructure). Spain Santiago Arribas Mocoroa Eighteen out of 20 members, including the members at large from the USA The STC considered the initial VLT/I Sweden Sofia Feltzing and Australia, attended the meeting. In instrumentation planning as a good start­ Switzerland Didier Queloz (LSP, ESE) accordance with the Terms of Reference, ing point for development of a roadmap S. Feltzing was nominated and unani­ for a competitive LPO in the E-ELT era. United Kingdom Rob Ivison (ESAC Chair) mously accepted as STC Vice-chair. In The Committee believed that any instru­ Chile Leonardo Bronfman order to finalise the composition of the mentation plan should arise naturally subcommittees, the STC proposed to from the White Paper and the strategies Members at Large the Director General the appointment of chosen to operate the LPO. It encour­ Elaine Sadler (ESAC) ­Didier Queloz, Hans Van Winckel, and aged ESO to continue to fully evaluate the Gillian Wright Andrè Moitinho to the LSP and Rachel impact of all projects on the whole pro­ Rachel Akeson (ESAC) Akeson to ESAC. gramme. John Monnier (LSP) The main topics of discussion were the A status report on the ERIS science case Observer White Paper on the Future of the La Silla– was presented to the STC for recom­ Brazil Marcos Diaz Paranal Observatory; VLT/I instrumenta­ mendation. The STC believed the science tion planning; the science case for ERIS; case to be extremely strong: the ERIS and the Band 5 extension of ALMA. project offers the possibility of keeping ESO/D. Minniti/VVV Team Minniti/VVV ESO/D.

This image from VISTA is a tiny part of the V­ ISTA Variables in the Via Lactea survey that is systematically studying the central parts of the Milky Way in infrared light. On the right lies the globular star cluster UKS 1 and on the left lies a much less conspicuous new discovery, VVV CL001.

102 ESO Annual Report 2012 diffraction-limited imaging capabilities in the VLT/I technology upgrade project as CUBES proceed to design and construc­ modes or domains that will not be cov­ the highest priority short-term project tion phases once Brazil has ratified its ered by SPHERE after NACO is decom­ for Paranal. The Committee stressed the accession to ESO. In the meantime, the missioned; and will allow the SPIFFI continuing need for strategic decisions consortium and ESO should address spectrometer to operate with the AOF. to be taken in the context of a short-, the pending items, namely the broaden­ The STC met by teleconference following medium- and long-term plan; reiterated ing of the science case and the increase the Phase A review at the end of May and that the necessary planning documents of ultraviolet expertise in the consortium. recommended construction. must therefore be available in good time for its next meeting; and offered to pro­ The STC considered decisions like the The STC acknowledged the progress vide earlier feedback on draft documents 4 -metre Multi-Object Spectroscopic made on ALMA construction and if that would be helpful. ­Telescope (4MOST) down-selection pro­ was particularly excited by the spectac­ cess to be relevant for the future of LPO. ular first scientific results from Cycle 0. The STC congratulated Council on the The Committee would therefore have The Committee was pleased that the JAO provisional approval of the E-ELT pro- liked to have been informed with a docu­ and the ARCs were now sharing ALMA ject, praised ESO for the continuing activ­ ment, which it considered should be data processing and encouraged ESO to ities in preparation of the construction issued by ESO not only for the benefit of take all necessary steps to ensure com­ phase, and welcomed the creation of the the STC but also for the PIs of the mul­ti- pletion of the ALMA CSV. Project Science Team and the E-ELT object spectrograph studies and the Management Advisory Committee. The community at large. Recognising the importance of the sci­ STC strongly favoured the establishment ence enabled with Band 5, the STC of a focussed subcommittee, reporting Although welcoming the completion of ­concurred with the cost cap and techni­ exclusively to the STC, to follow the most parts of the VISIR upgrade, the cal review requested by the ALMA Board development of the E-ELT project. This STC was very concerned by the reported and recommended that ESO conclude would provide the additional time and system performance on sky and the negotiations with the Band 5 consortium expertise that the STC considers essen­ ­possible consequences for the MATISSE for the full production of the ALMA tial to ensure full understanding of all andT E-EL -MIRI projects. It encouraged Band 5 cold cartridge assemblies. aspects and consequences of the E-ELT ESO to take advantage of the experience programme. of the European Mid Infrared Imager The STC unanimously reaffirmed its (MIRI) team with this family of detectors, extremely strong support for the E-ELT The STC congratulated the ALMA opera­ and supported ESO’s intention to intro­ project. The Committee was very tions and construction teams on the duce more formal procedures for future ­sat ­isfied with the preparatory work con­ achievements of the past year and on the instrument upgrades. ducted since its last meeting, but noted excellent scientific performance, the high the high risk to European leadership quality of the papers emerging during The Committee congratulated ESO and in ground-based astronomy in the next the Early Science period and the obvious the VLTI team on the progress made decade that could arise from further enthusiasm of the ever-widening user with VLTI and PRIMA and on the signifi­ delay in the start of the E-ELT programme. community. However, the STC was con­ cant increase in the number of science cerned about the low level of contingency nights. In view of the likely delay to remaining and the high level of staff GRAVITY, the STC urged ESO to consider 79th STC meeting ­turnover, with possible impact on the continuing support for PIONIER. The schedule and on the ALMA data archive, Committee looked forward to receiving The 79th meeting of the STC took place and urged ESO to address the issue. results from ongoing tests and analyses in Garching on 23–24 October. The LSP and implementation plans for solutions at and the ESAC met the previous day, also The recovery activities carried out to its next meeting. in Garching, and duly reported to the address the NTT and UT4 failures and STC. The main topics of discussion were the exceptional effort and high commit­ The STC welcomed a possible call for the ESO Budget and Forward Look ment of the recovery teams were highly public spectroscopic surveys with 2013–2016; updates on the E-ELT, ALMA commended by the Committee, which VIMOS, which it advised should be and the LPO; and the presentation of the was pleased to note that diagnostics announced to the community with the CUBES project. were also prepared to minimise the risk deadline shifted by six months to allow of repetition. The STC also congratulated the preparation of strong proposals. The ESO Budget and Forward Look the KMOS team and ESO on the suc­ Although the imaging surveys are under­ 2013–2016 was presented to the STC, cessful PAE and the impending commis­ way with increasing efficiency, ESO which expressed its appreciation of the sioning. should make a clear statement on the efforts made by ESO to maintain the next steps, taking account of the ex­ LPO as the flagship for at least the next Following the successful conclusion of tended time to completion and the report decade; and of the intention to maintain Phase A, the committee proposed that from the Public Survey Panel.

