Annual Report 2014

ESO

European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere

Annual Report 2014

ESO

European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere

Annual Report 2014

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 intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe. It is supported by 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil1, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, 1 the Netherlands, Poland , Portugal, Spain, ESO/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org) Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Several other countries have expressed an interest in membership.

Created in 1962, ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientificdiscoveries.ESOalsoplaysa leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research.

ESO operates three world-class observing sites in the Atacama Desert region Paranal Observatory is one of the best places on of Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. Earth to take in the night sky. A mix of colours sweeps across the sky in this image. ESO’sfirstsiteisatLaSilla,2400metres above sea level, and 600 kilometres north of Santiago de Chile. It is equipped with Antofagasta in Chile, and 12 kilometres magnitude 30 have been obtained in several optical telescopes with mirror inlandfromthePacificcoastinoneofthe a one-hour exposure. This corresponds diameters of up to 3.6 metres. driestareasintheworld.Scientificopera- to seeing objects that are four billion tions began in 1999 and have resulted times fainter than those seen with the The 3.58-metre New Technology Tele- in many extremely successful research naked eye. scope (NTT) broke new ground for tele- programmes. scope engineering and design and was One of the most exciting features of the thefirstintheworldtohaveacomputer- The VLT is a most unusual telescope, VLT is the option to use it as a giant opti- controlled main mirror, a technology based on the latest technology. It is not cal interferometer (VLT Interferometer or developed at ESO and now applied to just one, but an array of four telescopes, VLTI). This is done by combining the light most of the world’s current large tele- each with a main mirror of 8.2 metres from two or more of the 8.2-metre telescopes. While La Silla remains at the in diameter. With one such telescope, scopes and including one or more of four forefront of astronomy, and is the second- images of celestial objects as faint as 1.8-metre movable Auxiliary Telescopes mostscientificallyproductiveobserva- tory in ground-based astronomy (after Paranal), the Paranal site, 2600 metres abovesealevel,istheflagshipfacilityof European astronomy. The Paranal Obser- vatory includes the Very Large Telescope array (VLT), the Visible and Infrared Sur- Dave Jones Photography vey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA), the world’s largest survey telescope, and the VLT Survey Telescope (VST), the largest telescope designed to survey the skies exclusively in visible light. Paranal is situated about 130 kilometres south of

TheSunsetsoverLaSillacreatingafieryorange glow along the horizon.

1 Brazil and Poland have already signed accession agreements,andwillofficiallybecomethenext ESO Member States on completion of the requisite ratificationprocesses.

2 ESO Annual Report 2014 Artist’s impression of the European Extremely Large Telescope in its enclosure on Cerro Armazones.

(ATs). In this interferometric mode, the Calçada ESO/L. telescope has vision as sharp as that of a telescope with a size corresponding to the separation between the most distant mirrors. For the VLTI, this is 200 metres.

Each year, almost 2000 proposals are submitted for the use of ESO telescopes, requesting between three and six times more nights than are available. ESO is the most productive ground-based observatory in the world whose operation yields manypeer-reviewedpublications:in2014 alone, 865 refereed papers based on ESO data were published.

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the largest ground- based astronomy project in existence, is a revolutionary facility for world astron- The next step beyond the VLT is the advancedinstruments.ESO’soffices omy. ALMA comprises an array of 66 12- construction of the European Extremely in Chile are located in Vitacura, Santiago. and 7-metre diameter antennas ob serving Large Telescope (E-ELT) with a primary They host the local administration and at millimetre and submillimetre wave- mirror 39 metres in diameter. The E-ELT support groups, and are home to ESO/ lengths.ALMAstartedscientificobserva- will be the “world’s biggest eye on the Chile astronomers when they are not at tions in 2011 and was inaugu rated in sky” — the largest optical/near-infrared the observatories. This site also contains 2013. ALMA is located on the high-altitude telescope in the world. When complete, theALMASantiagoCentralOffice.ESO Chajnantor Plateau, at 5000 metres above the E-ELT will address many of the most Vitacura is an active site for training new sea level — one of the highest astro- pressing unsolved questions in astrono- generations of researchers, acting as a nomical observatories in the world. The my. It may, eventually, revolutionise our bridge between scientists in Europe and ALMA project is a partnership between perception of the Universe, much as Chile. ESO, East Asia and North America, in Galileo’stelescopedid400yearsago. cooperation with the Republic of Chile. The start of operations is expected The regular Member State contribu- around2024. tionstoESOin2014wereapproximately The Chajnantor site is also home to the 151 millioneurosandESOemploys AtacamaPathfinderExperiment(APEX) ESO Headquarters are located in around 630 staff. a 12-metre millimetre and submillimetre Garching, near Munich, Germany. This telescope, operated by ESO on behalf isthescientific,technicalandadministra- The antennas of the ALMA Observatory peer sky- of the Max Planck Institute for Radio tive centre of ESO where technical devel- wards, scanning the Universe for clues to our cosmic origins. Visible amongst the thousands of stars on Astronomy, the Onsala Space Observa- opment programmes are carried out to the right side of this image are the Small and Large tory and ESO itself. provide the observatories with the most Magellanic Clouds. ESO/S. Guisard (www.eso.org/~sguisard) Guisard ESO/S.

ESO Annual Report 2014 3

Contents

The European Southern Observatory 2 Foreword 6 Introduction 7 Science 10 Research Highlights 11 Offices for Science 20 Allocation of Telescope Time 24 Publication Digest 27 Operations 30 La Silla Paranal Observatory 31 Data Management and Operations Division 38 ESO ALMA Support Centre 42 European ALMA Regional Centre 46 Programmes 48 Instrumentation for the La Silla Paranal Observatory 49 ALMA 56 European Extremely Large Telescope 60 Engineering 64 Administration 74 Finance and Budget 76 Human Resources 80 List of Staff 84 Organigram 88 Director General Support 90 Committees 98 Council 99 Finance Committee 100 Scientific Technical Committee 101 Observing Programmes Committee 103 Users Committee 105 Visiting Committee 106 Outreach 108 Calendar of Events 114 Glossary of Acronyms 118 Foreword

Thereisnodoubtthat2014wasanother the breadth of the programme continues routine operations and producing stun- highly successful year for ESO, cementing to be both impressive and challenging. ningscientificresults.Improvementsto its position as the world’s leading astro- The internal structure of ESO has been hardware and software over the last year nomical observatory. We witnessed major undergoingsignificantchangestopre- by observatory staff, working with col- progress in ESO’s activities with vital steps pare the organisation not only for main- leagues in the partner regions, have taken in approving the main construction taining, operating and exploiting the greatly improved reliability of operation. activities of the E-ELT, the completion current facilities, but ensuring that the The sensitivity and resolution are improv- of construction of the ALMA Observatory, next major challenge, the construction ing as the number of antennas and the and substantial enhancements to the VLT of the 39-metre European Extremely antenna separations used for observa- instrument complement. We welcomed Large Telescope, proceeds effectively. tions increases. the application by Poland to join ESO as This has inevitably meant some changes the 15th European Member State, cele- in roles or operational modes for some In October Council met in Turku, marking brated the 10th anniversary of Finnish personnel, but with Council’s approval of a decade of Finnish membership of ESO, accessionandsawprogressintheratifi- major spending on the construction of and welcomed the proposal that Poland cation of Brazilian accession through the theE-ELTinDecember2014,wearenow should accede to ESO. This was swiftly parliamentary processes. Throughout embarkingonthefirstphaseofthis followed by a ceremony in Warsaw where all of these activities, the truly impressive world-leading project. Minister Lena Kolarska-Bobínska signed scientificandtechnicaloutputfromESO Poland’s accession agreement; we look staff and the community of users was Bymid-2014,alloftheESOMember forwardtotheratificationofPoland’s maintained,withthefirstimagereleased States had committed to the E-ELT pro- membership of ESO during 2015. We from the ALMA Long Baseline Campaign gramme. Intensive discussions and hopethatratificationofBrazilianacces- demonstrating the enormous levels of analyses were conducted throughout the sion to ESO will be achieved on a similar excitement that astronomy can generate. year to identify a way to proceed with timescale. The delegates to Council have E-ELT construction within the current discussed the role of ESO in the context For many people, the La Silla Paranal financialconstraintsofsecuredfunding. of other major astronomy projects around Observatory, with the four Unit Tele- Whilst we all hope that the funding levels the world and have looked at how ESO scopes (UTs) of the VLT, together with the to complete the full E-ELT project will should develop in the future. There was VISTA and VST infrared and optical sur- be realised soon, some cost savings that broad recognition that the model ESO veytelescopes,theVLTIandthe4-metre- can be implemented, if necessary, to has used to date has been very success- class telescopes on La Silla comprises complete a capable but somewhat de- ful and that it should be continued as far thecorescientificcapabilityofESO.They scopedE-ELThavebeenidentified.This aspossible.ESOhasastrongandunified continue to be outstandingly productive, plan allows construction of the time- programme with all Member States con- with the number of publications being critical main components of the telescope tributing to, and involved in, all activities. maintained close to record levels. The VLT to get underway now and contracts for Council sees this united programme has been kept at the forefront of astro- substantial elements of the telescope and as a real strength and one that should be nomical productivity through a programme instruments to be awarded in 2015. See- maintained in the future. of new instrumentation and upgrades. ing the installation of components of the Over the last year, two new and innova- world’s leading optical/infrared telescope Finally, I would like to express Council’s tive instruments, MUSE and SPHERE, at the summit of Armazones in Chile gratitudetoXavierBarconsforhisdeep were commissioned and the initial results over the next decade will be truly exciting commitment and exemplary contributions give a foretaste of the rich harvest of and inspiring. as Council President over the last three discov eries from these second generation years.ThankyouXavier! VLTinstruments.Theefficientcommis- Formal construction of the ALMA Ob - sioning of two complex instruments on servatory at 5000 metres altitude on the Paranalwithinashortperiodreflects Chajnantor Plateau was completed in a key ingredient of ESO’s success: the 2014,withonlytheconstructionofthe careful planning and close cooperation Residencia continuing beyond 2015. This between the instrument teams and ESO markstheendofthefirstphaseofa staff. remarkably successful global astronomy project, where ESO, representing its The whole ESO programme is under Member States, has collaborated with review to ensure that it continues to be North American and East Asian institutes scientificallymotivatedandthatitcan and organisations to build a transforma- be delivered within the resources availa- tional millimetre and submillimetre wave ble. This process has led to a slowdown facility. While there is much work still to in some instrument developments, but be done to optimise the use of the array is designed to ensure that ESO continues and fully implement all of the wavebands to deliver world-class capabilities. Overall and modes, ALMA is moving towards

6 ESO Annual Report 2014 Introduction

The past year may well prove to be one of MATISSE, led to the decision to discon- the most memorable in ESO’s history. tinue PRIMA astrometry at the VLTI. An evaluation clearly showed that the effort Poland signed the accession agreement required to bring the facility within speci- with ESO on 28 October, and is proceed- ficationswasnotcommensuratewith ingforthwithwithratification.Theratifi- its rapidly shrinking targeted application cation of the Brazilian accession to ESO area after the successful launch of the also made further progress. At the time European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia of writing the Brazilian Chamber of Depu- satellite. The La Silla Observatory con- ties and the Senate have both approved tinues to make a strong impact and the the accession, and it now awaits the sig- call for new ideas for science with the nature of President Rousseff. The Polish NTTreceivedmuchinterest.APEXhada accession agreement has been approved recordyearwith4400hoursofscience by the Sejm and by the Senate, and has time,despitebeingofflineasusualduring been signed into law by President the altiplanic winter. Komorowski. Conversations with other countries interested in joining ESO have ALMA formally ended its construction made progress too, which leads to real- phase after more than a decade of work istic expectations of further enlargement by the partners. The highlight of the year of ESO membership in the coming years. was the Long Baseline Campaign, which demonstrated that submillimetre interfer- The2013–2014VisitingCommittee, ometry is possible over distances up to at chaired by Jean-René Roy, assessed least 15 kilometres. This was theoretically ESO’s overall programme, and provided known, and was of course the reason for and Armazones to the Chilean grid via a very positive report to Council and building antenna foundations at so many a transmission line to Paposo. When myself for which I am grateful. The Com- locations on Chajnantor, but needed to finishedin2017,thisconnectionwillsig- mittee was impressed with our world- be proved. The Long Baseline Campaign nificantlyreducethecostofpowerand leading programme and also provided involved staff members from all the ALMA allow the use of green energy. constructive advice on how to move partners and was a major success: the forward in the era of E-ELT construction. high-resolution image of the young stellar Much work was done inside ESO and in The committee had interacted with ESO object HL Tauri attracted worldwide the Member States to move forward on staff at all the sites in Chile in late 2013, attention. Much further work remains to the construction of the E-ELT. This cul- andatHeadquartersinearly2014.The be done to move ALMA to full operations, minated in the Council decision in Decem- highlights of the conclusions and recom- but it is now abundantly clear that this ber to split the E-ELT construction into mendations were presented to the staff is the most powerful radio telescope in two phases, and to authorise spending in an All Hands meeting in June. Both the the world and will indeed provide the upto1012millioneurosonthefirstphase. chair of the Visiting Committee and the transformational step forward in the study This decision decouples the timeline Council President attended this meeting of the Universe for which it was built. The for the construction of the E-ELT from the in person, and their participation was long process leading to an affordable timelineoftheBrazilianratificationpro- much appreciated by the staff. high-quality ALMA Residencia came to a cess. Phase 1 will deliver a fully functional conclusion, with the construction contract E-ELT with a 39-metre diameter main The La Silla Paranal Observatory has signed late in the year and work starting mirror and most of the foreseen instru- continuedtoincreaseitsscientificoutput. early in 2015. mentation and adaptive optics capabilities User support by ESO is much appreci- in2024,orsoonthereafter.Spending ated in the community, as shown by a ByearlyJuneall14MemberStateshad on the second phase of about 100 million recent poll. A study was undertaken to committed to the E-ELT programme, euros to complete the capabilities of the analyse the whole observing process, and on 19 June the groundbreaking cere- E-ELT would not begin before 2017, even fromproposalsubmissiontoscientific mony took place for the construction in the baseline plan. This two-phased paper, based on 15 years of VLT opera- of the platform on Cerro Armazones, approach provides time for Brazil (and tions,inordertofindwaystofurther which will host the E-ELT. Vice Minister other countries) to accede, in which case improve the model. Two powerful new Maldonado of the Chilean Ministry of construction is back on the baseline plan, instruments, MUSE and SPHERE, arrived National Assets gave the formal com- which is of course the preferred way on Paranal and quickly produced impres- mand,fromParanal,forthefirstofmany forward. This decision by Council dem- sive results that anticipate the exciting explosions that will reshape the moun- onstrates the trust of the Member States discoveries that they will enable. The taintop into a platform similar in size to in ESO’s ability to deliver world-class required effort needed to stay on track that of Paranal. The ceremony was observingcapabilitiesforthescientific with the challenging arrivals planned for attended by many dignitaries and was community. At the same time it ensures a 2015–17, including the Adaptive Optics broadcast widely. On the same day a bright future for many years to come. Facility, ESPRESSO, GRAVITY and contract was signed to connect Paranal The green light for E-ELT construction will

ESO Annual Report 2014 7 no doubt also attract other candidate Supernova, whose construction is funded plines. With ESO’s future development Member States. by the Klaus Tschira Stiftung) is ready in nowmuchbetterdefinedthanayearago, 2017, ESO premises will have undergone there is much to look forward to. It will Theyearalsosawsignificantdevelop- a nearly complete transformation. bedifficulttotoptheachievementsof ments at ESO Headquarters in Garching. 2014,butitiscertainlyagoal! Itwasfinallypossibletogiveupthe Various changes in the organisational r e n t e d officespaceintheMaxPlanck structure have been made, and include Finally,2014alsowasthethirdtermof Institute for Plasma Physics and to a new structure in the Directorate of CouncilPresidentXavierBarcons,who vacate, and subsequently retire, the ven- Engineeringasthefinalstepinthecon- was succeeded by Patrick Roche. It erable portacabins and the temporary sistent matrixing of all engineering ser- isadistinctpleasuretothankXavierfor officebuilding.Allstaffarenowonthe vices. Internal communication improved his very constructive and hands-on ESO premises, in three interconnected further. The collective bargaining with presidency and to welcome Pat as his buildings, with more space, a new audi- local staff unions in Chile towards the end successor. torium, more meeting rooms, including of the year took place in a collegial set- a large new Council Room, and many ting and had a very positive outcome. opportunities for daily interaction. The new technical building is now appropriate All these achievements have been possi- for the scope of the overall programme. ble because of the dedication and skills Once the new visitor centre (the ESO of ESO’s staff, across all sites and disci- ESO/J.-L. BeuzitESO/J.-L. et al./SPHERE Consortium

This infrared image shows the dust ring around the nearby star HR 4796Ainthesouthernconstella- tion of Centaurus. It was one of the firstproducedbytheSPHEREinstru- ment soon after it was installed on theVeryLargeTelescopeinMay2014.