ESO Annual Report 2012 103 Observing Programmes Committee

During its meetings from 21–25 May scope time allocation scheme for coordi­ The Observing Programmes Committee 2012 and from 19–22 November, the Observ­ nated observations with the VLT and ing Programmes Committee evaluated XMM-Newton, proposals for such obser­ the proposals submitted for observations vations were invited again, for the ninth Françoise Combes (Chair) to be executed in Periods 90 (P90; time, in 2012. ESO received two appli­ Dante Minniti (Vice-Chair P90) 1 October 2012 to 31 March 2013) and cations in P91, which qualified for alloca­ Rolf Kudritzki (Vice-Chair P91) 91 (P91; 1 April 2013 to 30 September tion of telescope time. Time at both facili­ 2013). The numbers of proposals for ties was granted to two joint proposals Yann Alibert (P91) observation with the ESO telescopes in evaluated by the XMM-Newton Observing Giuseppe Bono these two periods were 937 and 892 Time Allocation Committee. Wolfgang Brandner (P91) respectively. In addition, on account of Andy Bunker (P90) the technical problems encountered dur­ Matt Burleigh (P91) ing the re-commissioning of VISIR, a Targets of Opportunity Hugo Vicente Capelato (P90) ­delta -call was issued in P91 for ISAAC Romano Corradi and 153 proposals were received. Despite the stricter criteria applied to Ric Davies ­Target of Opportunity (ToO) programmes Duncan Farrah (P91) The distribution of proposals across the since P86, the number of ToO proposals Laura Ferrarese (P90) different scientific areas remained similar submitted in 2012 remained similar to Francois Hammer (P91) to recent periods. There were about previous years. For P90 and P91 respec­ Guillaume Hebrard twice as many proposals for Galactic tively, the OPC evaluated 37 and 39 pro­ Amina Helmi ­scientific projects, pertaining to OPC cat­ posals, of which 22 and 21 were sched­ Wolfgang Hillebrandt (P90) egories C (interstellar medium, star for­ uled, for a total of about 470 hours. Emmanuel Jehin (P90) mation and planetary systems) and D FORS2 is the most demanded instrument Jean-Paul Kneib (P91) (stellar evolution), as for extragalactic top­ for ToO observations (about 300 request­ Norbert Langer ics, which comprise categories A (cos­ ed hours), followed by X-shooter and Seppo Mattila (P90) mology) and B (galaxies and galactic UVES. These three instruments were allo­ Ronald Mennickent (P91) nuclei). The OPC categories are speci- cated 74% of the ToO time. Patrick Petitjean fied in full at www.eso.org/sci/observing/ Tom Ray proposals/opc-categories.html Sandra Savaglio (P90) Calibration Programmes Daniel Schaerer As in previous periods, FORS2 — which Rainer Schödel (P91) is mounted on Antu (Unit Telescope 1 Calibration Programmes (CPs) allow Ian Smail (P90) of the VLT, or UT1) — was the VLT instru­ users to complement the existing cover­ Linda Smith (P90) ment on which the largest amount of age of the calibration of ESO instruments. Daniel Thomas observing time was requested (585 Their main evaluation criterion is the nights), ahead of X-shooter (402 nights) comparison of the potential enhancement on Kueyen (UT2). Kueyen was again of the outcome of future science that the most popular UT, with a ratio between can be expected from their execution the requested and the available time, with the immediate return of current per­ or pressure, of 4.3, while the pressure on iod science proposals directly compet- the other UTs was close to three. The ing for the same resources. A total of four possibility of installing a visitor instrument CPs were submitted in 2012, two of at the VLT Interferometer generated which were recommended by the OPC ­considerable interest in the community. for implementation. Between P90 and P91, proposals re­ questing a total number of 105 VLTI nights were submitted for PIONIER, a near-­ Large Programmes infrared interfero­metric visitor instrument designed for imaging and fed by four Large Programmes (LPs) are projects ­telescope beams. These proposals were requiring a minimum of 100 hours of allocated 50 nights. The OPC reviewed observing time that have the potential to 20 open-time pro­posals for the VISTA lead to a major advance or breakthrough survey telescope, of which seven were in the relevant field of study. LP execution scheduled. is spread over several observing periods with a maximum duration of four years On La Silla, HARPS and EFOSC2 for observations to be carried out with remained in high demand. Within the the La Silla telescopes, and of two years framework of the continuing agreement on the VLT/I and on APEX. A total of between ESO and ESA for a joint tele­ 42 LP proposals were received in 2012:

104 ESO Annual Report 2012 22 in P90 and 20 in P91. Following the OPC recommendations, four new LPs were implemented in P90, and five in P91. The trend towards using a large fraction of the science time on the La Silla telescopes for the execution of LPs, encouraged by ESO and already embraced by the community in recent years, continued. Eight continuing LPs were scheduled on the 3.6-metre tele­ scope in P90, receiving a total allocation of 122 nights (71% of the science time). At the NTT during the same period, six LPs were underway, totalling 101 nights of observing time (this includes the PESSTO Public Spectroscopic Survey, to which 90 nights per year are allocated).

Director’s Discretionary Time

Proposals asking for Director’s Discre­ tionary Time (DDT) may be submitted throughout the year for programmes that present a level of urgency incompatible with the regular proposal cycles handled by the OPC. In 2012 the ESO user com­ munity submitted 89 DDT proposals. After taking advice from an internal com­ mittee comprising ESO staff astrono­ mers, the Director General approved for implementation 49 DDT proposals. The total amount of allocated DDT time was about 180 hours.

The Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory has imaged a region of star formation called NGC 3324. The intense radiation from several of NGC 3324’s mas­ sive, blue-white stars has carved out a cavity in the surrounding gas and dust.

ESO Annual Report 2012 105 ALMA Proposal Review Committee

The ALMA Proposal Review Committee Cycle 1 call for proposals. The APRC, projects were chosen from the lists to and its 11 ALMA Review ­Panels met chaired by Françoise Combes, ranked fill the share of ALMA time for each part­ in Santiago from 1–5 October to d­ iscuss all proposals based on scientific merit. ner. The final list of 192 highest priority the 1131 proposals submitted in The ranked list of proposals was then projects includes 53 projects with PIs response to the ALMA Early Science split by regions and the highest priority from the ESO Member States.

The ALMA Proposal Review Committee for Early Science Cycle 1 Darek Lis California Institute of Technology (USA) Ute Lisenfeld Granada University (Spain) Leslie Looney University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Françoise Combes (Chair) Paris Observatory (France) (USA) Susanne Aalto Chalmers University of Technology Dieter Lutz Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (Sweden) (Germany) Rachel Akeson California Institute of Technology (USA) Satoki Matsushita Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Hector Arce Yale University (USA) Astrophysics (Taiwan) Andrew Baker Rutgers, The State University of Tom Millar Queen’s University Belfast (UK) New Jersey (USA) Akira Mizuno Nagoya University (Japan) John Bally University of Colorado at Boulder (USA) Raffaella Morganti Ne therlands Institute for Radio Astronomy Felipe Barrientos P ontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (ASTRON) (The Netherlands) (Chile) Frédérique Motte CEA Saclay (France) Maite Beltran Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory (Italy) Neil Nagar University of Concepción (Chile) Jacqueline Bergeron Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris (France) Fumitaka Nakamura National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (Japan) Michael Bietenholz York University (Canada) Hideko Nomura Kyoto University (Japan) Andrew Blain University of Leicester (UK) Karin Oberg H arvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (USA) Dominique Bockelee-Morvan Paris Observatory (France) Nagayoshi Ohashi Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy Leo Bronfman Universidad de Chile (Chile) and Astrophysics (Taiwan) John Carpenter California Institute of Technology (USA) Tomoharu Oka Keio University (Japan) Paola Caselli The University of Leeds (UK) Sadanori Okamura Hosei University (Japan) Jose Cernicharo Centro de astrobiología (INTA-CSIC) (Spain) Hans Olofsson C halmers University of Technology (Sweden) Claire Chandler National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Takashi Onaka The University of Tokyo (Japan) Socorro (USA) Olja Panić University of Cambridge (UK) Tracy Clarke Naval Research Laboratory (USA) Alexandra Pope University of Massachusetts at Amherst (USA) Leen Decin Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium) Thomas Puzia Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (Chile) Asuncion Fuente National Astronomical Observatory (Spain) Luis -Felipe Rodriguez National Autonomous University of Mexico Yasuo Fukui Nagoya University (Japan) (Mexico) Gaspar Galaz P ontificia Universidad Católica de Chile Seiichi Sakamoto Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Japan) (Chile) Dave Sanders University of Hawaii at Manoa (USA) Guido Garay Universidad de Chile (Chile) Sho Sasaki RISE Project, NAOJ (Japan) Maryvonne Gerin Paris Observatory (France) Joachim Saur University of Cologne (Germany) Mark Gurwell Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Marc Sauvage CEA Saclay (France) Astrophysics (USA) Peter Schilke University of Cologne (Germany) Jorma Harju Helsinki University (Finland) Eva Schinnerer Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy (Germany) Naomi Hirano Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy Matthias Schreiber University of Valparaiso (Chile) and Astrophysics (Taiwan) Nick Scoville California Institute of Technology (USA) Leslie Hunt Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory (Italy) Debra Shepherd National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Frank Israel Leiden Observatory (The Netherlands) Socorro (USA) Rob Ivison Royal Observatory, Edinburgh (UK) Lister Staveley-Smith International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research Andres Jordan P ontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (Australia) (Chile) Lisa Storrie-Lombardi California Institute of Technology (USA) Seiji Kameno Kagoshima University (Japan) Masato Tsuboi Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Japan) Sheila Kannappan U niversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Jean Turner University of California at Los Angeles (USA) (USA) Liese van Zee Indiana University (USA) Hiroshi Karoji The University of Tokyo (Japan) Dave Wilner Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (USA) Jill Knapp Princeton University (USA) Gillian Wilson University of California at Riverside (USA) Kotaro Kohno The University of Tokyo (Japan) Christine Wilson McMaster University (Canada) Nario Kuno Nobeyama Radio Observatory, Lucy Ziurys Steward Observatory, University of Arizona (USA) NAOJ (Japan)

106 ESO Annual Report 2012 Users Committee

The ESO Users Committee acts as an In 2012 the special topic was Public The Users Committee 2012 advisory body to the ESO Director ­Survey Data Products. Because of the ­General, representing the communities investment of telescope time and resourc­ Austria Werner Zeilinger of users from the ESO Member States es that ESO makes in supporting ­Public (Chairperson) and Chile. According to its terms of refer­ Surveys, and the recent successful ence, approved by the ESO Council on launch of the Phase 3 interface (for both 10 December 2010: “The UC shall advise the upload by the Public Survey PIs and Belgium Martin Groenewegen the ESO Director General on matters the subsequent retrieval by any user of Czech Republic Adéla Kawka ­pertaining to i. the performance of the advanced data products), ESO was very La Silla Paranal Observatory and ALMA, eager to obtain feedback from its user Denmark Frank Grundahl ii. the scientific access, operations and community on the usefulness and friend­ Finland Seppo Katajainen data management facilities of ESO, liness of its Phase 3 services. Although iii. other services offered by ESO to its only a few users had already had some France Claire Moutou users’ community and directly related experience with the newly released data to the scientific output of the La Silla products (probably because of the short Germany Thomas Preibisch ­Paranal Observatory and ALMA”. time that had elapsed since the first data­ Italy Stefano Benetti set was publicly released), the UC repre­ The 2012 UC annual meeting took place sentatives engaged in a very constructive The Netherlands S cott Trager on 23 and 24 April. It was organised discussion with ESO. Dif­ferent aspects (Vice-chair) by the User Support Department, within were reviewed, from data homogeneity Portugal Nanda Kumar the Directorate of Operations. The (among the different Public Surveys) to ­agenda, prepared by ESO in close con­ the details of the data products and the Spain Lourdes Verdes- sultation with the UC Chair, included a policies and procedures applicable to Montenegro series of updates provided by ESO staff the data upload. A more detailed summa­ Sweden Kirsten Kraiberg Knudsen involved in operations, a report by the ry of the discussion can be found in the UC Chair that summarised the main approved minutes of the meeting (availa­ Switzerland Hans Martin Schmid issues the Committee had received from ble from http://www.eso.org/public/ United Kingdom Gary Fuller the user community and a special ses­ about -eso/committees/uc/uc-36th.html). sion, i.e. an in-depth review of a specific Chile Manuela Zoccali topic. The latter can be a specific oper­ A mid-term telecon meeting took ational mode, an instrument or a service. place in early November, during which Whenever possible, a couple of expert ESO and the UC updated each other users are invited to attend this session on ope­ rationally-related issues. and share their experiences and views with the UC and ESO. ) glphoto.it ESO/G. Lombardi (

The VLT Survey Telescope at Cerro Paranal. The VST is a state-of-the-art 2.6 -metre telescope equipped with ­OmegaCAM, a monster 268-megapixel CCD camera with a field of view four times the area of the full Moon.

ESO Annual Report 2012 107 ESO/VVV Survey/D. Minniti | Acknowledgement: Ignacio Toledo, Martin Kornmesser Toledo, Ignacio Acknowledgement: | Minniti ESO/VVV Survey/D.