8 ESO Annual Report 2014 This image was taken with a long exposure time from inside one of the large courtyards of the new office building at ESO Headquarters in Garching,

Germany. Aldo Amoretti, San Remo

ESO Annual Report 2014 9 Science

10 ESO Annual Report 2014 Research Highlights

This year saw the Directorate for Sci- ESO telescopes are used to observe the opportunity for a range of discoveries ence continue to evolve. On his retire- celestial objects of nearly all types. The that cannot be achieved at other obser- ment,justaftertheScienceVerifica- capability to use the same instrumen- vatories. The research highlights display tion phase of MUSE on the VLT, Jorge tation to measure Solar System bodies thisdiversityinthescientifictopicsstud- Melnick handed over as VLT Pro- and the most distant galaxies is a virtue ied at the available facilities. gramme Scientist to Bruno Leibundgut. of astronomy and offers our community Rob Ivison took over from Bruno as Director for Science. Rob arrived from the University of Edinburgh and on appointment resigned his membership ofESOCommittees(ScientificTech- Discovery of a new ring system around the nical Committee [STC]) and as chair of the European Science Advi sory Centaur (10199) Chariklo Committee (ESAC) and the ALMA Sci- entificAdvisoryCommittee(ASAC). Dietrich Baade became Deputy Direc- The major planets in the Solar System at four additional observatories located tor for Science and his former position have rings surrounding them: the beau- further away from the occultation line as Head of the Instrument Scientist tiful rings around Saturn are observable of Chariklo itself. The Danish 1.5-metre Department — now the Project Sci- with small telescopes and the many observations show two rapid occultations ence Department — went to Jason moons around Jupiter also shepherd of less than one second duration about Spyromilio. Jason’s work as E-ELT several small rings. Neptune and Uranus 10 seconds before and after the main Programme Scientist was continued are also encircled by very faint rings, occultation. by his former deputy, Joe Liske, who which have been discovered through helped secure approval for a two- stellar occultations. Stereoscopic obser- The emerging picture is of a ring system phase approach to construction; ESO vations of stellar occultations allow surroundingtheCentaur(radius≈120kilo- is now recruiting a long-term replace- astronomers to obtain spatial information metres)withradiiofabout391and405 ment. about the foreground object. kilometres and widths of only 7 and 3 kilometres, respectively. The rings appear A major exercise began, led by the On 3 June 2013 the Centaur (10199) to be circular, while the Centaur itself has Director for Science, to prioritise Chariklo temporarily covered a 12th an oblate shape. The geometry could ESO’s programme in terms of its sci- magnitude star and eight telescopes scat- explain a hitherto mysterious dimming of entificmerit,withtheinvolvement tered across South America observed Chariklo in 2008. With the rings in the ori- of the Programme Scientists, mem- the occultation. Chariklo is a small body entation observed during the 2013 occul- bers of the ESO advisory bodies and orbiting the Sun at a distance of 15.8 au tation, the dimming in 2008 would be the ESO Faculty. and is located between the orbits of consistent with the rings covering part of Saturn and Uranus. The occultation of Chariklo as seen edge on from Earth. The year concluded with a major the main body, observed by three obser- conference in Tokyo to celebrate the vatories (including La Silla, where the Small bodies of about one kilometre in “Revolution in Astronomy with ALMA”, Danish 1.5-metre telescope and TRAPPIST size are required to stabilise the ring at which images from the Long participated, and Cerro Tololo, with two over thousands of years. So either the Baseline Campaign were shown for telescopes) was accompanied by “satel- Chariklo ring system is very young and thefirsttime,heraldingthemanydis- lite” occultations symmetrically before derives from a recent low-velocity impact, coveries that will be made with this and after the main occultation. Such sep- or there could be small bodies (perhaps game-changing astronomical facility. arate, short occultations were observed moons) shepherding the rings.

o Ingres s Egress

2013C2R 2013C2R star + Charikl

Light curve of the occultation by the ed ﬂux of Chariklo system taken on 3 June 2013 2013C1R with the Danish 1.5-metre telescope. The 2013C1R central drop is caused by the occultation

Normalis La Silla - ESO Danish 1.54 m by Chariklo of the star, whilst the two 0 secondary events 2013C1R and 2013C2R Very Large Telescope image of the Medusa 23.120 23.130 23.140 are attributed to the ring system. From Nebula. Time (seconds after 3 June 2013, 00:00:00.0 UTC) Braga-Ribasetal.(2014).

ESO Annual Report 2014 11 Surveys

ESO has engaged in a number of public

) 4 128 surveys,firstwiththesurveytelescopes eg

(d 64 VISTA and the VST, and later with Public 0 Spectroscopic Surveys at the VLT and de 32 the NTT. These massive investments in atitu observing time are starting to pay divi- l –4 16 dends: 65 refereed papers from the 8 VISTAsurveyswerepublishedin2014,

Galactic –8 six from VST surveys and 25 resulted 4 from the Public Spectroscopic Surveys. 8–4 0–4 –8 48 0–4 8 × 10 3 These publication statistics demonstrate Galactic longitude (deg) that the surveys contributed 11% of all ESOpublicationsin2014.Therefollowsa Distribution of red clump stars with bluer colours [Mg/Fe]. These investigations were based brief selection of prominent results from (left) and with redder colours (right). The red stars on the early data and full statistics are are less affected by the obscuration of the dust lane, some of these surveys. which is clearly visible in the left panel. From Minniti expected when the survey is completed. etal.(2014).

Stars in the Galactic Bulge Stars in the thick and thin Discs Stars in the Solar Neighbourhood The spatial distribution of dust clouds The stars in the Galactic Plane are distrib- towards the Milky Way Bulge has been The ultraviolet and visible spectrograph uted in at least two components: a thin established by observing the position UVES has been used to investigate the Disc, and a thick Disc surrounding the of many stars. Near-infrared photometry age, metallicity and enrichment in alpha- inner Disc. The chemical composition of 157 million stars in the Bulge observed elements (C, O, Ne, Mg, Si, S, Ar, Ca) and the dynamics of these different discs by the VISTA Variables in the Via Láctea of Sun-like stars (spectral types FGK) in havebeenexploredwithafirstsetof (VVV) survey has been used for distance the Solar Neighbourhood, as part of 1000 stars with well-measured parame- measurements, employing the red clump the Gaia–ESO Public Survey. One hun- ters (temperature, surface gravity, chemi- method for core helium-burning stars. dred and forty four stars with ages from cal abundance and radial velocities) from The colour distribution indicates that 0.5to13.5 billionyearswereinvestigated the Gaia–ESO survey. A chemical separa- there is a population of red clump stars at galactocentric distances from 6 to tion can be observed in the relative abun- whose light is two magnitudes fainter, on 9.5 kpcandverticaldistancesaboveand dances of alpha-elements and metals. account of extinction by a foreground below the Plane of 1.5 kpc. The metal- The abundance of metals increases with dust cloud stretching several degrees licity distribution is independent of age height above the Galactic Plane, while above and below the Galactic Plane. The for stars younger than about eight billion the alpha-element content decreases. dust lane is located in front of the Bulge years. Stars older than this show a The thin Disc chemistry, however, appears and its presence has implications for the decrease in iron abundance relative to essentially constant. This is an indication study of the Galactic Bar in the inner hydrogen [Fe/H] and an absence of metal- that the evolution of the two components parts of the Milky Way. rich stars. Remarkably there is a pre- was rather different, with the thick Disc ponderance of older stars inside the experiencing a settling process when its Decomposing the different components Solar orbit and these stars are also more rotation increased. in the Bulge region of the Milky Way enriched in magnesium compared to iron requires kinematic information, and hence The inner Galactic Disc with high extinc- spectroscopy of many stars. The Gaia– tion is also called the zone of avoidance, ESO survey has measured 1200 stars in Distribution of FGK stars in the Galactic Disc as dust absorption prevents observations fivefieldstowardstheBulgeandcom- observed in the Gaia-ESO survey with distance of extragalactic objects on the other side bined this information with infrared photo- above the Galactic Plane (Z) vs. line-of-sight of the Milky Way. High energy radiation, distance (R); the stars are colour coded by age metry provided by the VVV survey. The in Gyr. The positions of three young clusters are e.g.,X-rays,isnotaffectedbyabsorption rich and complex information resulting shownbycrosses.FromBergemannetal.(2014). andpenetratesthisregion.X-rayemission from this combination shows two main components of stars. One belongs to the 1.5 14.00 metal-rich boxy or peanut-shaped Bulge 1.0 11.20 component and displays kinematics Trumpler 20 0.5 like a bar, while the metal-poor stars con- ) NGC 6705 8.40 0.0 stituting the other component are distrib- (kpc NGC 4815 5.60 uted in an extended and rotating struc- Z –0.5 ture with a higher velocity dispersion –1.0 2.80 whose numbers dominate far from the –1.5 0.00 Galactic plane. 687 910 R (kpc)

12 ESO Annual Report 2014 VISTA image of a cluster of to the Milky Way. This will be answered 1ࣳ 11 galaxies behind the Galactic 6 once all stars in the Large Magellanic Plane. The circle indicates 7 theX-raypositionofthe Cloud have been measured astrometri- 12 8 cluster. Individual cluster cally by the end of the VMC survey. galaxies are shown in the postage stamps. From Coldwelletal.(2014). 5 Very distant galaxies

The very deep infrared imaging of the 13 HubbleSpaceTelescopeCOSMOSfield 1 by the UltraVISTA public survey has yield- 10 2 ed34newluminousgalaxiesinthered- 15 14 3 shift range from 6.5 to 7.5. The most massive galaxy in this sample is about 10 10 Mी and is the most massive known 9 galaxy in the young Universe. The bright end of the luminosity function at a redshift of 7 does not appear to decline as steeply as the luminosity functions at 4 lower redshifts, indicating that the galax- N ies still follow the dark matter mass dis- E tribution. The process whereby star formation decreases (quenching), leading to the features of the galaxy luminosity function at lower redshifts, has not yet started in these galaxies. 12345

Supernovae

6 78910 The regular monitoring of supernovae has allowed the Public ESO Spectroscopic Survey for Transient Objects (PESSTO) to observe some unique events. A new class 11 12 13 14 15 of superluminous super novae was iden- tifiedafewyearsagoandPESSTOhas contributed four well-observed ob jects to of hot gas in a cluster of galaxies within their application as distance indicators. this class of very rare stellar explosions. the zone of avoidance was reported in The different calibrators yield an extre- The main question concerns the energy 2014.TheVVVGalacticPlanesurveyis mely small scatter, showing that the source driving their extreme luminosity. ideallysuitedtoconfirmsuchclusters distance scales based on young and While radioactive decay ap pears to be and characterise individual galaxies, old stars can be made consistent to a less likely, because an unreasonably large which otherwise are unobservable. The very high degree. The time baseline amount of radioactive material would have galaxieswereidentifiedthroughtheir between the Two Micron All Sky Survey to be synthesised in the explosion, the colours and morphologies. The spatial (2MASS) and the ongoing VISTA obser- energy input from a very highly magnet- distribution of the galaxies is rather asym- vations is long enough that the proper ised neutron star, or the conversion of the metric indicating that the cluster may motion of the Large Magellanic Cloud kinetic energy of the supernova shock to still be forming. This pilot study shows can be established. This is important for radiation through interaction with circum- the potential of the infrared survey data to an understanding of the dynamics of the stellar material, are still possible. For one discover structures behind the Milky Way. Magellanic Clouds and the Milky Way. superluminous supernova, no hydrogen is Thepropermotionofabout40 000stars observed in its spectrum, which hints at in a small part of the Large Magellanic a progenitor star that has lost its hydrogen The Magellanic Clouds Cloud has been established using about envelope, while in other, even rarer, cases 8000 background galaxies and is found some hydrogen is still observed. In one The dense sampling of the Magellanic to be larger than determined by previous case a re-brightening of the supernova Clouds has enabled astronomers in the measurements. It is as yet unclear after 100 days has been observed, which VISTA Magellanic Clouds (VMC) Survey whether the derived motion is dominated could be explained by multiple circum- team to establish a very large sample of by the angular momentum of the Large stellar shells or the ionisation front of the Cepheid and RR Lyrae stars to sharpen Magellanic Cloud or its motion relative neutron star breaking out of the ejecta.

ESO Annual Report 2014 13 Dust production in planetary systems

Exozodiacal dust is thought to be pro- Artist’s impression of duced by collisions between asteroids bright exozodiacal light. This light is starlight and the evaporation of comets in the reflectedfromhotdust inner zone around main sequence stars. Calçada ESO/L. created as the result of Its presence in the habitable zone of the collisions between Solar System, as the zodiacal light, can asteroids and the evaporation of comets. be appreciated even with the naked eye. Extending this study to other planetary systems provides information on dust production, the dynamical processes at play and the interaction between planets and minor bodies of extrasolar systems. Exozodiacal emission is important for another reason — it can compete with that of exoplanets and, as such, might hinder future exo-Earth direct detection missions. has been surveyed. Since PIONIER excesses. The high frequency of detec- allows precisely calibrated observations tions seems to rule out violent transient While debris discs correspond to cold at milliarcsecond resolution to be carried events involving more massive collisions, dust emission from the outskirts of plane- out, it can resolve and separate the puz- so other dust-production or dust-trapping tary systems, the equivalent of the Kuiper zling hot dust emission from the stellar mechanisms have to be explored. Belt, exozodiacal dust is warmer and photosphere.Excessfluxes(i.e.,excess can be emitted from the habitable zones of extended emission over the star emis- The amount of emission detected is, of such systems. Debris discs have a sion) as small as 1% were detected in however, about 100 to 1000 times higher sufficientlylargeextentthattheyhave about 10% of a sample of 92 stars, the than for zodiacal dust. The implication been directly imaged, but the inner zones firstsuchextensivesurvey with the VLTI is that more systems could possess present greater observational challenges and the largest stellar sample ever emission strong enough to outshine that and can only be revealed by carefully searched for exozodiacal dust. Addition- of any Earth-like planets and thus the monitoring the near- to mid-infrared photo- ally the survey revealed the presence planets would have escaped detection. metric excess. The latter techniques are offivepreviouslyunknownstellarcom- This poses a serious challenge for future limited in their dynamic range. panions. attempts to directly image exo-Earths and calls for more investigations and The VLTI and its PIONIER instrument The existence of this exozodiacal dust elaborate observing strategies. Expand- have been used to overcome this does not however seem to correlate with ing similar observations from the near- dynamic range limitation by spatially the existence of outer debris discs. Also to the mid-infrared with the second gen- disen tangling the stellar emission from theoretical models of exozodiacal dust eration VLTI instruments GRAVITY and the dust emission using high spatial reso- production, involving steady-state colli- MATISSE will considerably advance our lution, high-contrast observations. An sional cascades, do not seem to be understanding of the nature, localisation unbiased sample of main sequence stars able to explain the brightness of these and origin of this exozodiacal dust.

The fate of binary stars: Witnessing the rare common envelope phase

Opportunities to capture a star under- bysignificantuncertainties.Yellowhyper- loss events. They are strong candidates going evolutionary changes on human giants may represent the next evolu tionary to validate high stellar mass evolutionary timescales are not frequent. Yellow phase of the most massive red super- models and as such have implications for hypergiant stars are an extremely rare giants as they cross the yellow evolu- extragalactic studies. type of massive star whose origin is not tionary void towards the blue supergiant yet well understood. Yellow hypergiants phase, or be the missing luminous blue The AMBER multi-beam combiner at reach extreme luminosities of the order variables enshrouded by an extended the VLTI has been used in conjunction 5–6 10 Lी, but only a dozen such stars photosphere that reddens their colours. with long-term photometric monitoring havebeenidentifiedintheGalaxy.They The yellow hypergiant phase lasts for only in order to shed new light on one such are extremely unstable and variable, and a few hundred to a few thousand years system, HR 5171A. The measurements their distance determination is affected and is characterised by powerful mass- have shown that the star has a very

14 ESO Annual Report 2014 extended photosphere (1315 ± 260 R ), ी mas much larger than predicted for yellow 024681700 supergiants. This makes HR 5171A one of the ten largest stars known in the Galaxy (50% larger than Betelgeuse) and might indeed indicate that it is a massive star just leaving its red supergiant phase, or that some external mechanism is causing the envelope to expand.

0102030 6000 The second surprise from the VLTI obser- au vations of HR 5171A was the detection Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune of a stellar companion in direct contact with the yellow hypergiant surface. More- Another possible interpretation of con- Roche lobe model of the yellow hypergiant HR 5171A over the photometry revealed that the siderable importance is that we might be at phase 0.25. Scales in milliarcseconds and au are shown, together with the radii of the orbits of the contact might have happened only a few observing a close binary star at an giant planets in the Solar System. From Chesneau decades ago as the photosphere was extremely rare late stage: the common etal.(2014). expanding.Thisrepresentsthefirstdirect envelope phase. The existence of such observation of a system caught in the a mechanism has been proposed to act of mass transfer and most probably explain the existence of peculiar very of an envelope enshrouding both the stripping of its envelope. The yellow close binary systems. The VLTI obser- primary core and the secondary star. hypergiant primary star must be experi- vation now offers the possibility of wit- Friction will cause orbital shrinking and encingwind-drivenRochelobeoverflow nessing directly such a system as it heat up the envelope, which will expand: and feeding the companion star. rapidly evolves. The prediction is that one of the possible outcomes could then mass transfer will lead to the production be a merger of the two stars.

The interstellar medium of high-redshift galaxies

Some of the most spectacular results ALMA 209 GHz continuum 557 GHz o–H2O line HST I-band from ALMA Early Science observations 1 are related to the study of the physics 1ǥ NE and chemistry of the interstellar medium (ISM) of high-redshift galaxies. 0

The blazar PKS1830-211 at redshift tinuum spectr a 1 z = 2.5 is lensed into two separate images on /c by a spiral galaxy located at redshift SW 0.89. This unique combination of a bright Line background continuum source and a 0 gas-rich lens allows for a detailed absorp- –300 –200 –100 0100 tion line study of the ISM of the spiral Velocity (km/s) galaxy at redshift z = 0.89. The chemical redshift (z ~ 2–5.7) lensed submillimetre ALMA observations of the gravitationally-lensed abundances in the ISM at this redshift are galaxies which have been followed up blazar PKS1830-211. From left to right: the ALMA continuum image of the lensed blazar; water absorp- found to be consistent with estimates with ALMA from the South Pole surveys. tion spectra from the interstellar medium of the in the Galaxy. The ground-state ortho line In addition to CO and H2O, the stacked lensing galaxy against the blazar continuum; Hubble of water shows the deepest absorption, spectrum reveals clear detections of [C I], Space Telescope (HST) I-band image of the lens — suggesting that this line will be an excel- 13CO, HCN, HNC, HCO+ and CN and a spiral galaxy at z = 0.89 — with the position of the two blazar images shown by crosses. Note that the lent probe for the interstellar medium of these are used to constrain the physical SW image of the blazar is located beyond one of the galaxies. properties of the emitting gas. The ISM spiralarmsofthelens.FromMulleretal.(2014a,b). of these high-redshift star-forming galax- Water is also detected as the most ies is found to be consistent with being prominent emitter after carbon monoxide warm and dense, as is the case with local Universe and in the Milky Way (CO) in the stacked spectrum of 22 high- strong star-forming complexes in the Galactic Centre.