108 ESO Annual Report 2012 This striking view of the central parts of the Milky Way was obtained with the VISTA survey telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. This huge picture is 108 500 by 81 500 pixels and contains nearly nine billion pixels. It was created by combining thousands of individual images from VISTA, taken through three different infrared filters, into a single monumental mosaic. Outreach

ESO’s 50th anniversary year was a prime This photo-like artist’s opportunity to showcase ESO’s frontline impression shows a planet orbiting the star Alpha research, its innovative technology and the ­Centauri B, a member of people behind the scenes. It was also the the triple star system that is right time to reveal the innovative devel­ the closest to Earth. Alpha opments behind the E-ELT project. Sev­ ­Centauri B is the most bril­ liant object in the image and eral outreach efforts were carried out to the other bright object is extend coverage of the anniversary activi­ Alpha Centauri A. The Sun ties, including a widely distributed docu­ is visible as the bright star mentary about ESO which is attached to to the upper right. The tiny signature of the planet was back cover of this Annual Report. found with the HARPS spectrograph on the With the help of staff, outreach ambassa­ 3.6 -metre telescope at dors, the ESO Science Outreach Network ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. This discovery led (ESON), volunteer translators, local venue to one of the most popular organisers, and the beautiful products press releases of the year. themselves, the public in the Member States and beyond were made aware of ESO’s 50th anniversary, showing how obtained via the VVV survey using the release alone — more than three times the reality of a European dream has ex­ VISTA telescope at Paranal. Using these our previous record. ceeded all expectations. This was also an data, a catalogue of more than 84 million opportunity to interest people in ESO’s stars in the central parts of the Milky Way An ESO Picture of the Week was issued next 50 years, as ALMA approached was created. The image, which may be for each week of the entire year, providing completion and the E-ELT was about to the largest astronomical panorama ever both a series of beautiful and striking start construction. produced, gives viewers a spectacular, photographs and astronomical images, zoomable view of the central part of our and a channel to report on news items Communication channels were diversi- galaxy (108 250 × 82 067 pixels, or that did not necessarily require a full fied further and new steps were taken 9 metres long and 7 metres tall if printed press release or announcement. As part towards better understanding the young­ at book resolution). The success of the of ESO’s 50th anniversary, a special set er generation and the way they interact press release burdened our servers dur­ of Then and Now comparison Pictures with the world, as part of the mission ing the peak period, and to date about of the Week, using historical and modern- to make ESO a household brand. Co-­ 700 000 web visitors have read this press day photographs, was issued once a creation became the buzzword for how to better engage with the public by let- ESO 2012: News popularity ting them create —­ a trend that ESO is 800000 pioneering. 700000

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ESO’s education and Public Outreach 400000 Department published 53 press releases and 103 announcements during the 300000 year. The second most popular ESO 200000 release (see the top right figure) was the discovery of an Earth-mass planet 100000 around our neighbouring star Alpha 0 24 25 32– 23 33 26 27 28 31 34 35 43 12 13 15 16 21 22 36 37 38 39 29 30 20 9– 10 18 19 42 44 45 46 47– 48 11 14 17 40 41 6– 1– 8– 49 53 50 2– 3– 4– 5– 7– 51 52 – –P – –O –P – ph – –P –P Ph

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y Thor Gala

WF Bi WF ng I 57 ma su r planet was detected using the HARPS ke A W u –W p TA t I X I n T e r I l instrument on the 3.6-metre telescope at F La Silla. Google Analytics (x 1) Eurekalert (x 10) Meltwater press clippings (x 250) The most popular release was photo The relative popularity of the 53 press releases as ular releases of the year overall were eso1241, release eso1242, which was the publica­ measured by three different metrics (Google Analyt­ reporting the discovery of a planet around the neigh­ ics, Eurekalert and Meltwater). These three metrics bouring star Cen B, and eso1242, which was the tion of a nine-gigapixel image (seen on have widely different values and have been scaled to publication of a nine gigapixel image of the Galactic the previous page) of the Galactic Bulge the range of Google Analytics values. The most pop­ Bulge obtained via the VVV survey on VISTA.

110 ESO Annual Report 2012 month. These are seen on some of the video compilations on topics related to ex­ ­hibits were arranged at 14 events in pages of this Annual Report and show ALMA, VLT and the E-ELT were released. Europe and beyond, including the SPIE how things have changed over the dec­ Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumen­ ades at the ESO sites. The number of images in the online tation conference, the European Week image archive grew from 5042 to 6427 of Astronomy and Space Science The production of astronomical images (up 27%). The number of videos in the EWASS 2012, and the International Astro­ was maintained at the same level, online video archive grew from 1410 to nomical Union XXVIII General Assembly. with just over 100 images released, 2002 (up 42%). In many cases the exhibitions were although the number of processed pixels ­carried out in partnership with local doubled (due to the large VISTA VVV The recruitment of volunteer translators organisers to reduce the load on ESO’s image). Thanks to the quality and volume continued. They provide translations of, resources. In Chile 18 outreach events of o­ utreach images produced, combined for instance, ESOcast subtitles in advance and exhibitions took place, including five with an aggressive promotion strategy, of the release of new episodes. This list 50th anniversary events. Eight other ESO has cemented its reputation as a of translators has been further developed ­outreach events in Chile were supported, recognised and respected source of top- as a network of volunteers for other including the event involving the Nobel quality astronomical images. This con­ translation needs. At the end of the year Laureate Brian Schmidt at the Chilean tributes strongly to both the popularisa­ 636 subtitle translations were available Senate in ­Santiago, with over 300 partici­ tion of astronomy and to the establishment online. pants. By far, the largest event supported of ESO as a household brand for quality was the Summit of the Pacific Alliance science outreach. A small fraction of the (Paranal, 5–7 June). ESO images were derived from vintage, Exhibitions and events archival data, but most of the images are A series of more than 50 specific anni­ now coming from the new survey tele­ The main focus for the exhibitions was versary events was arranged in approxi­ scopes and the ongoing Cosmic Gems the 50th anniversary. Awesome Universe mately 20 countries, on or around the programme. This programme makes use — the Cosmos through the eyes of anniversary date of 5 October. ESO of small amounts of telescope time for the European Southern Observatory, was speakers and materials were provided, outreach images under weather and a special exhibition campaign to mark as well as a three-metre banner with ambient conditions that are not suitable the anniversary. It was presented inter­ the anniversary VST image of the Carina for science programmes. nationally in cooperation with ESO’s part­ Nebula, which was unveiled exclusively ners in Europe and around the world at the events. ESO received more than 130 interview at more than 50 venues in about 20 coun­ requests from the media in addition tries, with an estimated attendance of On 5 October, to mark the anniversary to interviews given during media visits at least 300 000–400 000. The exhibit date itself, a six-hour live webcast to the sites. This led to a substantial consisted of a gallery of 50 visually stun­ “A Day in the Life of ESO” was broadcast, ­number of articles in print, online and in ning images, showcasing celestial streaming live VLT observations from the electronic media. objects such as galaxies, nebulae, and the Paranal control room and the moun­ star clusters as seen by ESO’s observa­ taintop observing platform, public talks tories, as well as beautiful images of the from the Garching headquarters, the Publications observatories themselves. Europe to the Stars movie, prize quizzes, and many popular question and answer The number of products produced de­ ESO’s nine permanent exhibitions cont­ sessions. creased from 99 in 2011 to 79 in 2012, inued to draw crowds and additional but the number of pages produced increased by 68% to 3870. Fourteen were special products for ESO’s 50th anniversary, among them the two major anniversary books Europe to the Stars and The Jewel on the Mountaintop.

Audiovisuals

The main audiovisual product this year was the 63-minute Blu-ray movie Europe to the Stars — ESO’s first 50 years of Exploring the Southern Sky. Twelve epi­ sodes of the ESOcast video podcast and one video news release were pub­ lished during the year. In addition, five

ESO Annual Report 2012 111 112 ESO Annual Report 2012 Web and software development Web visitors 2012: 7687481 Distribution of the 7.7 million web visits among eso.org – 50% the ESO websites. While Many new features were rolled out spacetelescope.org – 32% the overall number of across the main websites. The back-end iau.org – 9% visitors decreased by infrastructure also received significant portaltotheuniverse.org – 3% 7% from 2011, the num­ ber of visits to the main improvement, both on the system side, almaobservatory.org – 3% eso.org site increased with the database servers upgraded to astronomy2009.org – 1% by 15%, from 3.3 to 3.8 more modern devices with a streamlined eso.cl – 1% million. configuration, as well as the integration gigagalaxyzoom.org – 1% servers upgraded to a new IT virtualised communicatingastronomy.org virtualastronomy.org server farm. capjournal.org galileannights.org The email newsletter infrastructure was eyesontheskies.org cosmiccollisions.org also upgraded and consolidated. As an scienceinschool.org example, 24 different language versions hiddenuniverse.org cosmicorigins.org of the newsletter, ESO News, are issued postcardsfromuniverse.org every week. treasuresofthesouthernsky.org iaudivisionxii.org cosmicdiary.org The ESO and Hubble Top 100 iPad (all with 0%) apps have been upgraded to v2 with support for the new Retina displays. Between July and December, the apps Alexa Global Ranking 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 12 11 12 were down­loaded more than 129 000 12 11 11 12 11 11 –D –N –M –F –S –M –J –A times and 250 000 installations were –J ec eb an ov ep un ug ay ar –0 –0 upgraded from v1 to v2. –0 –2 –2 –1 –1 –1 –1 3 3 5 1 6 9 0 1 8 In spite of the fact that more than half of 10 000 our audience targets are being reached via platforms other than the ESO website, the number of visits to the eso.org site increased by 15%, from 3.3 to 3.8 million. This is likely to be a result of the added visibility in the anniversary year.

100000

Media, VIP and weekend visits in Chile eso.org spacetelescope.org hubblesite.org

In collaboration with Representation and Through most of the year eso.org maintained its popular site (for the first time above NASA’s hub­ Operations in Chile, a total of 77 media ­typical Alexa ranking as the 50 000th most popular blesite.org, which is usually the most popular obser­ site in the world, although during the fourth quarter it vatory -related website). and VIP visits to ESO sites were handled reached its highest ranking so far, as 26 000th most (19% fewer than in 2011), with the number of person-days spent at the sites at the same level as in 2011 (162 days). Among the visits was the IMAX film Hidden Uni- verse, due to be launched in 2013, the planetarium show, Water: A Cosmic Story, and the Dutch TV programme Labyrint.

Two media delegations of top science journalists from Brazil and Austria were invited through the ESON network and offered a special programme to visit the Paranal and ALMA Observatories. The picture shows ­President Fischer of Left: More than 100 anniversary events and exhibi­ ­Austria and his wife tions took place during the year. The collage gives ­Margit ­Fischer looking an impression of the impressively broad landscape at a gift from ESO’s of the displays and the ways and means that were ­Representative in Chile, employed to attract the general public. Massimo Tarenghi.

ESO Annual Report 2012 113 Several VIP visits were supported by 25000 USA Ukraine ePOD, such as the visit of the President Turkey of Austria to the ESO office in Santiago Russia Romania and the visit to Paranal by the Federal 20000 Poland Minister of Education and Research of Norway Latvia Germany, Annette Schavan. The largest Ireland VIP visit supported was the IV Summit of Iceland 15 000 Greece the Pacific Alliance (5–7 June), where four Cyprus heads of state (Chile, Peru, Colombia and Albania Chile Mexico) and some 80 delegates and gov­ UK ernment representatives (from Australia, 10 000 Switzerland Sweden Costa Rica, Panama, Canada and Japan) Spain were present at Paranal for two days Portugal theNetherlands of high-level political discussions. The 5000 Italy event was widely covered across South Germany America, with over 100 journalists pre­ France Finland sent on site. On the second day of the Denmark event, His Majesty the King of Spain also 0 Czech 11 11 11 11 11 11 12 12 12 12 12 12 10 10 10 10 10 10 09 09 Brazil 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 Belgium visited Paranal. 20 l. 20 l. 20 l. 20 r. r. r. v. y. y. v. y. v. n. 20 p. n. 20 v. n. 20 p. p.

pt. 20 Austria Ju Ju Ju Ja Ja Ma Ja Ma No Ma No No Se Ma Se Se Ma Ma No Public visits to the observatories went Se up 5% compared to 2011, with a total of Translated web pages delivered by the ESO Science members; Chile is identified in purple. At the end of 7896 weekend visitors at La Silla and Outreach Network shown per country per month. the year, over 15% of ESO’s pages were delivered in The bluish colours identify the Member States, and languages other than English. ­Paranal. reddish colours are used for the additional ESON

ESO Science Outreach Network vided a trip to Paranal as one of the Our reach was expanded through part­ EIROforum special prizes for the Euro­ nerships with top education app develop­ The ESO Science Outreach Network pean Union Contest for Young Scientists. ers, IMAX producers, live blogs, special continued to increase its strategic impor­ media, and our network of ambassadors tance for ESO’s visibility in the Member was also expanded significantly. States and beyond. At the end of the year Community coordination and more than 15% of the pages on eso.org distribution Both on Facebook and Twitter, the size were read in languages other than English of ESO’s communities increased sub­ (see the figure above). ESO’s community coordination efforts stantially — the number of Twitter follow­ focussed primarily on promoting ESO’s ers almost doubled (up 93% to 12 486) ESON added nodes in Russia, Romania 50th anniversary to as large an audience and the Facebook fans went up by and Latvia. Apart from the main website, as possible, but also on improving and 58% (to 28 260) — both with a clear ESO now has 31 national mini-sites, 28 expanding our existing communication bump in the numbers in the fourth quar­ of them with original content (plus three avenues. ter due to the anniversary. in English), covering 28 countries, in Twitter followers and Facebook fans 19 different languages. Press releases A targeted distribution was implemented 30000 are translated into 18 different languages. for the anniversary videos, merchan- 28000 More than one and a half billion people dise, events etc. We engaged with our 26000 can now, in principle, access information online communities via two anniversary 24000 about ESO and instantly read about the competitions and created buzz around 22000 20000 recent astronomical discoveries in their the live streaming anniversary event. 18 000 native language. In addition a special Special attention was given to generating 16 000 “translation” for kids called Space Scoop book reviews and distributing the anni­ 14 000 was added in several languages in a versary documentary to planetariums, 12 000 10 000 ­fruitful collaboration with the European public observatories, and TV producers. 8000 Universe Awareness programme. 6000 Our distribution infrastructure was 4000 improved by consolidating the address 2000 0 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 Education database and adding new stakeholders 20 12 12 12 12 11 11 12 12 11 10 10 10 10 1 11 10 11 11 3–F –O –D –A –J –Apr –F –O –D –A –J –F –Apr –A –O –J –Apr such as former ESO Fellows and Stu­ –D un eb un eb ug un eb ug ec ug ec ct ec ct ct –0 –0 –0 –0 –0 –0 –0 –0 –0 –0 –0 –0 –0 –0 –0 –0 –0

ESO continued to support Science in dents, former ESO staff and IT media. At –0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 School, the European science education the same time, our newsletter subscriber 1 journal published by EIROforum, and pro­ base grew to more than 20 000 people. ESO Facebook followers ESO Twitter followers

114 ESO Annual Report 2012 Striking image of NGC 6559, an object that showcases the anarchy that reigns when stars form inside an interstellar cloud. Taken by the Danish 1.54-metre telescope located at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile.