ESO Annual Report 2014 15 Astrochemistry

Simple molecules are abundant in the The dense ISM in the interstellar medium of galaxies. Molec- i-propyl cyanide n-propyl cyanide central region of the Galaxy, as observed by ular clouds and cores are studied as the the Herschel-Hi-GAL birth sites of stars and clusters. Investi- survey; the location of gating the lifecycle of star formation and the Galactic Centre death and their relationship with the ISM (Sgr A*)andthehot molecular core in Sgr B2 throughout cosmic history is indeed one Sgr A* are marked. Graphical of the key ALMA science goals. Dense models of the chain molecular cores also contain a wide vari- (normal-propyl cyanide) ety of less abundant complex organic and branched (iso- propyl cyanide) isomers molecules. These are large C-bearing Sgr B2 of C3H7CN are shown; molecules, containing at least six atoms. hydrogen atoms are Understanding the diversity of the chem- shown in white, carbon ical products of the ISM and the path- in grey and nitrogen in purple. From Belloche et ways for the formation and preservation al.(2014). of these molecules is important for our understanding of the development of pre-biotic molecules in space. The identi- commonly found isomer of propyl cya- searching for new complex molecules in ficationofsimpleaminoacidsinSolar nide (called normal or n-C3H7CN), already Sgr B2: line confusion. About 50 transi- System meteoritic and cometary material detected in interstellar space, is the tions of iso-C3H7CN and over 100 transi- suggests that a large part of pre-biotic straight chain form: each of the four car- tions of n-C3H7CN were detected by chemistry can occur outside planetary bons and the nitrogen is linked to at ALMA,allowingforasecureidentification atmospheres. Several ALMA programmes most two of the heavy atoms (i.e., they of the molecules and accurate modelling. aim to advance our understanding of are arranged in a chain), with two or three A graphical model of the detected mole- how common these pathways are in hydrogen atoms linked to three of the cules, against a Herschel image of the molecular clouds and protostars, and four carbons. The prime regions in which Galactic Centre, is shown. The branched whether abundant complex organic to search for complex molecules in the isomer is found to have an abundance as material is delivered to forming planetary ISM are hot molecular cores, compact highas40%ofthenormalisomerand systems from their parental cloud cores. and dense regions around massive detailed chemical models show a variety The detection with ALMA in a young proto stars where the icy mantles of dust of chemical pathways to produce these Solar analogue star system of a simple grains are evaporated and complex molecules on interstellar ices. sugar (glycolaldehyde), an important organic molecules can be observed in molecule for the chemistry of ribonucleic the gaseous phase. The detection of abundant branched acid, has already been reported in the isomers of complex organic molecules 2012 Annual Report. The best-studied hot core is located in in the ISM is a breakthrough in under- the Central Molecular Zone, close to the standing the chemical processing path- A major breakthrough in this area was centre of the Galaxy: Sgr B2. Using the ways towards pre-biotic molecules, achieved with the observation of the powerful combination of ALMA’s angular as complex biologically relevant mole- branched isomer of the complex organic resolution and sensitivity, it is possible to cules, and especially amino acids, are molecule propyl cyanide (C3H7CN). The overcome one of the main limitations to branched.

Protoplanetary discs and young planetary systems

Anumberofhigh-profileresultsonproto- tems.Twospecifichighlightsforyoung molecular material that will be delivered planetary discs and young planetary sys- single-star discs have been the detection to the planetary atmospheres as part of temswereobtainedbyALMAin2014.As of the chemical signature of the shock at the planet formation process. the array expanded its angular resolution the transition between the infalling enve- and sensitivity, resolved chemical studies lope and disc of the young protostar Another important highlight in this area of young and evolved discs become pos- IRAS0 4 3 6 8 +25 57,andthedetectionof was the study of the properties of discs sible, revealing the characteristics of formaldehyde (H2CO) in the disc around and molecular gas in multiple systems of discs as they form during the protostellar IRS48inOphiuchus.Theseresultsshow young stars. Most stars are found as part accretion phase and as they evolve the chemical processing of the material in of multiple systems in nearby star-forming towards the formation of planetary sys- discs leading to the production of the regions, so understanding the evolution

16 ESO Annual Report 2014 of discs and the possible formation of Top: ALMA CO(3-2) planetary systems in these environments observations of the Beta ALMA image Location of Location of planet Carbon monoxide Pictoris debris disc. of Beta Pictoris Beta Pictoris Beta Pictoris B concentration is critical. Evidence for the continuous carbon monoxide Bottom: De-projected supply of fresh material from the outer image, using spatial and circumbinary ring to the inner disc of one kinematical constraints, of the young stars of the GG Tauri multi- showing the location of the molecular gas con- ple system provides evidence that these centrations in the disc. inner small discs may be long-lived and Neptune In the middle a sketch of Saturn One astronomical unit (au) Solar System the Solar System to support planet formation. ALMA observa- is the average distance orbits to scale tions of the young system HK Tauri have between Earth and the Sun scale is also shown. Pluto FromDentetal.(2014). also shown the presence of misaligned Distance from star (au) circumstellardiscs.Thesefindingssug- 150100 50 0 50 100150 gest that planetary systems may indeed form in multiple-star systems and that the Deprojected data (view from above) conditions for creating non-coplanar shown as the two-clump model Region where planetary systems may be rooted in mul- noisy data has been removed

tiple star formation mechanisms. ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO) and Goddard NASA's Space Flight Center/F. Reddy

ALMA’s sensitivity and angular resolution also allow detailed studies of young planetary systems and their tenuous discs, dubbed debris discs as they are thought to be replenished by dust from collisions Direction of orbital motion of larger bodies in the system. Detailed Carbon monoxide ALMA observations of the Beta Pictoris concentration debrisdiscdramaticallyconfirmedthe presence of large collisions within the 50 au planetary system by showing the presence of unevenly distributed carbon Region where shepherding monoxide gas. In contrast to the dust, planet may exist observed simultaneously with the molec- Possible second ular gas, the CO is concentrated in one 160 au or two clumps within the disc. This concentration of gas observed amount of gas could have been produced by the collisional destruction of a Mars-mass planetary body.

References

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

Belloche,A.etal.2014,Science,345,1584 Minniti,D.etal.2014,A&A,571,91 Benetti,S.etal.2014,MNRAS,441,289 Muller,S.etal.2014a,A&A,566,A112 Bergemann,M.etal.2014,A&A,565,89 Muller,S.etal.2014b,A&A,566,L6 Bowler,R.A.A.etal.2014,MNRAS,440,2810 Nicholl,M.etal.2014,MNRAS,444,2096 Braga-Ribas,F.etal.2014,Nature,508,72 Recio-Blanco,A.etal.2014,A&A,567,5 Chesneau,O.etal.2014,A&A,563,71 Ripepi,V.etal.2014,MNRAS,446,3034 Coldwell,G.etal.2014,A&A,569,49 Rojas-Arriagada,A.etal.2014,A&A,569,103 Cioni,M.-R.etal.2014,A&A,562,32 Sakai,N.etal.2014,Nature,507,78 Dent,W.R.F.etal.2014,Science,343,1490 Spilker,J.S.etal.2014,ApJ,785,149 Dutrey,A.etal.2014,Nature,514,600 vanderMarel,N.etal.2014,A&A,563,113 Ertel,S.etal.2014,A&A,570,128 Jensen,E.L.N.&Akeson,R.2014,Nature,511,567 Marion,L.etal.2014,A&A,570,127

ESO Annual Report 2014 17 Like the gaping mouth of a gigantic celestial creature, the cometary globule CG4 glows menacingly in this image from the Very Large Telescope.

18 ESO Annual Report 2014

Offices for Science

Forecasts of any type are never easy to effective networking and people skills, beyond, by becoming ESO ambassadors make and are usually prone to big sur- including sessions on career coaching, throughout the world. That message prises.Fortunatelyforus,attheOffices preparing job applications and preparing went straight to the hearts of the audi- forScience,thescientificthrillsexpected for interviews. These courses are spread ence.BravaDominika! for2014didmaterialise,thankstothe over three years and are facili tated by arrival of the two second generation VLT external consultants. In Chile, the choice This year Steffen Mieske was involved at instruments MUSE and SPHERE. ofqualifiedconsultantsismuchreduced the forefront of an international collabo- with respect to Europe so the develop- ration that addressed an unresolved In coordination with other departments, ment programme was implemented with question in galaxy research about ultra- theOfficesworkedhardtopreparethe a mix of in-house and external trainers. compact dwarf galaxies, some of the ground for these instruments. A number In coordination with Human Resources in densest stellar systems in the Universe. of informal discussions were organised Chile, some of the training sessions were These systems have masses of up to 8 toraiseawarenessofthescientificpossi- hosted together with other departments, 2 × 10 Mी, but half-light radii of just bilities brought by these unique instru- thus allowing a larger number of staff to 3–50 parsecs. For about a decade it had ments. We had the opportunity to hear benefit. puzzled astronomers that the dynamical about the instruments in talks given by masses of these dwarfs are higher than instrument consortium members passing expected for their stellar luminosity. throughtheESOpremises.TheOffices Science highlights Steffen and colleagues had proposed for Science also encouraged ESO astron- that this additional mass comes from omers to team up with the community TheOfficeswouldliketohighlightthe supermassive black holes at the centres tosubmitproposalsforScienceVerifica- performance of six distinguished staff of these puzzling objects. This prediction. Last but not least, some information members, two faculty members, two fel- tion could be tested by a collaboration technology (IT) infrastructure in the form lows and two students, for their out- in which Steffen was directly involved, of multi-core machines with plenty of standingscientificperformanceandcon- using kinematic data of the ultra-compact memory was put in place to allow for tributionstothescientificlifeinVitacura dwarf galaxy M60-UCD1. Dynamical prompt reduction and analysis of the data andGarching.For2014,theOfficefor modelling of these data revealed the obtained with MUSE and SPHERE. Science in Chile would like to feature presence of a supermassive black hole 7 Steffen Mieske, Thomas Krühler and with a mass of 2.1 × 10 Mी, matching CatrinaDeiner,andtheOfficeforScience the predictions made by Steffen in 2013. First year of the Fellow Development in Germany will focus on the achieve- Programme ments of Gaitee Hussain, Stephan Geier Steffen is a strong presence and con- and Bitten Gullberg. tributor to our science environment. In The Fellow Development Programme spite of his new duties as Deputy Head of wascreatedbytheOfficesforScience As a preface, we would like to congratu- the Science Operations Department at together with the Human Resources late Dominika Wylezalek for her talk given the Paranal Observatory, he continues to Department to allow our fellows to devel- on behalf of ESO PhD students during participate in science activities and to op skills in areas that complement and the Annual Overview in March. Dominika animate the Star Cluster group. Steffen is build upon the academic and profes sional gave a vibrant and inspiring talk con- also a dedicated member of the Fellow- development that they acquire through veying a message to be remembered: ships and Studentships Selection Com- their fellowships. The programme focuses how exciting it is to be part of ESO and mittee whose contribution is very much on training in project management, how the ESO students contribute to the appreciatedbytheOffice.Heisalso scientificwritingandpresentationskills, organisation’sscientificecosystem,and the co-chair of the ESO Workshop on

Left: Thomas Krühler.

Right: Steffen Mieske and Catrina Deiner.

20 ESO Annual Report 2014 Satellites and Streams due to take place Bitten Gullberg, in Santiago in March 2015. Stephan Geier and Gaitee Hussain. After holding a Marie Curie Fellowship at the Dark Cosmology Centre in Copenhagen, Thomas Krühler joined ESO/Chile in September 2013 as a fellow with duties on Paranal. His scien- tificinterestscentreongamma-raybursts (GRBs), the most brilliant explosions in the Universe. Thomas uses GRBs primarily as tools to study the evolution of star- forming galaxies and interstellar matter at very high redshift. Using over 200 hours ofdatafromX-shooter,Thomasled,and has just recently completed, the largest and most comprehensive survey of gamma-ray burst host galaxies ever performed, shedding new light on gamma- rators concluded that this overdensity, systems are discovered, it is increasingly ray burst progenitors and their relation to whilstbeinghighlysignificantandevolv- important to characterise the environ- the formation of very massive stars. ing into a Coma-like cluster by z = 0, does ment in which these systems formed and not contain galaxies that are different evolved. Gaitee uses indirect-imaging As MUSE instrument fellow, Thomas fromthecoevalfield.Furthermore,high- techniques, inspired by medical imaging, actively contributed to its commissioning, redshift proto-clusters are much larger that enable the detection and mapping theScienceVerificationprogrammeand structures than are generally observation- ofmagneticfieldsonthesurfacesofstars Early Science operation on Paranal. In ally recognised, often spanning several hundreds of parsecs away, probing Vitacura, together with Fernando Selman megaparsecs. microarcsecond spatial scales. Gaitee is (La Silla Paranal Observatory Staff), they now heavily involved in a Large Pro- set up the new machine to be used for Always eager to engage in discussions, gramme, Magnetic Topologies of Young the reduction of MUSE data. The MUSE attend seminars and participate in the Stars&theSurvivalofclose-inmassive data reduction server was also welcomed extragalactic group, Catrina contributed a Exoplanets (MaTYSSE), using data from by La Silla Paranal Ob servatory (LPO) lot to our science environment. Together the Canada France Hawaii Telescope instrument scientists in order to tackle with Joe Andersen (ESO Fellow) and and the ESO 3.6-metre telescope to potential problems with their instruments. Stéphane Brillant (ESO Staff), Catrina put extend such studies and look for planets Thomas is very active in public outreach, in place a proposal-writing mini-workshop around young stars. and organised an astronomy day at the where attendees received training in Colegio Aleman de Santiago. For him, the how to write a good proposal. She also In2014,Gaiteewasawardedavisiting challenge of managing and interacting got all students and interns together to Chairpositionandafive-yeargrantatthe with 150 eight-year-old school children is give a series of talks where their technical Institut de Researche en Astrophysique extremely rewarding. Thomas was in skills could be exhibited and shared. et Planétologie in Toulouse to work with particular very honoured to be invited to postdocs and students there. Gaitee presenthisrecentscientificworkina Gaitee Hussain joined ESO Garching in is also supervising two students, Julian p l e n a r y talkatthe2014meetingofthe 2007 in the Observing Programmes David Alvarado Gomez and Céline German Astronomical Society. Office,whichisresponsibleforallocating Dupont, presented three reviews during time on all of ESO’s telescopes. The 2014andchairedtheLocalOrganising Catrina Deiner is a PhD student from the input and recommendations made by a Committee for the ESO workshop, held in Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule peer review process, currently involving November2014,onhighangularresolu- Zürich, working under the super vision 79 astronomersworldwide,iscrucialto tion astron omy. This brought together of Simon Lilly. She spent one year in ensurethestrongscientificprogrammeat communities that use differing high-reso- Chile working with Cedric Ledoux (LPO ESO.In2014,Gaiteewasinvitedtoserve lution astronomical techniques, including staff). Her main focus is on the under- as a reviewer for a NASA panel, enabling interfer ometry, astro-tomography, lucky standing of galaxy evolution in the context her to see the process from a different imaging and adaptive optics. of the environment at z ~ 2, when the perspective and help improve the input cosmic star formation rate peaked and we provide to ESO reviewers. Stephan Geier and his collaborators galaxies rapidly built up their stellar mass. designed a large observing programme Catrina recently reported the discovery Gaitee’s research is focused on under- to search for hot subdwarf (sdO/B) stars of a high-redshift proto-cluster (z = 2.5) standingtheroleofmagneticfieldsinthe in close binary systems, which are the with the FORS2 VLT spectrograph. After formation and evolution of Solar-type stripped cores of red giants and are likely a careful analysis, Catrina and collabo- stars. As more and more exotic planetary formed via close binary interactions. They

ESO Annual Report 2014 21 aimtofindbothlow-masssubstellar companions, such as planets and brown dwarfs, and massive compact companions, such as white dwarfs, neutron stars or black holes. The spectroscopic results werewrittenupin2014byStephanand collaborators in two papers. They discovered three hot subdwarfs with brown dwarf companions, providing more evi- dencethatsubstellarobjectscansignifi- cantly affect late stellar evolution. Another highlight was the discovery and analysis of the fastest unbound star in the Galaxy: it is very likely to be the surviving companion of a white dwarf, which exploded as a supernova type Ia. This result appeared in Science. Stephan is also involved in the Phase 3 validation of the firstlargeareacataloguesfromtheVISTA and VST public surveys, supporting these Group photo of the participants in the conference heart of our constant efforts to foster projects from the ESO side. “3D2014—GasandStarsinGalaxies:AMulti- collaborationsinastronomy.In2014,both wavelength 3D Perspective”, held in Garching. siteswelcomedanumberofscientific Stephan continued to progress on his meetings, including: Habilitation, which is a major piece of Bitten has now joined the HeRGÉ col- – Exoplanet Observations with the original research work for a higher degree laboration and for the past few months E-ELT, Garching, 3–6 February; at a German university. Stephan also has been working on a pilot project with –3D2014—GasandStarsinGalaxies: went observing in La Silla, mentoring an Carlos De Breuck and Joel Vernet (ESO A Multi-wavelength 3D Perspective, ESO Student there, a trip that has already Staff), studying a high-redshift radio Garching,10–14March; led to two accepted papers. Stephan galaxy at a redshift of 2.9 by combining – Herbig Ae/Be Stars: The Missing Link also coordinated two one-day workshops ALMA and MUSE observations. These in Star Formation, Santiago, 7–11 April; and co-organised the Directorate for have provided a fresh view of the com- – Formation and Evolution of Star Clus- Science social day. Stephan’s outstand- plex morphology of these distant sys- tersinChile,Santiago,14–16May; ing achievements were acknowledged tems, illustrating the importance of com- – Clustering Measurements of Active withthe2014LudwigBiermannAwardof bining multi-wavelength 3D data. GalacticNuclei,Garching,14–18July; the Astronomische Gesellschaft, and he – RASPUTIN: Resolved And unresolved was awarded a Marie Curie Individual Bitten was one of two student repre- Stellar PopUlaTIoNs, Garching, Fellowship, which should take him to the sentatives at ESO, has been part of the 13–17 October; UK for the next step of his bright career. Student Selection Committee, was twice –HIRES2014:AstronomyatHighAngu- ascientificassistantattheObserving lar Resolution — A Cross-disciplinary Bitten Gullberg is part of the SPT SMG Programmes Committee (OPC) and co- Approach,Garching,24–28November; (South Pole Telescope Submillimetre organised the ESO Journal Club. She – ALMA Cycle 2 PI CASA Tutorial, Galaxy) collaboration and has mainly has given talks about ESO and even Garching, 26–28 November; been working with [C II] emission in high- arranged a tour in the infrared laborato- – International Symposium: Life as a redshift lensed dusty star-forming galax- ries for two groups of Danish high school Planetary Phenomenon, organised by ies,publishingherfirstfirst-authorpaper students who had won the Danish Sci- the University of Heidelberg and hosted onthattopic.UsingAPEXandHerschel, ence Cup. Bitten is now an accomplished by ESO, Santiago, 27–28 November. Bitten and her collaborators detected observer, who has been Principal Inves- [C II]emissiontowards17outof20gal- tigatorf o severalAPEXproposals,aswell As usual, we welcomed many visitors, axies in the redshift range 2.1 to 5.7. as Herschel Director’s Discretionary Time specificgroupsandschoolvisitsto Combining these observations with data and Jansky Very Large Array projects, ESO.In2014,wealsoorganisedspecific from the Australia Telescope Compact andhasspentalmosttwoweeksatAPEX sessions for Masters students enrolled Array, they measured [C II]/CO(1-0) line as an astronomer on duty. within the Astromundus programme: luminosity ratios which are consistent 16 studentsvisitedESOHeadquartersin with the geometric structure of photon- January to learn more about ESO, and, dominated regions, familiar from the study Meetings at ESO thanks to the efforts of Gaitee Hussain, oflocalH IIregions.Thatworkwaspre- Elizabeth Humphreys and many others, sented at three different conferences, Theorganisationofscientificconferences attended a hands-on tutorial on writing most recently at the “Revolution in Astron- and workshops occupies an important an ALMA proposal in real time. omy with ALMA — the 3rd Year” in Tokyo. placeinESO’sscientificlifeandisatthe

22 ESO Annual Report 2014 This VISTA image shows a dense cloud of dust and gas associated with the molecular cloud IRAS 16562-3959, clearly visible as an orange smudge among the rich pool of stars at the

centre of the image. Guzmán ESO/VVV Team/A.

ESO Annual Report 2014 23 Allocation of Telescope Time

The table shows the requested and and P95). Current Large Programme 2015) met in London, Ontario, Canada scheduled observational resources runs approved in previous periods, 10–14March2014.Thetableshowsthe allocatedforPeriod94(P94:October Guaranteed Observing Time runs and requested and scheduled resources for 2014–March2015)andPeriod95(P95: Public Survey runs are not included. the ALMA Observatory in Cycle 2, but only April 2015–September 2015), for the The pressure is computed as the ratio high priority (A+B) scheduled proposals La SillaParanalObservatoryandAPEX. between the requested and the allocated and hours are listed. The request and Thesearespecifiedinnights,theusual time. The last two columns present the allocation statistics, listed by ALMA fre- allocationunitfortheLa SillaParanal total telescope time allocations and the quency band, for Europe and all partners ObservatoryandAPEX. fractions per instrument. (including North America, East Asia, Europe and the host country of Chile) are The La Silla Paranal Observatory and The ALMA Proposal Review Committee both included. The scheduling unit for APEXstatisticsincludeonlyproposals for the allocation of time in Early Science ALMA is hours of array time. submittedduringthetwoperiods(P94 Cycle2(coveringJune2014toOctober ESO/G. Lambert

This image of the future home of the E-ELT was takeninNovember2014fromParanal.Thelevelling of the summit of Cerro Armazones is well advanced (lower left) and the new wider road that is being built up the mountain can also be well seen.

24 ESO Annual Report 2014 Telescope Instrument Requested Scheduled Requested % Scheduled % Pressure Total % runs runs time time allocation

UT1 NACO 206 61 144 18.6% 42 26.6% 3.42 44 17.8% FORS2 385 107 431 55.7% 83 52.2% 5.21 105 42.3% KMOS 158 31 198 25.6% 34 21.3% 5.88 99 39.9% Total 749 199 773 158 4.88 249

UT2 FLAMES 78 22 155 18.5% 34 16.5% 4.49 102 36.1% UVES 179 54 254 30.4% 46 21.9% 5.57 47 16.6% X-shooter 368 110 429 51.2% 128 61.6% 3.34 134 47.4% Total 625 186 838 208 4.02 283

UT3 SPHERE 106 47 105 27.1% 39 26.8% 2.70 39 21.8% VIMOS 167 51 255 66.1% 84 57.9% 3.05 117 65.8% VISIR 41 34 27 6.9% 22 15.3% 1.20 22 12.4% Total 314 132 386 144 2.67 178

UT4 SINFONI 162 62 220 37.0% 74 42.8% 2.96 80 33.8% MUSE 254 65 260 43.7% 65 37.6% 3.97 123 51.8% HAWK-I 119 38 114 19.3% 34 19.6% 3.35 34 14.4% Total 535 165 594 174 3.42 237

VLTI AMBER 39 13 37 28.2% 22 30.8% 1.65 22 24.8% MIDI 34 10 16 12.3% 5 7.5% 2.94 13 14.6% SpecialVLTI 50 48 78 59.6% 45 61.6% 1.75 55 60.6% Total 123 71 131 73 1.81 90

3.6-metre HARPS 83 52 484 100.0% 133 100.0% 3.64 316 100.0% Total 83 52 484 133 3.64 316

NTT EFOSC2 97 32 381 64.6% 107 56.3% 3.56 178 54.3% SOFI 55 26 209 35.4% 83 43.7% 2.52 150 45.7% Total 151 58 590 190 3.11 328

APEX CHAMP+ 4 2 4 2.4% 2 2.5% 2.50 2 1.5% LABOCA 14 7 39 25.0% 13 21.3% 2.96 19 18.3% SABOCA 0 0 0 0.0% 0 0.0% N/A 0 0.0% SHFI 32 15 112 72.5% 47 76.2% 2.40 83 80.3% Total 50 24 154 61 2.52 103

ALMA Band Requested proposals Requested hours Scheduled proposals (A+B) Scheduled hours (A+B) Pressure (by hours)) All/EU All/EU All/EU All/EU All/EU 3 444/184 1808/739 89/29 528/175 5.71/6.00 4 112/46 326/118 19/8 44/21 7.38/9.29 6 560/210 2132/748 159/40 594/255 3.59/4.85 7 595/241 2362/922 153/51 593/302 3.99/4.21 8 93/39 308/111 36/14 112/62 2.74/2.47 9 109/51 381/185 30/13 70/39 5.41/6.91 Total 1383/562 7317/3041 353/115 2568/690 4.23/4.86

ESO Annual Report 2014 25 The Atacama Pathfinder Experiment telescope

(APEX). C. Durán/ESO

26 ESO Annual Report 2014 Publication Digest

In2014,theESOusercommunitypub- 900 VLT/VLTI lished 865 refereed papers, reaching 800 La Silla once again the all-time high of 2012. Dur- Survey telescopes 700 ing the year, more than 10 000 refereed Chajnantor astronomy papers were reviewed by 600 Total the ESO librarians and approximately 500 7.5%fulfilledthecriteriaforinclusionin the ESO Telescope Bibliography (telbib: 400 http://telbib.eso.org). The numbers of 300 papers based on data from the individual 200 observing sites, as well as the total numbers per year, are shown. An overview of 100 publication statistics is also available with 0 96 97 98 99 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 12 13 000 links to the corresponding records in the 19 19 19 19 2 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 2011 20 20 2014 telbib database (http://www.eso.org/sci/ libraries/telbib_pubstats_overview.html). RefereedpapersusingESOdata,1996–2014— Survey telescopes: Papers using data generated by note that papers can use data from more than one the survey telescopes VISTA and VST. facility. APEX:PapersusingdatageneratedbyAPEX, The VLT and VLTI provided data for 562 VLT/VLTI: Papers using data generated by the VLT including visitor instruments for which observing refereedpapersin2014.Theworkhorse and VLTI instruments, including visitor instruments time is recommended by the OPC, e.g., Z-Spec; instruments UVES and FORS2 led with for which observing time is recommended by the other visitor instruments (e.g., CONDOR) are exclud- 137 and 105 articles, respectively, while OPC, e.g., VLT ULTRACAM, VLTI PIONIER. ed. Only papers based (entirely or partly) on ESO La Silla: Papers using data generated by facilities on APEXtimeareincluded. the spectrographs VIMOS and FLAMES/ La Silla, including visitor instruments for which ALMA: Papers using data generated by ALMA. Only GIRAFFE achieved the remarkable num- observing time is recommended by the OPC, e.g., papers based (entirely or partly) on European ALMA bersof78and59 papers.With68scien- NTT ULTRACAM. Papers based on data from time are included. tificpublications,X-shootercontinues non-ESO telescopes or observations obtained during reserved periods (e.g., national allocations of to be a very pro ductive instrument. Fur- time) are not included. ther statistics of individual instruments can be found in the Basic ESO Publica- tion Statistics report. 1999 1 2000 2–5 2001 6–10 Clear trends can be seen regarding 2002 the number of authors per paper. In the 2003 11–30 early years of VLT operations, more 2004 31–60 than half of the articles were written by 2005 > 60 rathersmallgroupsofonetofiveauthors. 2006 2007 Over time, the fraction of teams with larg- 2008 er numbers of authors has continually 2009 increased, leading to more than a quarter 2010 (27%)ofallVLT/VLTIpapersin2014with 2011 11–30 authors. In addition, 9% of the 2012 2013 publications were written by groups with 2014 more than 30 members. During the past 0% 10%20% 30%40% 50%60% 70%80% 90%100% ten years, a steady percentage (1–3%) of articles have been authored by even larger Number of authors per paper for VLT/VLTI publica- published, mostly using data from the collaborations, consisting of more than tionsovertheperiod1999–2014. VST/OmegaCAM Photometric Hα Survey 60 authors per paper, while the number of the Southern Galactic Plane (VPHAS+) of single-author papers has diminished. Interestingly, even observations from and ATLAS surveys. Obser vations at An overview of the number of authors per decommissioned instruments and tele- ESO’s other survey telescope, VISTA, led paper for all VLT/VLTI papers per year is scopes are still being used in publica- to the impressive number of 65 papers shown. tions:in2014,33articleswerepublished in2014,almostdoublingtheresultofthe based on these data. Note that non-ESO previous year. Among these papers, As was the case in previous years, the telescopes (for instance the Swiss 1.2- outstanding output was achieved by the facilities located at La Silla continued to metre Leonhard Euler Telescope) and VISTA Variables in the Via Láctea (VVV) provide data for many papers (more than other facilities located on La Silla, for survey, which allowed scientists to pub- 260in2014).Atotalof71paperswere which observing time is not evaluated by lish24papersinthepastyear,followed based on observations made with the the OPC, are not included in the statistics. by papers using data from the UltraVISTA HARPS exoplanet hunter. Data from the survey(14papers),theVISTAHemisphere FEROS and EFOSC2 spectrographs In2014,thefirstpapersbasedondata Survey (VHS, 8 papers) and the VISTA and SOFI led to almost 50 papers each. from the VLT Survey Telescope were Magellanic Clouds survey (VMC with 8).

ESO Annual Report 2014 27 120 PropoProposasal IDl ID: 67: 67%% 100 PropoProposasal IDl ID incomplet incompletee or or faul faultyty:: 7%7% Instrument, telescope, ESO: 23% 80 Instrument, telescope, ESO: 23% SuSurvey:rvey: 3% 3% 60 40 20 0 2012 2013 2014 Acknowledgement of use of ESO facilities in papers published in the period 2012– All ALMA partners 2014.Thestudyincludedonlypapersthat European ALMA time use observing runs for which programme IDs are assigned (i.e., excluding, for Numbersofpapersduring2012–2014usingtime instance, observations at the Swedish– allocated to Europe and to all ALMA partners. ESO Submillimetre Telescope [SEST]).

TheAPEXtelescopegenerateddatathat All ESO papers Papers using Papers using Archive (incl. Science Data ledto46articlesbasedonESO/APEX (using new or archival data (incl. Science Data Science Data Products time, constituting almost two thirds of all archival data) Science Data Products Products) in % paperspublishedbyAPEXusersin2014 Products) in % (46outof74,or63%).Bytheendofthe 1999 348 1 1 0.3 0.3 year, the total number of papers using 2000 342 3 0 0.9 0.0 APEXdatahadpassed380. 2001 399 6 2 1.5 0.5 2002 408 19 3 4.7 0.7 In its third year of publications, the ALMA Observatory produced 97 refereed 2003 512 20 3 3.9 0.6 papers, far outnumbering the result of 2004 590 54 23 9.2 3.9 the previous year. About half of the arti- 2005 606 55 15 9.1 2.5 cles(47papers,or48%)usedEuropean 2006 640 98 24 15.3 3.8 ALMA observing time. The total number of papers published between 2012 and 2007 718 115 28 16.0 3.9 2014,usingobservationsprovidedby 2008 687 107 25 15.6 3.6 all ALMA partners is 182. The ALMA bibli- 2009 658 113 31 17.2 4.7 ography is maintained jointly by the 2010 735 134 42 18.2 5.7 librarians at ESO and the National Radio 2011 784 141 38 18.0 4.8 Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in the USA as well as by the National Astronom- 2012 864 224 101 25.9 11.7 ical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). Publi- 2013 838 224 96 26.7 11.5 cations based on data from all ALMA 2014 865 212 100 24.5 11.6 partners are recorded in telbib, but only those based on European observing Total numbers and percentages of ESO telbib papers time are counted in the ESO statistics. 1999–2014usingexclusivelyorpartlyarchivaldata and Science Data Products. In2014,aquarterofallrefereedarticles Correct indication of all ESO programmes when researchers request data from (212outof865,or24.5%)usedexclu- that were used in research papers is of the ESO archive. The publication policy is sively or partly (i.e., in addition to proprie- the utmost importance so that the publi- also available on the web. tary ESO observations) data obtained cations can be linked to the correspond- from the ESO Science Archive. This frac- ing data in the ESO archive. In order Over the past few years, the librarians tion increased from around 18% to above to achieve a uniform way of indicating the have monitored the way in which authors 25% in 2012 and has been rather stable use of observations, a policy regarding give credit to the ESO facilities that pro- since. Likewise, a steady use of pre- publications based on ESO data is com- vided the data. It has turned out that reduced data, known as Science Data municated to researchers on several large inconsistencies exist between the Products, provided by the Science occasions during the observing process: acknowledgement request by ESO Archive Facility can be noticed during this for instance, when Principal Investigators and the actual information provided by period: since 2012, almost 12% of scien- (PIs) are informed about awarded observ- authors. Of 2515 papers published tificpapersemployedScienceDataProd- ing time based on the proposals submit- between2012and2014,onlytwothirds ucts each year (see table). ted to the OPC, at the time when their (67%) of the authors indicated correct data become publicly available (typically and complete programme IDs of all after a proprietary time of one year), or observations used in their papers. This

28 ESO Annual Report 2014 fraction includes a few cases in which users downloaded data from the ESO archive and (correctly) mentioned the archive request ID (9 papers). Another 7% of the authors listed programme IDs intheirpapers,buttheidentifierswere incorrect or incomplete. Almost a quarter of the publications (23%) merely acknowledged the instrument, telescope or ESO as an organisation, as credit for data use. The increasing numbers of papers based on surveys constitute many par- ticularlydifficultcases,whereoften the only trace of data use is the survey name, with no indication of either the programme IDs nor even the facilities that generated the data (3% of all ESO papers over2012–2014).

Thesefindingsemphasisetheimpor- tance of human curation of the ESO Tele- scope Bibliography in order to properly link papers and observations, enabling astronomers to easily access the data used in papers (by linking from the telbib databasetothearchive)andtofindout which papers have already been pub- lishedbasedonspecificobservations (through links from the archive to telbib).

The statistics presented here are derived from telbib, a database of refereed papers published by the ESO user community that links publications with the data in the ESO Science Archive. telbib is developed and maintained by the ESO Library. It is compiled by scanning articles published in the major astronomical journals for ESO-related keywords (e.g., telescope and instrument names). Jour- nals routinely screened for ESO-related keywords are: A&A, A&ARv, AJ, ApJ, ApJS, AN, ARA&A, EM&P, ExA, Icar, MNRAS, Nature, NewA, NewAR, PASJ, PASP, P&SS and Science. All papers included in the database have been inspected visually by the curators to ensure that they directly use ESO observational data. Further information about telbib and various statistics and reports can be found on the web.