ESO Annual Report 2012 115 Calendar of Events

January Observing Programmes Committee meeting. October

Exhibition: Stargazing, Oxford, UK. The ratification of the Brazilian Accession 81st Committee of Council meeting. Agreement came closer when the responsible Start of construction of the Headquarters ministries submitted the ESO file to the Casa The 50th anniversary Gala event was held on extension building in Garching. Civil on 30 May. Thursday, 11 October, in the Kaisersaal of the Munich Residenz.

February June APEX Board meeting.

APEX Board meeting. 125th Council meeting. Conference: Science from the Next Genera- tion Imaging and Spectroscopic Surveys, Joint ESO/IAG/USP Workshop on Circum­ Summit of the newly created Pacific Alliance, ESO, Garching, 15–18 October. stellar Dynamics at High Resolution, Foz do attended by the Presidents of Chile, Colombia, Iguaçu, Brazil, 27 February–2 March. Mexico and Peru (with a brief appearance 79th Scientific Technical Committee meeting. by the King of Spain) took place on Paranal. Exhibition: ASTROFEST, London, UK. A very well-attended two-day presentation to Foundation stone ceremony for the ESO potential contractors for the E-ELT dome and Headquarters extension building. main structure was held at the Allianz Arena in March Munich.

80th Committee of Council meeting. July Exhibition: Festival della Scienza: Imagination. Genoa, Italy. Workshop on Observing Planetary Systems II, ALMA exhibit at Royal Society Summer Santiago, Chile, 5–8 March. ­Science Exhibition. London, UK. November ESO Overview (internal review). Exhibition: EWASS2012, Rome, Italy. 134th Finance Committee meeting. Exhibition: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and April Instrumentation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. ESO Workshop on Ecology of Blue Straggler Stars, Santiago, Chile, 5–9 November. ALMA Board meeting. Conference: 30 years of Italian participation to ESO, Rome, 2–3 July. ALMA Board meeting. 78th Scientific Technical Committee meeting. All scientific data from ESO’s observatories in Observing Programmes Committee meeting. Users Committee meeting. Chile are now transferred to the ESO Science Archive Facility in Garching via a high-speed First light on-sky was achieved with the ESO The last official release of MIDAS was internet connection. second generation instrument KMOS on announced to the user community, concluding 21 November when a single star was acquired the development of the Munich Image Data within the field of view of one of the 24 integral Analysis System that has continued for more August field units. than 30 years. Exhibition at the IAU XXVIII General Assembly, Exhibition: Rencontres du Ciel et de l’Espace Exhibition: Torun Festival of Science and ­Beijing, China. – 2012, Paris, France. ­Culture, Toruń, Poland.

Exhibition: San Pedro de Atacama Astronomy September December Festival, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. Conference: ESO@50 — the first 50 years of VST inauguration. Exhibition: Lange Nacht der Forschung, ESO, Garching, 3–7 September. ­Vienna, Austria. 126th Council meeting. This included the con­ Annette Schavan, the Federal Minister for firmation of the approval of the E-ELT project. Education and Research in Germany, visited May the Paranal Observatory on 29–30 Sep­tember. Conference: The First Year of ALMA Science, Puerto Varas, Chile, 12–15 December. 133rd Finance Committee meeting. The meet­ Publication of the 50th anniversary history ing resulted in the approval of the first E-ELT book, The Jewel on the Mountaintop — The Visit of the President of Austria, Heinz Fischer construction project contract. European Southern Observatory through Fifty and delegation to Vitacura. Years. 7th Conference on Astronomical Data Analysis The ALMA Back End Integrated Project Team (co -sponsored by ESO), Cargèse, Corsica, Publication of the 50th anniversary coffee- at ESO was closed on 31 December on com­ 14–18 May. table book Europe to the Stars. pletion of its tasks.

116 ESO Annual Report 2012 ) twanight.org

This photograph captures one of the Unit Telescopes from the ESO Very Large Telescope against the twilight,

ESO/B. Tafreshi ( on Cerro Paranal.