This image shows the beginning of sunrise over the

Very Large Telescope. ESO/Nicolas Blind Operations ESO/B. Tafreshi La Silla Paranal Observatory

The Directorate of Operations is Operations and maintenance activities to guarantee responsible for all activities related to the continuous performance of the tele- science operations, including the The ESO Very Large Telescope at Paranal scopes and instruments and include time preparation and execution of observ- operates with four 8.2-metre Unit Tele- slots for the commissioning of new instru- ing programmes, the operation of the scopesandasuiteoftenfirstgeneration ments and facilities. There were 128 La Silla Paranal Observatory with its instruments and three of the four second nights of commissioning time on the UTs La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor sites, generation instruments. The Laser Guide in2014,primarilyforthesecondgenera- and the delivery of raw and calibrated Star Facility provides one of the three tion instruments MUSE and SPHERE. Out data. These activities involve user sup- adaptive-optics-supported instruments of of the available science time for the VLT, port,dataflowmanagement,opera- theVLTwithanartificialreferencestar. 2.5% was lost due to technical problems tions technical support and the devel- The VLT Interferometer combines the and about 13.5% due to adverse weather opment and maintenance of a science light of either the UTs or the ATs to feed conditions. On La Silla bad weather archive as provided by the Data Man- eitheroneofthetwointerferometricfirst accounted for losses of about 13.5%, agement and Operations (DMO) Divi- generation instruments with a coherent and technical problems for less than 1%. sion. The Science Archive Facility holds wavefront, further stabilised by the VLTI all data obtained with ESO telescopes fringe tracker, or the visitor instrument at VISTA delivered 278 nights of survey as well as highly processed, advanced the VLTI focus. VISTA and the VST are in observationsoutof347scheduled; products derived from them. Opera- regular survey operation. theVSTdelivered248observingnights tions also includes ESO’s contribution out of 336. Both survey telescopes were to ALMA operations through the ESO On La Silla the New Technology Tele- affected by about 15% weather losses. ALMA Support Centre (EASC). scope and the ESO 3.6-metre telescope The technical losses of VISTA were, at operate with an instrumentation suite of 4%,comparabletotheUTs.FortheVST, three instruments. The La Silla site further however, the technical losses amounted supports eight national telescope projects. to 12%, primarily attributable to three severe problems encountered during the The observatory also provides the opera- year. tionssupportfortheAtacamaPathfinder Experiment with its 12-metre submilli- In addition to the regular VLT operations, metre radio antenna located on the high the VLT Interferometer was scheduled Chajnantor Plateau at an altitude of for235nightstoexecutescientificobser- 5000metres.APEXhasasuiteofhetero- vations using baselines with either the dyne and bolometer facility instruments UTs or the ATs. The remaining nights and hosts a number of visitor instruments. were employed for technical activities and for further development and com- Forobservingperiods93and94,the missioning of the interferometer and its scientificcommunitysubmittedrespec- infrastructure. In addition to 121 engi- tively 898 and 901 Phase 1 observing neering nights, some eight nights were proposals for the La Silla Paranal Obser- invested in commissioning activities, pri- vatory,includingAPEX.Thesenumbers marily for the upgrades of the PIONIER are slightly lower than have been received instrument. Some 2.7% of the scheduled in recent years, but still document the VLTI science time was lost due to tech- continuing high demand for ESO observ- nical problems, 15% due to bad weather. ing facilities. Some 80% of the proposals are for the Paranal site with VLT, VLTI and Thecombinationofhighoperationaleffi- VISTA. ciency, system reliability and availa bility of the La Silla and Paranal telescopes Theobservatorycontinueditsefficient andinstrumentsforscientificobserva- operation through high availability and tions, has again resulted in a high scien- low technical downtime of its telescopes tificproductivity.In2014,562papers and instruments — key elements for pro- that are at least partially based on data ductivescientificobservations.In2014 collected with VLT and VLTI instruments a total of 1897 nights were scheduled for at Paranal were published in different scientificobservationswiththefourUTs refereedscientificjournals(comparedto at the VLT and with the two major tele- 563 in 2013). In addition 73 (38 in 2013) scopes at La Silla. This is equivalent to refereedpaperswerepublishedin2014 about 87% of the total number of nights referring to observations with VISTA and theoretically available over the whole the VST and 267 (273) to ESO-operated ThemagnificentMilkyWaygalaxyisradiant over the La Silla Observatory. The ESO 3.6-metre year. The remaining 13% of the nights telescopesatLaSilla.APEXobserva- telescope is shown in the middle. were scheduled for planned engineering tionsaccountedfor74(74)papers,outof

ESO Annual Report 2014 31 which46(43)werebasedonobserva- MUSE at the Nasmyth tions during the 27% share of ESO time. focusoftheYepun(UT4) telescope. Since its start of operation in 1999, the VLT and VLTI have produced a total of 5970 publications and add a dozen every week. Interestingly the veteran workhorse instruments UVES and FORS2 — both commissioned at the beginning of the

VLT’s operations — still lead the publica- Selman Hansali/Fernando ESO/Ghaouti tion statistics from all ESO instruments in2014with137(117in2013)and105 (101)publications,respectively.Thefirst second-generationinstrumentX-shooter follows with 68 (70 in 2013) publications initsfifth(fourth)yearofoperation.

Paranal Observatory

Instrumentation

Over the last three years, the observatory has seen the seamless arrival of the second generation VLT instruments KMOS, MUSE and SPHERE. The K-band Multi Object Spectrograph (KMOS) wasthefirstofthetrio,andwassuccess- fully commissioned during early 2013 and entered regular science operation on 1 October 2013.

In the same month that KMOS started science operation, the re-assembly view of one by one arcminutes with spa- numerous deep observations of contigu- of the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer tial pixels of 0.2 by 0.2 arcseconds, well ous patches of one square arcminute. (MUSE) started in the new instrument adapted to the best natural seeing con- integration hall at Paranal. By the end of ditionsatParanal.Foreachofthe86 400 CommissioningandScienceVerification 2013 the MUSE team had successfully spatial pixels, the corresponding spectra of MUSE proceeded rapidly over the year completed this task and the instrument arerecordedonthe24detectorswitha and therefore the instrument could be wastransferredtoUT4inmid-January. totalof384megapixelsperexposure.In offered to the community for regular sci- Only12nightslater,on31January2014 future, MUSE will utilise the VLT Adaptive ence operation as of 1 October, i.e., only shortlyaftersunset,firstlightwas Optics Facility (AOF) via the GALACSI nine months after its arrival at the tele- achieved on Kapteyn’s star — an M1 red adaptive optics system. It will then offer, scope — a record in the 15-year history dwarf star at a distance of 13 light-years in addition, an adaptive-optics-corrected of VLT instrumentation. from Earth. MUSE took 13 years to be fieldofviewof7.5by7.5arcseconds, designed, built and brought to the VLT, sampled with 0.025 by 0.025 arcsecond When MUSE had just completed its so that the photons observed by MUSE spatial pixels. firstcommissioningrunandclearedthe duringfirstlighthadjustleftKapteyn’sstar integration hall in February, the last of the when the MUSE project started. Having MUSE is an extremely powerful tool for trio of second generation instruments, achieved this important milestone, the all astronomers who need to record simul- the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast commissioning of the instrument could taneously the three-dimensional (spatial Exoplanet REsearch (SPHERE) instru- start in earnest. and spectral) information from the sky ment arrived in boxes at Paranal. After overalargefieldfo viewtostudyextend- re-assembly and extensive testing in the The key capability of MUSE is to perform ed objects, such as Solar System bodies, integration hall the instrument was trans- integralfieldspectroscopyoveralmost crowded areas of the sky and galaxies ferredtoUT3andachievedfirstlightin the full optical domain with a mean or, for example, to study many distant early May. resolving power of 3000. With its modular galaxies or individual stars in other galax- designcomposedof24identicalintegral ies. MUSE will further dedicate a large TheprimaryscientificaimofSPHERE fieldunitmodules,itspatiallysamples fraction of its observing time to surveys is to image and characterise giant exo- theskyoveranear-contiguousfieldof of the unknown sky, stitching together planets orbiting nearby stars. For this

32 ESO Annual Report 2014 The SPHERE instrument In preparation for the arrival of MUSE at reintegrated at the UT4,theNAOS-CONICA(NACO)instru- Nasmyth focus of the ment was removed from the Nasmyth

ESO/J. GirardESO/J. Melipal (UT3) telescope. focus. Despite its advanced age and con- trary to the original plan to decommission NACO at the time of the arrival of MUSE, NACO was stored after its removal from the telescope to be re-installed on UT1 in mid-2014inplaceoftheCRIRESspectro- graph.

Following this plan, CRIRES itself was dismounted in July and shipped to Europe to undergo a major upgrade to be converted into the cross-dispersed high-resolution infrared spectro graph CRIRES+. Unfortunately, during the removal of the separate adaptive optics purpose SPHERE employs three novel SPHERE are not limited to detecting exo- module of CRIRES, the module was techniques to reach the highest possible planets, but also allow the study of any severelydamagedclosetoitsfinalpark- contrast necessary to reveal the planets close environment around stars with the ing position in one of the storage halls adjacent to a star that is shining millions highest spatial resolution. in the Paranal basecamp. This accident of times more brightly than the planets wasthefirstmajorincidentinthehistory themselves.Thefirsttechniqueistouse As for MUSE, the commissioning and of Paranal that had led to a severely extreme adaptive optics to correct for characterisation of SPHERE progressed damaged instrument. Fortunately no one the effects of the Earth’s atmosphere so well over the year. Both teams alternated was injured during the incident. An in- that images are sharper; the second on a monthly basis with their respective depth investigation was carried out to employs a coronagraph that blocks out runs on the telescope. SPHERE Science prevent future incidents of this kind and the light from the star; the third is dif- Verificationproducedaspectacularset to guarantee the safety of equipment ferential imaging that exploits differences ofdataforthescientificcommunityto and personnel. The damaged adaptive between planetary and stellar light in ex plore the potential of the new instrument optics module was eventually shipped terms of its colour or polarisation. All three andtopreparethefirstproposalsforits to Garching to be repaired in time for the techniques together contribute to scientificuse.Consideringtherapidpro- arrival of the upgraded CRIRES+. increase the imaging contrast and allow gress of the commissioning and integra- otherwise invisible exoplanets to be tion into observatory operation, SPHERE Alarmed by this incident, the re-installa- revealed. Obviously these high-contrast will be offered to the community for regu- tion of the fragile NACO instrument at imaging techniques available with larscienceoperationsasof1 April2015. the freed focus of UT1 was carried out

Colour composite of the unusual polar ring galaxy NGC4650AcreatedfromdatafromtheMUSE Four planets around HR 8799 imaged with SPHERE instrument. in the H-band. ESO/MUSE consortium/R. Bacon consortium/R. ESO/MUSE

ESO Annual Report 2014 33 with special care and taking particular VISIR re-commissioned precautions. Nevertheless, despite the at the Cassegrain focus of UT3. installation itself being successful, the science detector of the CONICA instrument was found to be non-operational duringthefirstre-commissioningrunin September. Subsequent trouble-shooting activities led to the conclusion that the Aladdin3 detector itself was damaged beyond repair. Since no spare Aladdin3 detector was available, the former ISAAC spectro meter long-wavelength Aladdin2 detector was recovered from this decommissioned instrument and installed in NACO. This new (old) Aladdin2 detector installed in CONICA has slightly different noise properties from the original Aladdin3 detector, but enabled NACO to be brought back into science operation in to track down the root causes of the and even armies. It distin guishes January 2015, but only after almost degraded quality of the aluminium coat- between technical and support activities: three months of scheduled science time ings produced on the VLT mirrors, no technical activities include preventive and had been lost due to this failure. stable and reproducible coating process correctivemaintenance,configuration could be re-established. Consequently, management, analysis of technical facts To complete this year’s planned instru- the observatory has been seeking exter- and implementation of lessons learned. mentrotations,theX-shooterinstrument nal help through a consultancy with Itfurtheridentifiesobsolescenceand was installed back on the Cassegrain a consortium of Danish companies spe- related projects. Support activities include focus of UT2 for the beginning of the new cialised in large vacuum and coating coordination and planning, quality assur- observing period in October. It had spent machines. This collaboration led, after ance, spare part supply and the manage- one year on UT3, taking advantage of one year of intensive analysis and testing, ment of technical documentation and the available free Cassegrain focus due to to a costly recovery plan that will be facts. the ongoing upgrade of the spectrometer implemented in the coming year followed VISIR.InretrospectX-shooteronlygained by a new and tailored preventive mainte- The transition to the new organisational a few additional observing nights as a nance plan for the future. structure occurred smoothly over the result of this move. In light of the risks year after a formal kick-off on 1 April. anddifficultiesexperiencedwithinstru- The engineers and technicians of the ment removals this year, the concept will Reorganisation of technical activities Maintenance, Support and Engineering have to be scrutinised in more detail in Department took up their new responsi- the future before being proposed again. After 15 years of successful technical bilities with great enthusiasm and are operation of the Paranal Observatory, dedicated to ensuring the availability of After completion of its upgrade and the technical activities were reorganised the systems under their care. A new extensive testing in the integration hall, to ensure future operational continuity support and quality assurance group is VISIR resumed commissioning on UT3 andcostefficiencyoftheoperations. taking care of most of the support activi- towards the end of the year. The pro- A new Maintenance, Support and Engi- ties. The mapping of all operational sys- posed strategy to overcome the sensi- neering Department was created and tems at Paranal according to their criti- tivity problems of the new AQUARIUS integrates the former Maintenance and cality for operation, i.e., the availability of detectors by increasing the chopping fre- Engineering Departments. The new the observatory, their maintainability quency of the telescope secondary mirror department comprises some 70 staff according to indus trial standards and the wasconfirmedtobesuccessful.VISIR, members and builds on the Maintien en required staff competencies, is still on - the only mid-infrared instrument of the Condition Opérationnelle concept and going. Activities that are not considered VLT, will resume operation on 1 April 2015 the French normalisation standard core competencies of ESO (e.g., mainte- and will offer new large detectors and a AFNORNFX60-010toclassifyfivelevels nance of commercial of-the-shelf com- number of new observing modes. of maintenance, from system parameter ponents, Level 1 and 2 maintenance and setting (Level 1) to reconstruction of sys- warehouse services) are outsourced as tems (Level 5). This concept covers all service contracts to specialised com- Infrastructure activities which ensure proper function- panies. In addition, the Directorate of ing, i.e., availability of a system during Engineering provides manpower and The 8-metre mirror-coating unit remained its lifetime. It has been widely implement- support for regular and specialist mainte- a major source of concern for the obser- ed since the 1990s in modern operational nance and repair of instruments and facil- vatory. Despite intensive internal efforts sites such as space centres, harbours ities, both remotely and by staff visits as

34 ESO Annual Report 2014 The ArTeMiS cryostat in facility instruments and visitor instruments positionatAPEX. inaquasi-continuous24-houroperation mode, which maximises the exploitation of the exceptional conditions available ArTeMiS team/ESO ArTeMiS attheChajnantorsite.In2014,atotalof 266 days and nights were scheduled forscienceobservationswithAPEXoutof which240couldactuallybeused,with morethan4400hoursofon-skyscience time.

TheAPEXprojectisapartnership between the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Bonn, Germany (50% share), ESO (27% share) and the Onsala Space Observatory, Sweden (23% share). required. This effort is now fully account- ments, up to 50% of the NTT telescope Considering the con tinued success of ed for in the Paranal operations budget. time from 2016 to 2020 will be made theproject,theAPEXpartnersin2013 available to selected projects in return for extended their agreement to 31 December In view of the future integration of the contributions to the NTT operation. 2015, and agreed to seek an extension of E-ELT into the operation of the Paranal- Contributions can be in cash or in-kind, theAPEXAgreementuntil31December Armazones Observatory, this reorganisa- throughtheprovisionofnewscientific 2017. The corresponding agreement was tion of the technical activities at Paranal instruments of wider interest to the ESO duly signed at Ringberg Castle (Bavaria, is an important step towards ensuring the community, upgrades to existing instru- Germany)inJanuary2014.Discussions future scalability of the technical support mentation or operation support, a com- about a potential further extension of the towards the requirements posed by the bination thereof, or equivalent. agreement have commenced. The com- E-ELT. petitivenessofAPEXintheeraofafully An impressive number of 19 letters of operational ALMA strongly depends on interest with high-quality proposals were its instrumentation capabilities and there- La Silla Observatory received in response to the call by the fore on the results of the ongoing receiver end of March. After a down-select developmentsattheAPEXpartners. The La Silla Observatory continued to process, seven out of the 19 proposers operate successfully according to the wereinvitedtopresentdetailedscientific- The4608-pixelbolometriccamera streamlined operations model. The technical proposals by mid-February ArTeMiS was built by the Commissariat La Silla2010+modelsupportsthecon- 2015; two proposers were invited to pro- à L’Energie Atomique (CEA) in Saclay, tinued operations of the two major tele- ceed with their proposals directly to the France, and commissioned at the scopes and their instrumentation, i.e., the OPCforscientificevaluationandsched- CassegrainfocusofAPEX.ArTeMiSis ESO 3.6-metre telescope with HARPS uling of their proposals with the existing thefirstESOPrincipalInvestigatorinstru- and the NTT with SOFI, EFOSC2 and visi- EFOSC2 and SOFI instruments. At the ment that became available exclusively tor instruments. timeofwritingfivedetailedproposalsfor to the ESO community through a collabo- the construction of new instruments for rative agreement between ESO and the TheNTTremainsoneofthebest4-metre- the NTT have been received. CEA signed during the year. class telescopes in the southern hemisphere, providing excellent image quality La Silla Observatory further continued to The Onsala Space Observatory and andhighefficiencyatnegligibletechnical supportscientificprojectsatothernational ESO further developed a memorandum down time, but remains equipped with telescopes, i.e., the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre of understanding concerning the con- two aging facility instruments, EFOSC2 telescope,theDanish1.54-metretele- struction, integration and operation of an and SOFI, that were commissioned in scope, the Swiss 1.2-metre Leonhard ALMABand5receiverforAPEX,where 1990 and 1998, respectively. Recognis- Euler Telescope, the Rapid Eye Mount ESO will deliver the pre-full- production ing the continued demand for the NTT telescope (REM), TAROT, the ESO 1-metre ALMA Band 5 cartridge and the local bythescientificcommunity,andtheneed Schmidt telescope, the TRAPPIST tele- oscillator as part of the warm cartridge to seek new instrumentation or other scope and the ESO 1-metre telescope. assembly. OSO have designed and scientificallycompetitiveusesofthetele- built the optics, the cryostat, and the scope, while reducing the operational complete integrated system. The delivery costs to ESO, a call for ideas was issued, APEX project and commissioning of the Swedish- opening up new opportunities for large ESOPIreceiverforAPEX(SEPIA)is scientificprojectsattheNT T.Inorderto TheAtacamaPathfinderExperimentcon- expected in early 2015, in time to harvest enable telescope access for innovative tinued to operate its 12-metre antenna thefirstscientificresultswithBand5 ideas, upgradedornewscientificinstru- and its suite of heterodyne and bolometer before it becomes available at ALMA.

ESO Annual Report 2014 35 A. Tudorica/ESO The VLT on Cerro Paranal. Three of the VLT Unit Telescopes can be seen, as well as one of the four Auxiliary Telescopes and the VST in the background. Data Management and Operations

The Data Management and Operations As part of the preparatory activities for vatory for immediate follow-up, as need- Division is responsible for offsite opera- the annual meeting of the Users Com- ed. Calibration completeness and quality tionsandusersupportoftheLa Silla mittee (see p. 105), a new feedback cam- are also checked. Paranal Observatory and the European paignwaslaunchedinFebruary2014 segment of ALMA. The Division ensures targeting Service Mode users who were The aim is to ensure that all aspects are efficientexploitationofexistingandfuture awarded time in Periods 92 and 93. This in place so that science can be extracted ESO facilities based on an integrated wasthefirsttimethatusersinteracted from the data, from their arrival in the end-to-end operations approach. The with our updated and user-friendly ques- archive and throughout their lifecycle. This Division drives the evolution of the VLT tionnaire. All the results, based on a 30% process includes ensuring that the appro- dataflowsystemandensuresacoherent response rate (a new record), are availa- priate observing procedures are in place, development programme to accommo- blefromtheUSDPhase 2webpages. the appropriate calibrations are taken and date new requirements. The overall outcome shows a very high that suitable data reduction tools (also level of satisfaction with the services that knownaspipelines)areavailable.In2014 the USD provides to the community, as Science Data Products from multi-object User Support shown in the two charts: one for general spectroscopy with FORS and VIMOS, support and the other for Phase 2 specif- two of the most highly demanded instru- The primary role of the User Support ic support. ment modes offered on Paranal, and the Department (USD) is to support Service second generation VLT instruments MUSE Mode users of the La Silla Paranal Obser- AmajorhighlightfortheUSDduring2014 and KMOS were extensively enhanced. vatoryfacilities.Throughanefficienthelp was the consolidation of the Dashboard desk ([email protected]) and the public for Operational Metrics at ESO project Ultimately, the raw data and the tools to release of up-to-date observing tools, that aims to derive and monitor robust process them were delivered to the com- the USD acts as an important interface operational metrics, in order to provide a munity, as well as reduced data that are between the community and the obser- systematic measure of the effectiveness readyfordirectscientificuse.Theselatter vatory, handling a range of different types of Service Mode operations. The main products are generated both in-house, by of requests and providing support during results of this effort were published in the running mature data reduction pipelines, the implementation and follow-up of Ser- December issue of The Messenger in an and returned by the community. While vice Mode observations. The careful veri- article entitled “Fifteen years of Service the providers are responsible for generat- ficationofallServiceModeobserving Mode observing at ESO”. The report pre- ing these “external data products” and for material ensures compliance with Service sentsdifferentflavoursofobservingeffi- their quality, extensive content validation Modepoliciesaswellasefficientobserv- ciencies, including detailed breakdowns and homogenisation, in collaboration with ingstrategiesalignedwiththescientific of run completion rates and also accounts the providers themselves, are carried out goals set by the investigators. Further- for how the available science time is used. to ensure valuable and coherent archive more, the USD is also responsible for the content; this is the Phase 3 process. The travel of visiting astronomers to the available data product releases are listed observatory sites in Chile and for all mat- Back-end operations on the Phase 3 web pages. ters related to the Users Committee. Providing the best science data is at The ESO Science Archive Facility (http:// On top of day-to-day operations and the core of ESO’s mission of enabling archive.eso.org) is the one access point routine support tasks, the past year saw major science discoveries by the commu- to the data from the La Silla Paranal the latest second generation VLT instru- nity. Although several of the steps to Observatory.In2014thebenchmarkof ment, MUSE, enter into operations; after fulfilthisgoalapplytoallthreesitesofthe half a petabyte of raw and product data a series of effective commissioning runs La SillaParanalObservatory,thefocus holdings was exceeded, and with an andasuccessfulScienceVerification, here is on Paranal, where all of them are annual output to the community of MUSE scored as the second most fully in place. 170 TB,itfulfilsthedoubleroleofbeing requested Service Mode instrument on both a technical/operational data archive theVLTinPeriod94,afterX-shooter. Raw data is transferred in real time from and also a science resource in itself. Atthesametime,significantprogresswas the observatory to ESO Headquarters By making data available to the commu- also made with the commissioning of and processed into products. For this nity at large, the Science Archive Facility SPHERE (on UT3), which will be offered purpose,during2014about44TBof fosters the use of the data by scientists to the user community from 1 April 2015. raw data from the Paranal Observa tory not involved with the original proposal Despite Service Mode remaining the most wereprocessed,including14TBfrom for their own novel and independent sci- requested and allocated mode at Paranal the new instrument MUSE alone, in about ence goals. Papers based only on archive (at~70%during2014),thevisitingastron- 150 000processingjobs.Thecurrent data make up roughly 10–15% of ESO’s omertravelofficesupported572astron- performance of the instruments is con- yearly output in terms of refereed publi- omers in their travel arrangements to stantly measured in a quality control pro- cations, with papers using both archive Chile: 282 to La Silla, 251 to Paranal and cess. Relevant health-check parameters and new data contributing an additional 39toAPEX. arethenmeasured,trendsidentified 10%.Anarchivepaperisdefinedasa and the results are fed back to the obser- paper that makes use of data for which

38 ESO Annual Report 2014 none of the authors were part of the 3% 1% 3% 1% 1% 1% User satisfaction with the originalobservingproposal(thisdefinition overall support provided by 8% 8% theUSD(left)andwithspecific is common to all the major observato- support/advice provided at ries). Such papers can be queried from Phase 2 (right). the ESO Telescope Bibliography telbib. 41% 23% Roughly one quarter of the archive papers 41% 23% Very satisfied Very satisfied use data that were not published at all by 55% 68% Satisfied 55% 68% Satisfied the respective PIs. Moreover, the Science Neutral Archive Facility plays a fundamental role NeutDissral atisfied infulfillingthegoalsofPublicSurveys,for DissVeatisfiry dissatisfieded which the legacy value of the Science Data Very dissatisfied Products is a key science driver: about as many people not involved with the survey teams have accessed these data as 35 000 Source lists there are Co-Investigators on the original Images proposals. The popularity of the different 30 000 Pawprints data products provided is very high, with Source catalogues 25 000 one-dimensional spectra and source lists 1D spectra (/10) being the most requested, as shown by files 20 000 thetrendsinthefiguretotheright. of 15 000

umber Numberoffilesdown- N 10 000 loaded as a function of Dataflow projects time for different cate- 5000 gories of Science Data Dataflowapplicationsandservicessup- Products. Note that portingtheend-to-endVLTdataflow the number of one- 0 dimensional spectra 1 2 3 3 3 4 3 4 4 2 2 4 cover the proposal submission system 2 –1 –1 –1 –1 –1 –1 –1 –1 –1 –1 –1 –1 –1 was divided by ten for 12 12 12 (Phase1),observationspecificationand 12

03 display purposes. 03 03 09 06 09 06 09 06 execution in Visitor and Service Mode (Phase 2), archiving and retrieval of raw support for the Service and Visitor Mode support all required instruments and frames, data reduction, quality control, observing tools for detecting laser colli- integratewiththePhase 2Proposal the validation and ingestion of data prod- sions of telescopes by the new Paranal Prepa ration Tool. Since the ambient site- ucts including catalogues (Phase 3), and Adaptive Optics Facility; Mac OS support monitoring infrastructure in Paranal is their subsequent archive publication and forthedatareductionworkflowapplica- currently under going a major upgrade, a exploration. These systems ensure the tionReflex;andtheassociationofmaster modern web-based application is being continuation of astronomical value deliv- calibrations to raw science frames during developed that will soon serve both ered to the user community and a high archive retrieval. New projects were also Paranal and the ESO community, as shown operationalefficiencyandeffectiveness started, including the development of a bythescreenshotinthefiguresbelow. both in Garching and at the observatory. unifiedGuideCamToolfortheselectionof In2014manyenhancementstoexisting guide stars, tip/tilt stars and the produc- Details of the web-based interface to the Paranal tools were implemented. These included tionoffindingcharts,whichwilleventually astronomical site monitor.

ESO Annual Report 2014 39 In terms of technical strategy, a study was started to ensure the mid-term, cost- effective scalability of ESO’s bulk data storage infrastructure. Moreover, a strate- gic technical focus area for the ESO data- flowwasconsolidated:whereverpossi- ble,futuredataflowsolutionswillbe based on modern, dynamic web applications and infrastructure. This approach simplifiesdramaticallytherapidpublica- tionofnewfeatures,aswellasbugfixes, without redistributing desktop tools, while at the same time providing a cleaner, more productive and more maintainable development paradigm. The necessary steps were taken in conjunction with the Directorate of Engineering to develop the required technical skillsets. In the mid-term, this approach will have multiple benefits.TheseincludeanewPhase1 proposal submission system with dra- maticallyimprovedusability,amoreflexi- bleobservationspecificationinPhase2 as required by some new instruments, and modern archive services providing new approaches to explore the Science Archive Facility.

The control building at the Paranal Observatory can be seen below a rising Milky Way, like the proverbial pot of gold at the end of a celestial rainbow.

40 ESOAnnualReport2014 Y. Beletsky/ESO Y.

ESO Annual Report 2014 41 ESO ALMA Support Centre

The ESO ALMA Support Centre (EASC) is ESO’s offsite operations unit for ALMA. It Director of is one of the three ALMA Support Cen- Operations tres, which are based at the three ALMA Executives in Europe, North America and East Asia to support the Joint ALMA ESO ALMA Support Centre Head of EASC Observatory (JAO) and the ALMA onsite (EU Operations operation. EASC comprises the ALMA Manager) Regional Centre, ALMA offsite technical maintenance and development support, and ALMA science and outreach. The ALMA Regional Centre ALMA Science ALMA Computing ALMA Technical Team ePOD high-levelscientificrepresentationand ARC Department Head ALMA Programme Scientist Head of ALMA Computing Head of ATT Public Information Ofﬁcer scientificguidanceoftheEuropeanALMA (Head of EU-ARC) (Head of IST-EU) (Head of ICT-EU) (Head of EU-IET) (Member of IEPOT) project is provided by the ESO ALMA Programme Scientist, who acts as the Top-level structure of EASC. The EASC Division is head of the Integrated Science Team (IST) structured in four departments, with a link to the edu cation and Public Outreach Department (ePOD) and works in close collaboration with the through the Integrated Education and Public Out- VLT and E-ELT Programme Scientists to reach Team (IEPOT). exploitthescientificsynergieswithESO’s other major programmes. EASC is the and a wide range of operations applica- specificandspecialistskillsorequipment faceofALMAfortheEuropeanscientific tions, and makes important contributions (suchasacleanroom),werefinalisedwith community and the international ALMA to the data processing software, such specialised institutes in Europe. partners for ALMA operations. EASC is as CASA (Common Astronomy Software an important component in the success Applications) and the science pipeline. The full range of ALMA-wide maintenance of ALMA, both for its performance as plansisstillbeingdeveloped.Thedefi- ascientificinstrumentandforESOasa Thefocusfor2014wasonimprovingthe nition and implementation of the JAO-led partnerintheALMAproject.In2014, stability and performance of the ALMA Integrated Engineering Team (IET), the EASC was fully operational and played an software, which has led to much improved combination of the engineering teams of important role in ALMA operations. observingefficienciesinthel a t t e r part the three ALMA Executives and the JAO, of the year. The usability of many opera- analogous to the ICT, was drafted in Forthescientificusercommunity,the tionaltoolshasbeenimprovedsignifi- 2014.TheIET’staskistoprovidetechni- central ALMA Regional Centre (ARC) cantly. Many new features are still being cal support to the whole ALMA Obser- based at ESO Garching and the ARC added to the tools as the observatory vatory throughout the partnership, follow- nodes in Europe are the primary inter- gains more experience with the full lifecy- ing agreed procedures and division of faces with individual ALMA users. As in cle of ALMA observing projects and addi- tasks among the ALMA partners. The previous years, the European ARC has tional observing modes are being com- ATT at ESO is the European part of the been of prime importance for the success missioned. New applications, such as the IET. It has provided remote (offsite) main- ofScienceVerificationandEarlyScience ALMA dashboard, which displays the live tenance of the ESO deliverables through- observations and for high-quality data array status and the ALMA Calibrator out2014,including: delivery. More details about the ARC are SourceCatalogue(seetopleftfigureon – European ALMA antennas. Warranty given in the following section. the next page, and described in Fomalont actions for the antennas were followed etal.2014,TheMessenger,155,19), up with the ALMA construction con- have been added to the deliverables of sortium, AEM, to ensure that the high ALMA Computing the ALMA computing group at ESO. antenna availability continued. A number of highly specialised tasks were The ALMA Computing Department within also carried out on the antennas. The EASC is part of the quadrilateral ALMA ALMA Technical Team tilt meters have shown an unexpected Integrated Computing Team (ICT) con- failure rate affecting the antenna relia- sisting of contributions from North Ameri- The ALMA Technical Team (ATT) at EASC bility. The root cause seems to have ca, East Asia, the JAO and ESO. The ICT is responsible for offsite technical support beenidentifiedbythemanufacturerand is responsible for the ongoing develop- and hardware development projects. In has been removed in the repaired units. ment, maintenance and operations sup- 2014,theATTprovidedsupport,specific – Provision of spares for the AEM anten- port of the entire suite of ALMA software, knowledge and assistance to the ALMA nas. ESO staff supported AEM in a code base of about six million lines Observatory in the areas of antennas, warranty activities and trained JAO distributed over 25 subsystems. ESO, in antenna transporters, front ends, calibra- personnel in troubleshooting AEM collaboration with several European tion devices, the back end, the correlator antennas with some onsite missions. science institutes is responsible for the and site infrastructure (in particular – Further training on the job in the front- ALMA archive, the ALMA common soft- thepowersystem).Thefirstcontractsfor end area was given to JAO technical ware infrastructure, telescope calibration hardware maintenance, which require staff.

42 ESO Annual Report 2014 An example query from the ALMA Calibrator Source An amplitude calibration device being serviced at Catalogue. A number of calibrator sources have been the OSF. Each ALMA antenna has one of these selectedfromtheskymap(leftpanel)andshowflux devices to calibrate of the radio signals. density variations that need to be monitored at regular intervals (right panel).