ESO Annual Report 2012 117 Glossary of Acronyms

4LGSF F our-Laser Guide Star Facility DFI Data Flow Infrastructure (DFI) GALACSI G round Atmospheric Layer Adaptive 4MOST 4-metre Multi-Object Spectroscopic Department Optics for Spectroscopic Imaging Telescope (Proposed new spectro­ DFOSC Danish Faint Object Spectrograph (AOF) scopic instrument for VISTA or NTT) and Camera GHz GigaHertz A&A Journal, Astronomy & Astrophysics DG Director General GOODS Great Observatories Origins Deep A&ARV Journal, Annual Review of Astrono- DMO D ata Management and Operations Survey my and Astrophysics Division GRAAL GRound-layer Adaptive optics ADA Astronomical Data Analysis DTS Department of Technical Services Assisted by Lasers (AOF) ADC Analogue-to-Digital converter EASC European ALMA Support Centre GRAVITY AO assisted, two-object, multiple- (ALMA) EC European Commission beam -combiner (VLTI) AEM ALMA European Consortium E -ELT European Extremely Large GRB Gamma-ray Burst AGB Asymptotic Giant Branch Telescope GROND Gamma-Ray Burst Optical/Near- AGN Active Galactic Nucleus EFDAET -J European Fusion Development Infrared Detector (2.2-metre) AIV Assembly, Integration and Agreement HARPS High Accuracy Radial Velocity Plan­ Verification EFOSC2 ESO Faint Object Spectrograph and etary Searcher (3.6-metre) AJ The Astronomical Journal Camera (v.2) HAWK-I High Acuity Wide fieldK - band ALMA A tacama Large Millimeter/submillim­ EIROforum O rganisation consisting of the seven ­Imager (VLT) eter Array largest scientific European inter­ HR Human Resources AMBER A stronomical Multi-BEam combineR national organisations devoted to HRAG Human Resources Advisory Group (VLTI Instrument) fostering mutual activities (ALMA) AN Journal, Astronomische Nachrichten EM&P Journal, Earth, Moon, and Planets HST Hubble Space Telescope Antu V LT Unit Telescope 1 EMBL European Molecular Biology Icar Icarus, Planetary science journal AO A daptive Optics Laboratory ICT Integrated Computing Team (ALMA) AOF Adaptive Optics Facility ePOD education and Public Outreach ICTU -E European ICT (ALMA) AOS Array Operations Site (ALMA) Department IF Intermediate Frequency APEX Atacama Pathfinder Experiment ERAt -Ne European Research Area Net IFU Integral Field Unit ApJ Astrophysical Journal ERIS Enhanced Resolution Imaging ILL Institut Laue-Langevin ApJS Journal, Astrophysical Journal Spectrograph IMPRS I nternational Max Planck Research ­Supplement Series ERP Enterprise Resource Planning School APRC ALMA Proposal Review Committee (Administration software) IPAG Institut de Planetologie et AQUARIUS M id-infrared detector array (VISIR) ESA European Space Agency d’Astrophysique de Grenoble ARA&A Journal, Annual Review of ESAC E uropean ALMA Science Advisory IPSAS International Public Sector Account­ ­Astronomy and Astrophysics Committee ing Standards ARC ALMA Regional Centre ESE E -ELT Science and Engineering IPT Integrated Product Team (ALMA) ARP ALMA Review Panel Committee IRAM Institut de Radioastronomie ASAC ALMA Science Advisory Committee ESO European Organisation for Astro­ Millimétrique ASIAA East Asia FEIC (ALMA) nomical Research in the Southern ISAAC I nfrared Spectrometer And Array ASPERA AStroParticle ERAnet Hemisphere (European Southern Camera (VLT) ASSIST Adaptive Secondary Setup and Observatory) IT Information Technology Instrument Simulator (AOF test ESON E SO Science Outreach Network JAO Joint ALMA Observatory bench) ESPRESSO Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky JIRA P roprietary issue tracking product ASTRONET  Astronomy ERA-NET Exoplanet- and Stable Spectros­ JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory AT A uxiliary Telescope for the VLTI copic Observations Jy Jansky UK ATC UK Astronomy Technology ­Centre ESRF European Synchrotron Radiation KMOS K - band Multi-Object Spectrograph BE B ack End (ALMA) Facility (VLT) CAD Computer Aided Design ESTAC ESO Standard Telescope Axis kpc kiloparsec CASA ALMA data reduction software Controller Kueyen VLT Unit Telescope 2 CCD Charge Coupled Device EU European Union LABOCA Large APEX Bolometer CAmera CE Common Envelope European XFEL European X-ray Free-Electron Laser LBG Lyman-Break Galaxies CERN European Organization for Nuclear EVALSO Enabling Virtual Access to Latin- LESS LABOCA Extended Chandra Deep Research american Southern Observatories Field South Submillimetre Survey CIS Control and Instrument Software EWASS E uropean Week of Astronomy and LFC Laser Frequency Comb Department Space Science LGRB Long-duration Gamma-ray Bursts CONDOR 1 .5 THz heterodyne receiver (APEX) ExA Journal, Experimental Astronomy LGSF L aser Guide Star Facility CONICA C Oudé Near-Infrared CAmera (VLT) FC Finance Committee LMC Large Magellanic Cloud CONICYT Comisión Nacional de Investigación FE Front End (ALMA) LP L arge Programme Científica y Tecnológica (Chilean FE IPT Front End Integrated Project Team LPG Liquefied Petroleum Gas National Commission for Scientific (ALMA) LPO La Silla Paranal Observatory and Technological Investigations) FEIC Fr ont End Integration Centres LS Legal Service CP Calibration Programme (ALMA) LSP La Silla Paranal CRIRES C ryogenic InfraRed Echelle Spectro­ FEROS F ibre-fed, Extended Range, Échelle LSP La Silla Paranal Subcommittee meter (VLT) Spectrograph (2.2-metre) MARCUs Mobility for ARC Users CSV Commissioning and Science FLAMES Fibre Large Array Multi Element MASSIV Mass Assemby Survey with Verification Spectrograph (VLT) ­SINFONI in VVDS CUBES Cassegrain U- band Brazilian ESO FORS1 F Ocal Reducer/low dispersion MATISSE Multi AperTure mid-Infrared Spectro­ Spectrograph Spectrograph (VLT)-1 Scopic Experiment (VLTI) DDS D ata Distribution Service FORS2 FOcal Reducer/low dispersion Melipal V LT Unit Telescope 3 DDT Director’s Discretionary Time Spectrograph (VLT)-2 MIDAS M unich Image Data Analysis System FP Fabry-Perot FPGA Field Programmable Gate Array FPn n th EU Framework Programme