– Technical issue with the amplitude cali- receiver bands) and other hardware or NRAO and ESO, will provide a fast net- bration devices, which developed in system capabilities during the operations work connection between the ALMA 2014.EachALMAantennahousesone phase. ObservatoryandSantiago.In2014it of these devices to enable radio cali- reached an important milestone with the bration of the received signals. Each The Band 5 project, carried out by a completionofthefirsthigh-speedlink device includes a movable robotic arm European consortium of NOVA, the fromtheOSFtotheSantiagooffice.The with radiometric loads for calibration Netherlands Research School for Astrono- construction of the second, redundant, (the design of one type received a my, and GARD (Sweden), has made sig- link is in progress. Use of this link, fore- p a t e n t ) andprovidesspaceforfilters. nificantprogress.InMay2014,theproject seen for early 2015, will enable ALMA These devices were designed, built successfully passed the Manufacturing to have a high-speed data link to the rest and delivered by ESO and ESO con- Readiness Review, which marked the of the world. tractors. Based on increased opera- project’s formal readiness for the manu- tions experience onsite, it was found facturing phase. Following this important that some devices needed to be milestone, large-scale procurements were ALMA development studies reworked to make the movable parts started and activities ramped up for the fully oil-tight. This servicing was done production of 73 Band 5 receiver car- In order to prepare for larger ALMA in time for the Early Science observa- tridges. The plan for the integration of upgrades, ESO runs an ALMA develop- tion block in December through a joint, Band 5 into the existing ALMA front ends ment study programme. External pro- fast and well-coordinated effort at the Operations Support Facility (OSF) posals are collected in response to a call between EASC, the JAO and contrac- wasfinalisedandapproved.Theplanis for ALMA upgrade studies, which are torswithspecificknowledge. optimised so as to minimise the effects on typically released every three years fol- – Support for the JAO antenna transport- the working ALMA system and any dis- lowingaspecificEuropeanALMAScience er group in the review of maintenance turbance to science operations. Front-end AdvisoryCommittee/ScientificTechnical activities for the antenna transporter. assemblies which need to be removed Committee (ESAC/STC) recommendation. – Contract oversight. Several contracts from an antenna for preventive mainte- The proposals are selected for negotia- in Europe, placed by the ATT with the nance (mainly the cryocooler) will also tion and funding after a detailed review EASC, are running for offsite mainte- receive a Band 5 cartridge, minimising the by an EASC committee and following an nance of the digitisers, digitiser clocks, overheads of this integration. Towards the ESAC/STC recommendation. correlatortuneablefiltersandBand7. endof2014,thetechnicalinfrastructure and management structure were imple- In2014twostudiesreachedsuccessful mented at the OSF in time to start regular conclusion: one investigating the scien- ALMA development integration activities in April–May 2015 tificopportunitiesforsupra-THzinterfer- whenthefirstproductioncartridgearrives. ometry with ALMA and the other evalu- The ALMA partnership foresees continu- atingthescientificcaseandsome ous upgrades and the development of Theopticalfibreproject,ledbytheJAO possible technical options for an ALMA new software, front ends (e.g., additional with contributions and co-funding by Band 2+3. A coordination meeting was

ESO Annual Report 2014 43 heldinMarch2014inFlorence,todiscuss algorithms will allow users to make use making the transition to full science oper- the possibility of building one or more of the rich spectral datasets and may ations,so2014wastherightmoment prototype receivers for the supra-THz fre- also allow ALMA to provide automatic line for a conference dedicated to ALMA sci- quency range. Equipped with this fre- identificationsforarchivedata. ence. The conference “Revo lution in quency band ALMA could observe heavy Astronomy with ALMA — the 3rd Year” and deuterated molecules in the local High spatial resolution observation of the was held in Tokyo on 8–11 December Universe and also low excitation molecu- supermassive black holes in our own 2014.Ithighlightedthescienceresults largas,aswellascarryoutefficient Galaxy and in nearby galaxies will be fromALMAobtainedduringthefirstthree spectral scans for high-redshift galaxies. made possible when ALMA will be used years of science operations and was as part of a millimetre very long baseline effective in motivating future collabora- A series of new ALMA upgrade studies interferometer. ALMA, connected with tions among researchers around the wasalsolaunchedin2014,tostudypos- other millimetre observatories in the world world.Initsfirstthreeyearsofscience sible upgrades to the ALMA cryostats as a single millimetre very long baseline operations, ALMA has been producing and digital electronics systems, to devel- interferometer instrument, will allow the a growing number of impressive and op advanced data analysis software and study of the gas close to the surface of scientificallycompellingresultsasthe to enable exciting new observing modes the black hole and to test directly its most most powerful millimetre/submillimetre to study the Sun, supermassive black elusive properties. While the technical interferometer in the world. The science holes in our own and nearby galaxy cen- modificationsneededtoenablethis topicscoveredmanyfieldsofastronomy, tres, and more. The digital electronics observing mode with ALMA are being including: cosmology and galaxies in upgrade will hopefully allow the existing implemented and tested in Chile, the the distant Universe; nearby galaxies and digitiser cards to be replaced for better challenging aspects of organising the use the Galactic Centre; the interstellar medi- maintainability and to process a wider of ALMA as part of a global network are um and star formation in our own Milky intermediate frequency range, enabling being addressed. Way; astrochemistry; circumstellar discs; thefullsensitivityandspectralefficiency exoplanets; the Solar System; stellar of a new generation of receivers with evolution and the Sun. Almost 300 partici- broader bandwidths to be exploited. The ALMA science conference pants travelled to Japan to discuss the advanced data analysis software aims exciting ALMA results. to deliver optimisation and auto matic line ALMA Early Science results are being identificationalgorithmsforALMA;these published while the observatory is

Participants at the conference “Revolution in Astronomy with ALMA — the 3rd Year”, held in Tokyo, Japan, 8 –11December2014.

44 ESO Annual Report 2014 This is the sharpest image ever taken by ALMA — sharper than is routinely achieved in visible light with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. It shows the protoplanetary disc surrounding the young star HL Tauri. These new ALMA observations reveal substructures within the disc that have never been seen before and may indicate the possible positions of planets forming in the dark

patches within the system. ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)

ESO Annual Report 2014 45 European ALMA Regional Centre

The role of the European ALMA Regional The European ARC is a Centre is to provide a wide range of European ARC nodes network of institutes and consists of the cen- support tasks to the European commu- tral ARC node at ESO nityandtotheALMAproject.Itsspecific (red) and seven ARC roles are to strengthen the European nodes (blue) in Bologna ALMA community, broaden access to (Italy), Bonn–Cologne (Germany), Grenoble ALMA science to all European astrono- (France), Leiden (the mers,optimisethescientificreturn, Netherlands), Manchester provide expert assistance for ALMA com- (UK), Ondrejov–Prague Onsala missioning and optimisation of capabili- (Czech Republic) and Onsala (Sweden). There ties and provide tools to users and the Manchester is also a new Centre of observatory. In summary, the European Expertise in Portugal ARC contributes to “making ALMA work”. Leiden (green). Bonn–Cologne

The European ARC is unique in having a Ondrejov distributed network of nodes, with the ESO Garching ESO node coordinating the activities and working in closer contact with the ALMA Grenoble Bologna Observatory. The ARC nodes have close ties with the community (active research Lisbon environments), host many of the millimetre/ submillimetre experts in Europe and are actively involved in ALMA commissioning and optimisation of array capabilities.

In2014,theARCnetworkexpandedto acquire a new Centre of Expertise in Lisbon, Portugal. This Centre aims to This support stretches from the technical the highest priority projects were 9.1 build up the community, expand the user preparation of the projects, their execu- (overall ALMA pressure factor is 5.7) in base, and further develop areas of tech- tion and quality assurance through to Cycle1and4.9(globalALMA:3.9)in nicalandscientificexpertiseinPortugal, data delivery and post-delivery quality Cycle 2. withthegoalofassumingofficialstatus control. as an ARC node in due course. During2014,theEuropeanARCpro- The success of the European ARC net- cessed a total of 568 execution blocks Since the very beginning of Early Sci- work is highlighted by some numbers; of and 318 scheduling blocks (each schedul- ence operations in September 2011 (with a total of 1108 submitted Cycle 1 propos- ing block is split into one or more execu- 16 antennas),theEuropeanARChas als,481wereEuropean(43%);inCycle2 tion blocks according to the science goal been very active and successful in sup- ofatotalof1383proposals,562(41%) of the project). The average analysis time porting all European PI ALMA projects. were European. The pressure factors for is seven working days and the average

European refereed ALMA publications European refereed ALMA publications (total: 108) 50 A&A ApJ MNRAS Nature A&A 40 Science 40% (43)

s ApJS PhRvL 30 JMoSp HEDP PhRvL/JMoSp/HEDP: 3% (3) ublication ApJ ApJS: 2% (2) 39% (42)

of p Science: 3% (3)

20 Nature: 4% (4) Number MNRAS: 10% (11) 10 The distribution of all publications based on ALMA data that can be attributed to the European Executive, by journal. The large 0 fraction of Astrophysical Journal (ApJ) ALMA papers comes from 2012 2013 2014 thefactthatallScienceVerificationdataareattributedtoallthree Year ARCs and so American authors publishing in ApJ are counted.

46 ESO Annual Report 2014 delivery time to the PIs is 22 days (an excellent value compared to the average for the global ALMA community). Two hundred and thirty two scheduling blocks (413executionblocks)weredeliveredto European PIs.

In February 2013, the ALMA science archive opened to users from all over the world,withthefirstCycle0datasets becoming public, and since then, ALMA archival research studies have become a reality. The total of downloaded ALMA data in Europe amounts to 51 TB (out of 97 TB total); 57% of all refereed ALMA publications use data from the European ALMAExecutive(ESO)and40%ofall refereed ALMA publications have a PI in one of the ESO Member States. These figuresareillustratedinthebottomfig- ures on the previous page where a statistical summary of the European refereed ALMA publications is plotted, split by the journal of publication.

The ARC also includes user support fortheAtacamaPathfinderExperiment 12-metre ALMA antenna located at Chajnantor. This was the most productive yearsofarforAPEX,bothintermsofthe numberofhoursonsky(4400)andby thenumberofpaperspublished(74).The most popular instrument within the ESO community has shifted from the Large APEXBolometerCamera(LABOCA)to the Swedish Heterodyne Facility Instru- ment (SHFI). In addition, two PI instru- mentsweretemporarilyinstalledin2014: from June to September, the ArTeMiS bolometerarraycoveringafieldofviewof 4by2arcminuteswithfullsampling;and fromDecember,theSupercam345 GHz heterodyne array from the University of Arizona was installed in the Cassegrain cabin. Supercam is the largest such array worldwide,andover200 hourswere devoted to mapping several square degrees of the Galactic Plane, Orion and the NGC 628 region, together with parts of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, in the CO(3-2) line.

After an intensive installation campaign by the instrumentteamandAPEXstaff,theSupercam visiting instrument was successfully installed in the CassegraincabinofAPEX.Supercamisa64-pixel 345GHzheterodynearraybuiltbytheUniversityof Arizona.

ESO Annual Report 2014 47 Programmes ESO/G. Lambert Instrumentation for the La Silla Paranal Observatory

Theyear2014hasbeenaverypro- Instrument commissioning and spiral galaxies; the interstellar medium in ductive one. ALMA construction is operations galaxies affected by ram-pressure strip- now substan tially complete, with only ping; dynamical constraints on intermedi- the Residencia left to build. It was also The K-band multi-object spectrograph, ate-mass black holes; and studies of a year in which two major second KMOS, was granted Provisional Accept- lensed quasars and high-redshift proto- generation instruments were installed anceinChileattheendof2014.This clusters.Since1October2014,the on the VLT and successfully commis- major milestone follows a full year of oper- MUSEwide-fieldmodeinnaturalseeing sioned, both immediately yielding ationsandsignificanteffortstoimprove has also been offered to the community. spectacular results. This is an unprec- the reliability of the cryogenic pick-off edented achievement in the history arms. A major overhaul of the KMOS Theyear2014alsosawtheintegration of ESO. Excellent progress was also robotic pick-off arms was undertaken to and commissioning of ESO’s new exo- made on many other projects as well. eliminate problems with the premature planet imager SPHERE at the VLT. After However, the year was not without its aging of the linear bearings. This had shipment in February, the installation difficulties:lackofESOeffortresulted resulted in several arms with unreliable and testing on Paranal started early in in management implementing a six- positioning, requiring them to be disabled. March and lasted until the end of April. month hiatus for the ESO work on the All the bearings will be replaced early in First light and commissioning followed Enhanced Resolution Imager and 2015 with hybrid ceramic bearings, better between early and mid-May. The instru- Spectrograph (ERIS) and the upgrade adapted to the extreme conditions under ment’s performance was already very to the CRyogenic high-resolution Infra- which the arms are required to perform. compelling at that time, and subsequent Red Echelle Spectrograph (CRIRES+). commissioning periods in July, August Following the successful launch of MUSEwasinstalledonUT4on19Janu- and October were used to tune opera- Gaia and the Phase-Referenced Imag- ary2014.Afteralignment,MUSEsaw tional procedures. The adaptive optics ing and Micro-arcsecond Astrometry itsfirstlighton31January.During15 performance of SPHERE is excellent, with (PRIMA)gatereviewinJanuary2014, nightsinFebruary2014,thefirstfunction- H-band Strehl ratios of about 90% rou- the decision was made to cancel the al tests and performance assessments tinely achieved on sky in good observing PRIMA project and focus ESO’s effort were made. From the early minutes conditions.Theefficientcorrectionof on ensuring the success of the two onwards, MUSE worked as expected and aberrationsalsoproduces,forthefirst second generation VLTI instruments the whole run went very smoothly. The time, diffraction-limited images at optical GRAVITY and the Multi AperTure mid- performance, as anticipated by the labo- wavelengths with an 8-metre-class tele- Infrared Spectro-Scopic Experiment ratory measurements, is excellent: the scope: angular resolution better than (MATISSE). Work has progressed throughput of the instrument is very high, 20 milliarcsecondsisachieved,several quickly with the levelling of Armazones peaking at 55% at 700 nanometres. times sharper than Hubble Space Tele- in preparation for the E-ELT. Of course, When including the telescope and atmos- scope images. The contrast performance the undoubted high point of the year pheric transmission, the end-to-end peak exceeds expectations, and is better than was the culmi nation of many years of efficiencyisanoutstanding35%,making 10 –6 at 5σconfidenceingoodconditions. hard work to reach the point where MUSEthemostefficientspectrograph Angular differential imaging, a method ESO Council was able to approve the on the VLT in the 500–850 nanometre which could not realistically be tested in way forward for the construction of wavelength range. Two further commis- the laboratory because of the missing Phase 1 of the E-ELT. sioning runs in May and July were neces- telescopefieldrotation,turnedouttobe sary to fully integrate the instrument into very effective in enhancing the image the Paranal infrastructure, optimise oper- contrast on account of the very high ations and tune the data reduction pro- instrument stability. cedures.Allscientificallyusefuldatacol- lected during those runs are publicly AcomprehensiveScienceVerification available from the VLT MUSE commis- campaign was launched at the end sioning webpage. of2014.Spectaculardatawithunprece- dented angular reso lution could be AcallforScienceVerificationproposals achieved, e.g., resolving the stellar sur- was issued in mid-April and more than face of a star with a diameter of about 85proposalswerereceived;49were 55 milliarcseconds or binary stars with scheduled for obser vation. Observations separations on similar angular scales. A were carried out during two observing wide range of science topics was cov- runsinJuneandAugust2014,andall ered including imaging and spectroscopy but two proposals could be completed. of Solar System objects, exoplanetary The science topics covered are extremely systems, protoplanetary and debris discs wide and include studies of a brown around young stars, the mass loss and dwarf atmosphere; multiple stellar popu- environment of evolved stars, the circum- The Next-Generation Transit Survey is located at ESO’s Paranal Observatory. This project will lations in globular clusters; the star for- stellar ring of SN 1987A and the inner search for transiting exoplanets. mation history in circumnuclear rings of region of the active galactic nucleus (AGN)

ESO Annual Report 2014 49 of NGC 1068. The commissioning and science operations with imaging, low- ScienceVerificationsuccesseshave and high-resolution spectroscopy in created high expectations in the commu- Period 95. The availability of real-time nity,reflectedinalargenumberofpro- monitoring of atmospheric water vapour posals submitted for the Period 95, start- will allow optimum use of good sky trans- ing in April 2015. Early guaranteed time parency, crucial for observations in the observationshadalreadystartedinP94, mid-infrared, to be made. ushering in a new era of exoplanet and high-contrast imaging observations. CRIRES+ is the upgrade that will trans- form CRIRES into a cross-dispersed spectrograph, increasing the simultane- Instrument upgrades ously covered wavelength range by a factor of ten. For advanced wavelength In the VLT Imager and Spectrometer calibration, custom-made absorption for mid-InfraRed (VISIR), the observed gas cells will be added and a spectro- excess low frequency noise of the newly polarimetric unit will allow circularly polar- installed AQUARIUS detector array ised spectra to be recorded. The main appears to be inherent to the design of science drivers include the search for the device. It could not therefore be super-Earths in the habitable zone of low- remedied at the detector level, and faster mass stars, the atmospheric characteri- chopping with the VLT secondary mirror sation of transiting planets and the origin (M2) has been selected as the most andevolutionofstellarmagneticfields. TheAOFtestconfigurationintheGarchinglabora- effective way forward. Following exten- Following Council approval of Guaran- tory: the deformable secondary mirror sits on top of the ASSIST bench and the GRAAL module is sive analysis and testing, an improved M2 teed Observing Time, the agreement with mounted on the Nasmyth focus simulator, with the fieldstabilisationcontrolloophasbeen the consortium led by Artie Hatzes CAMCAO silver cryostat in the foreground. implemented and commissioned at the (Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg) Cassegrain focus of UT3, providing chop- was signed. ping frequencies up to 5 Hz. In addition, conditions. With 0.8-arcsecond seeing, two potentially critical problems with the The reinstallation of NACO at the CRIRES the delivered Strehl ratio was > 70% in AQUARIUS detector mounts and electri- focus of UT1 required the removal of H-band (limited by the test setup). This cal isolation have been diagnosed and CRIRESinmid-2014,oneyearearlierthan mode will serve as a maintenance tool successfully addressed. On-sky perfor- the original CRIRES+ schedule, and so for the deformable secondary mirror, mance was demonstrated during two the instrument was shipped back to ESO exploiting its 1170 actuators and correc- commissioning runs, showing better sen- Headquarters. CRIRES is operated in tion capability fully. In the second part sitivitythantheoldVISIR(seefigure conjunction with a 60-element curvature of2014thegroundlayercorrectionmode below);forspectroscopyat10μmagain adaptive optics system that requires inter- of GRAAL was tested and the star image of a factor of more than six is realised vention to prevent its obsolescence. The diameter was reduced by a factor of inobservingefficiency.VISIRwillresume accident during the dismounting of this 1.75, which is very close to the optimal module, when the fore-optics and adap- correction. tive optics (AO) modules were damaged, necessitated its complete shipping to The subproject concerning multiple Garching for repair and upgrade. The Pre- laser guide stars took delivery of the four liminary Design Review for the CRIRES+ 22-watt laser units manufactured by project is scheduled for April 2015. TOPTICA (Germany). Soon the lasers were integrated into the laser guide star subunitsandthefirstsystemwasthor- Instruments under construction and in oughly tested. A review concluded this design series of tests and authorised their instal- lationonUT4forthestartofcommis- The Adaptive Optics Facility proceeded sioning tests. A review was conducted withreviewsandsystemtestsin2014, in Chile in November to validate the sci- withfirstshipmentsandcommissioning entificoperatingconceptfortheAOFand activities planned to start in 2015. The concluded successfully. adaptive optics module GRAAL, serving the infrared imager HAWK-I, was exten- GRAVITY, a second generation VLTI sively tested on the ASSIST test bench instrument (PI: Frank Eisenhauer, Max ImagequalitywithVISIRinthePAH1filterforthe forthewholeof2014.First,themainte- Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics brightstarHD45348(~150Jy).Theindividualframes were combined with shift and add. The green bar nance mode using a natural guide star Garching), combines four telescopes denotes an angular extent of one arcsecond. was validated under realistic simulated in the K-band to measure astrometric