118 ESO Annual Report 2012 MIDI Mid-infrared Interferometric Instru­ Pn Period #n ToO Target of Opportunity ment (VLTI) PRC P rogram Review Committee (ALMA) TRAPPIST TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesI­ MIRI Mid-infrared Instrument (E-ELT) PRIMA Phase-Referenced Imaging and mals Small Telescope mmVLBI  Millimetre VLBI Micro -arcsecond Astrometry facility UC U sers Committee Mn Mirror #n (VLTI) UCN C atólica del Norte University MNRAS Journal, Monthly Notices of the PROP Portal for Reporting of Operational (Universidad Católica del Norte) ­Royal Astronomical Society Problematics UK U nited Kingdom MPE M ax Planck Institute for Extrater­ PST Project Science Team ULTRACAM Ultrafast Camera (VLT) restrial Physics (Das Max-Planck- QSO Q uasi Stellar Object, quasar UltraVISTA Ultra-deep near-infrared survey in Institut für extraterrestrische Physik) RadioNet Radio Astronomy Network in Europe the COSMOS field MPG M ax Planck Society RAL Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UPS Uninterruptible Power Supplies (Max -Planck-Gesellschaft) Didcot (UK) USA U nited States of America MPIfR M ax Planck Institute for Radio RAMS Reliability, Availability, Maintainability USD User Support Department Astronomy (Max-Planck-Institut für and Safety UT U nit Telescope of the VLT Radioastronomie) Reflex S oftware platform running ESO data UT1–4 VLT Unit Telescopes 1–4: Antu, MUSE Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer reduction modules ­Kueyen, Melipal and Yepun (VLT) RMS Root Mean Square UVES U V-Visual Echelle Spectrograph MUX Multiplexers RNA Ribonucleic acid (VLT) NACO NAOS-CONICA (VLT) SABOCA Shortwave Apex BOlometer Camera VCM Version Control Management NAOJ National Astronomical Observatory SAPHIRA Detector for the GRAVITY wavefront VHS VISTA Hemisphere Survey of Japan sensor VIDEO VISTA Deep Extragalactic Observa­ NAOMI Adaptive optics system for the ATs SAXO SPHERE’s AO system (VLT) tions Survey (VLTI) SciOps2.2 Revised Science Operations plan VIKING VISTA Kilo-degree Infrared NAOS N asmyth Adaptive Optics System (Paranal) Galaxy survey (VLT) SCO Santiago Central Office (ALMA/ESO VIMOS V Isible MultiObject Spectrograph NASA National Aeronautics and Space Vitacura) (VLT) Administration SDD S oftware Development Division VIRCAM V ISTA IR Camera NEO Near-Earth Object SDSS Sloan Digital Sky Survey VISIR VLT Imager and Spectrometer for NewA Journal, New Astronomy SE S ystem Engineering (ALMA) mid -InfraRed NewAR Journal, New Astronomy Reviews SED Software Engineering Department VISTA Visible and Infrared Survey Tele­ NOVA The Netherlands Research School SHFI Swedish Heterodyne Facility Instru­ scope for Astronomy for Astronomy (Nederlandse ment (APEX) VLBI Very Long Baseline Interferometry ­Onderzoekschool voor Astronomie) SINFONI Sp ectrograph for INtegral Field VLT Very Large Telescope NRAO National Radio Astronomy Observations in the Near Infrared VLTI V ery Large Telescope Interferometer Observatory (VLT) VLTSW  VLT software NTT Ne w Technology Telescope SLODAR Slope Detection and Ranging VM Visitor Mode OB Observation Block Technique VMC VISTA survey of the Magellanic OCA C ote d’Azur Observatory (Observa­ SM Service Mode Cloud system toire de la Cote d’Azur) SMC Small Magellanic Cloud VME Virtual Machine Environment OEM Original Equipment Manufacturers SMG Submillimetre Galaxies vOT Visitor Mode Observing Tool OmegaCAM O ptical Camera for the VST SOCHIAS Chilean Astronomical Society VPHA+ V ST Photometric Ha Survey (incor­ OPC Observing Programmes Committee (Sociedad Chilena de Astronomía) porating UVEX south) OPTICON Optical Infrared Coordination Net­ SOFI S On oF Isaac (NTT) VST V LT Survey Telescope work for Astronomy SPARTA S tandard Platform for Adaptive VVDS V IMOS VLT Deep Survey OSF A LMA Operations Support Facilities optics Real Time Applications VVV E SO Public Survey VISTA Variables OSO Onsala Space Observatory SPHERE Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast in the Vía Láctea OT Observing Tool Exoplanet Research instrument WDM Wavelength Division Multiplexing P&SS Journal, Planetary and Space (VLT) WFI Wide Field Imager (2.2-metre) Science SPIE S ociety of Photo-optical Instrumen­ WFS Wavefront Sensor P2PP Phase 2 Proposal Preparation tation Engineers WIMP Weakly Interacting Massive Particle PA Product Assurance SPIFFI SPectrometer for Infrared Faint Field (dark matter candidate) PAE Provisional Acceptance Europe Imaging WS Workstation  PARLA PAranal Raman Laser (VLTI) SSFR Specific Star Formation Rate XMM-Newton X -ray Multi-Mirror satellite (ESA) PARSEC Sodium line laser for VLT AO STC Scientific Technical Committee X-shooter Wideband ultraviolet-infrared single P -Artemis Prototype large bolometer array STFC Science and Technology Facilities target spectrograph (VLT) (APEX) Council (UK) Yepun VLT Unit Telescope 4 PASJ Journal, Publications of the Astro- SV S cience Verification zCOSMOS Large Programme to measure nomical Society of Japan SW Software 30 000 galaxies in the HST Cosmic PASP Journal, Publications of the Astro- TAROT Télescopes à Action Rapide pour les Origins field nomical Society of the Pacific Objets Transitoires Z-Spec Millimetre-wave spectrograph (APEX PESSTO P ublic ESO Spectroscopic Survey of TB Terabyte visitor instrument) Transient Objects TCE Control Engineering Department Λ Cosmological constant PI P rincipal Investigator TEC Technology Division ΛCDM Lambda Cold Dark Matter PIONIER Precision Integrated-Optics Near- TEE Telescope Electronic Engineering infrared Imaging ExpeRiment (VLTI telbib ESO library telescope bibliography visitor instrument) database PLC Programmable Logic Controllers THz Teraherz (E-ELT) TNO Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research ( ­Nederlandse Organisatie voor ­Toegepast Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek)

ESO Annual Report 2012 119 ESO Europe Cover: The spectacular star-forming Carina Nebula has been captured in great detail by the VLT Survey Telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory. This pic­ Headquarters ture was taken with the help of Sebastián Piñera, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2 President of Chile, during his visit to the observatory 85748 Garching bei München on 5 June 2012 and released on the occasion of the Germany new telescope’s inauguration in Naples on 6 Decem­ ber 2012. Phone +4989320060 Credit: ESO Fax +49893202362 Acknowledgement: VPHAS+ Consortium/Cambridge Email: [email protected] Astronomical Survey Unit www.eso.org Inside back cover: DVD with the 63-minute docu­ mentary movie Europe to the Stars — ESO’s first ESO Chile 50 years of Exploring the Southern Sky. Subtitles in 20 languages are available: Česky, Dansk, Deutsch, English, ελληνικά, Español, Français, íslenska, Santiago Office Guesthouse Italiano, Nederlands, Polski, Português, Português Alonso de Córdova 3107 Rey Gustavo Adolfo 4634 (Brasil), Pусский, Română, Slovenski, Suomen, Vitacura Las Condes Türkçe, Українська, हि न ्दी. Casilla 19001 Santiago Santiago de Chile Chile Chile Phone +56222084254 Phone +56224633000 Fax +56 2 2228 9333 Fax +56224633101 Antofagasta Office La Silla Paranal Observatory Avenida Balmaceda 2536 La Silla Site Office 504 IV Región Edificio ‘Don Guillermo’ Chile Antofagasta Phone +56224644100 Chile Fax +56224644101 Phone +5655260032 Fax +5655260081 La Silla Paranal Observatory Paranal Site II Región Chile ESO is a partner in the international Phone +56 55 2435100 ALMA project Fax +56552435101 ALMA Santiago Central Offices APEX Sequitor Base Alonso de Córdova 3107 Ayllo de Sequitor, Parcela 85 Vitacura San Pedro de Atacama Casilla 763 0355 II Región Santiago Chile Chile Phone +56 55 448 200 Phone +56 2 2467 6100 Fax +5655448221 Fax +56 2 2467 6101

APEX Chajnantor Site ALMA Operations Support Facility II Región Kilómetro 121 Chile Carretera CH 23 Phone +56 55 448 299 San Pedro de Atacama All images are courtesy of ESO unless Chile otherwise indicated. La Serena Office Phone +56 55 448 416 Avenida Panorámica 4461 Fax +5655448481 Edited by the Science Directorate Sector Aeroparque La Florida Casilla 567 ALMA Array Operations Site Produced by the education and Public La Serena II Región Outreach Department Chile Chile Phone +56 51 272 601 ESO 2013 Fax +5651215175 ISSN 0531-4496