50 ESO Annual Report 2014 The MATISSE N-band cryostat and cold optics The ESPRESSO vacuum vessel. under installation in front of the warm optics bench at the OCA laboratory in Nice. separations of objects located within the nowintheintegrationandverification In 2012 a consortium composed of ESO, 2-arcsecondfieldofviewoftheVLTIwith phase at OCA: both the LM- and N-band the Instituto Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC, a precision of 10 microarcseconds and cryostat assemblies, including cold Spain) and Universidade Federale do Rio enables spectroscopic imaging. At the optics and engineering grade detectors, Grande do Norte (UFRN, Brazil) closed a endof2014,thebeamcombinerinstru- are installed in the laboratory and the contract with Menlo Systems GmbH to ment was ready for full system tests. The warm optics are being integrated and provide the turnkey laser frequency comb assembly and integration of the infrared aligned. Provisional Acceptance Europe system for HARPS. The laser frequency wavefront sensors was also progressing. is planned for early 2016. comb allows a series of precisely equally The main obstacle that GRAVITY has spaced and stable lines to be produced been facing is light from the metrology Procurement of components for the for spectrograph calibration. After intense laser being scattered onto the science ESPRESSO ultra-stable high-resolution research and development activities, a and fringe-tracking detectors. This light optical spectrograph project (PI: Francesco durablephotoniccrystalfibrehasbeen mostly originates from a holmium reso- Pepe, Geneva) has progressed well. The found.Thecouplingtothisfibrehasbeen nanceinthefibredelaylines.Twopoten- vacuum vessel and the thermal enclosures improved, and the laser frequency comb tial mitigation paths for this increase of have already been delivered and the cali- has reached the required standard of backgroundhavebeenidentified:moving bration unit has been assembled. The reliability, with installation and commis- to a shorter laser wavelength or imple- echelle grating has arrived at ESO Head- sioning scheduled for April 2015. mentingthree-waymetrology.Thefive quarters, but the throughput is on the low SAPHIRA detectors were upgraded to side, and possibilities for its replacement MOONS, the Multi-Object Optical and the next generation, leading to unprece- arebeingevaluated.Thefirstimages Near-infrared Spectrograph for the VLT dented performance with readout noise were recorded with the cooled engineer- willcovertherange0.8to1.8μmwitha below one electron at liquid nitrogen tem- ing grade detectors. The optical bench fibre-fedmulti-objectspectrograph(PI: peratures. The Provisional Acceptance is in the manufacturing phase and the Michele Cirasuolo, UK-ATC, Edinburgh). Europe process has been initiated and procurement of the spectrograph optics MOONSwillhave1000fibresinthefocal the shipment of the beam combiner to is ongoing. The cameras have suffered plane and will offer spectral resolutions Chile is planned for mid 2015. various delays, but they are expected by ofabout4000and20000.Followinga the beginning of 2016, without impact competitive Phase A process and STC MATISSE, a four-way beam combiner on the current schedule. All the change recommendation, the agreement for the for the L- to N-band (PI: Bruno Lopez, requests aimed to prepare the coudé construction of MOONS was signed in Observatoire de la Cote d’Azur [OCA], paths and the combined coudé labora- September2014.Thepreliminarydesign Nice), is the other second generation VLTI tory at Paranal for the installation of the phase is currently underway for all instrument. It will provide simple imaging coudé train and the instrument have aspects of the instrument and the pro- at interferometric resolution of a wide been processed and approved. The two posedfibrepositioningandmetrology range of targets, including asteroids, external layers of thermal enclosures systems are being prototyped. young stellar objects and AGN. The man- were assembled in Paranal in the com- ufacturing of the subsystems has been bined coudé labora tory in November, and Following the STC’s recommendation to completed after problems with some of the laboratory is now ready to host the pursue4MOST(4-metreMulti-Object the warm optics were solved. MATISSE is instrument when it arrives. Spectroscopic Telescope) studies with a

ESO Annual Report 2014 51 MACAO instantaneous Strehl – K-band – UT4 10 0 Field stabilisation Auto-guiding M2 powered off 10 –1 J. Woillez/P. Haguenauer

–2

y 10 abilit

Prob 10 –3

10 –4

Construction work on the new AT station at Paranal.

10 –5 0.0 0.20.4 0.60.8 1.0 Minimum instantaneous Strehl view to starting construction in 2015, The Paranal Instrumentation Programme Instantaneous Strehl ratio performance improve- theconsolidationofthe4MOSTconsor- was presented to Council in December ments resulting from an optimised use of the UTs. Replacingfieldstabilisationbyauto-guiding,and tium (PI: Roelof de Jong, Institut für 2014.Thedocumenttracesthepathfor powering off the tip/tilt control of the secondary Astrophysik, Potsdam) and budget is tak- the development of new instruments for mirrors has improved the statistics of low Strehl ing place. Contractual documents are the Paranal and La Silla Observatory until events, directly translating into an improved fringe beingfinalisedinparallel.4MOSTwillbe the year 2020. tracking limiting magnitude and performance. aworld-classfacilityforfibre-fedmulti- object spectroscopy and will be installed on VISTA. Its unique capabilities result VLT infrastructure projects station is progressing well and is expect- fromalargefieldofview,mediumand ed to be completed by April 2015. high spectral resolutions in the visible After the VLTI work was re-organised into range for both Galactic and extragalactic separate projects, it became clear that VLTI-PR2: PRIMA astrometry. The PRIMA applications with very high multiplex a high level of coordination and a system gatereviewwasheldinJanuary2014, capabilities. view for the whole VLTI facility was after which ESO asked the STC to rec- required. This approach was necessary ommend that the PRIMA project be ERIS will be a new infrared facility for in order to implement the major infra- cancelled, but with no irreversible action the J- to M-band(1–5μm)attheUT4 structure changes needed to host the beingtakenpriortotheconfirmation Cassegrain focus; it will feed both an second generation instruments GRAVITY by ESA that Gaia is fully functional. Fol- infrared imager and the upgraded integral and MATISSE and to guarantee their best lowing the gate review recommendations, fieldspectrograph(SPIFFI)ofSINFONI performance. Following the AOF scheme, a PRIMA lessons learned exercise has with AO-corrected wavefronts. ERIS will the VLTI projects will therefore be coor- been conducted with an external chair. use the AOF’s deformable mirror, as well dinated by a VLTI facility project starting After endorsement by the STC, the work as one of its lasers, to improve both the in 2015. The VLTI interferometric instru- on PRIMA astrometry was therefore spatial resolution and sky coverage comment PIONIER was upgraded with a new stopped and the resources allocated to pared to the current NACO and SINFONI detectorin2014andwillberelocatedin other VLTI projects. instruments. After a six-month hiatus, the combined laboratory. The VLTI inter- the project was re-established as a con- ferometric instrument MIDI will be decom- VLTI-PR3: Adaptive optics for the Auxil- sortium-led project, and down-scoped missioned in 2015. iary Telescopes. The design of the in some technical areas (no infrared tip/tilt New Adaptive Optics Module for Interfer- sensor or pyramid wavefront sensor) The VLTI infrastructure projects (VLTI-PR) ometry (NAOMI) is progressing and the while minimising the impact on the scien- arebrieflyoverviewed;PR1–5wereintro- Preliminary Design Review is planned for tificrequirements,inordertomaintainthe duced in the 2013 Annual Report and May 2015. schedule. The consortium will be led by PR6 concerning investigations of vibra- the Max Planck Institute for Extraterres- tions has been added. VLTI-PR4:PreparationforGRAVITYand trial Physics (MPE, Garching; PI: Richard MATISSE. The changes to the VLTI infra- Davies). VLTI-PR1: Auxiliary Telescope service structure necessary for the implementa- station. The construction of the service tion of GRAVITY and MATISSE have been

52 ESO Annual Report 2014 finalised.ThesechangesimpacttheVLTI laboratory and the coudé rooms of the four UTs and work will start in April 2015 and last six months. The upgrade of the adaptive optics dedicated to the VLTI inside the UT coudé rooms (Multi Appli- cation Curvature Adaptive Optics, MACAO) started in November and will continue for the whole of 2015. The manufacture of the last pair of differential delaylinesisnearlyfinishedandtheywill be integrated on Paranal in August 2015.

VLTI-PR5: Second generation fringe tracker. The Phase A study is running, aimed at establishing the use of GRAVITY as a second generation fringe tracker for MATISSE and a Phase A review is planned for March 2015.

VLTI-PR6: Performance and vibrations. Earlyin2014,theParanalSystemEngi- neering group gathered some evidence thatUTfieldstabilisation,aclosedloop between the guide probe and the secondary mirror, was responsible for tip/tilt disturbances beyond the correction capability of MACAO at the VLTI (see top rightfigureonthepreviouspage).These disturbanceswereidentifiedasbeing responsible for systematic fringe-tracking failures on the UTs. In a joint VLTI-SPHERE investigation, the local tip/tilt control loop of the secondary mirror of the UTs was foundtoinjectsignificanttip/tiltinthe 20–200 Hz frequency range. The instantaneous Strehl performance of MACAO and the contrast of SPHERE were improved by temporarily disabling this controlloop.Finally,asasidebenefitto the MACAO obsolescence project, the control bandwidth of its controller was improved and a vibration-tracking algorithm was implemented, resulting in better performance. Step by step, throughout the year, the quality of the beam delivered by the UTs has improved, as witnessed by the tip/tilt and fringe sensors of the VLTI. Additional activities to improve the performance are planned for 2015.

Picture of the Orion Nebula based on a mosaic of many MUSE datasets that were obtained soon after

theinstrumentachievedfirstlightinearly2014. ESO/MUSE consortium/R. Bacon

ESO Annual Report 2014 53 ESO/Y. Beletsky ESO/Y.

54 ESO Annual Report 2014 ALMA antennas observing the night sky.

ESO Annual Report 2014 55 ALMA

ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/ protoplanetary disc of HL Tauri, which Close-out of construction activities submillimeter Array, is a large interfero- featured strongly in the press worldwide. meter for radio wavelengths ranging from –EarlyScienceCycle1wasfinishedand ESO’s involvement in ALMA’s other con- 0.3 to 9.6 millimetres. ALMA was con- Cycle 2 started. struction activities has come to an end, structed through an international collabo- – The construction contract for the ALMA andin2014contractswereeitherclosed ration between Europe, North America Residencia was signed. after the warranty expired or warranty and East Asia in cooperation with the cases were followed up. Republic of Chile. The ALMA Observatory comprises 66 high-precision antennas The ALMA Residencia The last European ALMA antenna, manu- with state-of-the-art receivers located on factured by AEM, was delivered in 2013. the Chajnantor Plateau at 5000 metres The procurement of the ALMA Residencia During2014,thelastofthe25AEM above sea level in the district of San Pedro wascompletedin2014.Followingthe antennas was relocated to the Chajnantor de Atacama, in the Chilean Andes. The designbythearchitecturalofficeKouvo& Plateau and used for science observa- 12-metre diameter antennas can be Partanen(Finland),finishedin2013,the tions depending on the available receiver placedinconfigurationswithreconfigur- tenderingprocessin2013/14ledto bands. able baselines ranging from 15 metres to acceptable offers and the construction ultimately 16 kilometres. Resolutions as contractwassignedattheendof2014. In2014,ESOstaffcontinuedtofollow fineas0.005arcsecondscanbeachieved up warranty cases and assisted in at the highest frequencies, a factor of ten Given the harsh desert environment, coordinating the dismantling process of better than the NASA/ESA Hubble Space remote location and necessity for shift the AEM antenna construction site at Telescope at optical wavelengths. work (both day and night) for the ALMA the OSF. ESO staff gained considerable staff, the Residencia was designed to experience in systematically tracking After more than ten years of construction provide a pleasant onsite environment for technical warranty issues affecting the and with all subsystems completed and staff and visitors, who come from as antennas or other subsystems, in order to inoperationin2013,theyear2014was many as 20 countries worldwide. The ini- verify the reliability requirements and to marked by the transition to full science tial design was undertaken by Kouvo detectspecifichardwareitemsrequiring operations and the stunning science &Partanenandwasthenadaptedtothe attention as early as possible. results resulting from the Early Science ChileanmarketbyRigotti&Simunovic observations. In particular, the commis- Arquitectos,aChileanfirmofarchitects. sioning of the long baselines, still a con- ALMA extension of capabilities struction task, resulted in extraordinary The Residencia has two main zones: results. The only remaining ESO-related common areas and dormitory areas. During2014,therewasasignificant construction item to be delivered to The design uses a modular concept so amount of effort invested by all ALMA ALMA is the ALMA Residencia. that more accommodation can be added partners to complete ALMA’s capabilities. if necessary. Initially there will be 120 ThecommissioningandScienceVerifi- Themajorhighlightsin2014included: rooms extending across six buildings. cation activities were carried out by the – ALMA construction was completed and Extension of Capabilities Group, headed all subsystems were in operation. The common areas include leisure facili- by the Joint ALMA Observatory, with – The use of long baselines, up to 15 kilo- ties such as a library, cafeteria, lounge, metres, was commissioned in a dedi- spa with gym, swimming pool, sauna and cated campaign involving many people barbecue area. A kitchen and dining View of the Array Operations Site, located at from the ALMA partnership. The results room will also be provided, with enough 5000 metresabovesealevel,ontheChajnantor Plateau. The large antennas have a diameter of were stunning and, among others, pro- space to accommodate half of the resi- 12 metres,while12smallerantennaswithadiameter duced the extraordinary image of the dents at any one time. of 7 metres make up the ALMA Compact Array. ESO/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org)

56 ESO Annual Report 2014 Views of the cleared AEM antenna construction site at the OSF where the 25 European

Silvio Rossi/ESO Silvio Rossi/ESO Silvio ALMA antennas were integrated and tested.

Architectural rendering of the future ALMA Residencia. This image shows the general view of the array of buildings. The larger V-shaped building contains the dining room, kitchen and leisure facilities; the others are the six ESO/Rigotti + Simunovic Arquitectos Simunovic + ESO/Rigotti dormitory buildings.

significantcontributionsfromallthe ment of the year was the successful test- lengthsof0.87,1.3and3.4millimetres. ALMAregions.Significantprogresshas ing of ALMA’s long baselines. Thefigurebelowshowstwoexamplesof been made in the procedures for high longbaselineScienceVerificationdata frequency calibration, polarisation obser- The period from September to November vations and advances towards delivering 2014wasdedicatedtotheLongBaseline ALMAlongbaselineScienceVerificationdata:The the Solar observing modes. Experts from Campaign (LBC), with the goal of testing SiO(5–4)envelopearoundtheevolvedstarMira European institutes and universities were and verifying the longest baseline observ- (left); image of the dust emission (colour scale) and supported by ESO to take part in the ing modes. ALMA baselines as long as CO (8–7) warm gas (contours) in the z=3.04lensed submillimetre galaxy SDP.81 (right). All the ALMA activities in Chile and data analysis was 15 kilometresweretested,andScience ScienceVerificationdataareavailableontheALMA carried out in Europe. The major achieve- Verificationdatawereobtainedatwave- Science Portal.

ALMA LBC – Mira –SiO(5–4)v = 0 & 1.3 mm continuum ALMA LBC – SDP.81 – 1 mm continuum & CO(8–7)

42ǥ.7 08ǥ 42ǥ.8

42ǥ.9 ALMA (ESO/NRAO/NAOJ) 07ǥ at ion at ion 43ǥ.0 Declin Declin

43ǥ.1 06ǥ 000 000 J2 J2 43ǥ.2

43ǥ.3 0039ࣳ05ǥ –2058ࣳ43ǥ.4

02h19m20s.8420s.82 20s.8120s.8020s.79 20s.78 20s.77 20s.77 09h03m11s.7 11s.6 11s.5 11s.4 J2000 Right ascension J2000 Right ascension

ESO Annual Report 2014 57 (seealsoESOpressreleaseeso1436). The images, with angular resolution up to30 milliarcseconds(i.e.,betterthan achieved routinely with the Hubble Space Telescope), reveal unexpected features with an unprecedented level of detail in all sources, demonstrating the transformational nature of ALMA. Long baseline Sci- enceVerificationdataontheasteroid Juno, the asymptotic giant branch star Mira, the protoplanetary disc of HL Tauri (shownonp.45)andthegravitationally- lensed submillimetre galaxy SDP.81 are publicly available on the ALMA Science Portal. These results amply demonstrate that the ALMA design and technical implementation are sound and able to deliver the promised science, also on baselines of up to 15 kilometres.

This picture shows the ALMA transporter Otto. It is one of two transporters which are able to carry the huge antennas up to the Chajnantor Plateau and move them around there.

58 ESO Annual Report 2014 ESO/Y. Beletsky ESO/Y. ESO/Rigotti + Simunovic Arquitectos

ESO Annual Report 2014 59 European Extremely Large Telescope

This was a very important year for the curement of instruments to be accom- evolved towards a close involvement of E-ELT, marking the actual start of the modated on the second Nasmyth platform these two functions at the level of the construction both from a practical point begins. The power conditioning system main projects constituting the E-ELT pro- of view, with the groundbreaking cere- has also been moved to Phase 2, but it gramme. mony in June, and, formally, with the is expected that the connection to the green light in December by ESO Council Chilean national electrical grid that is At E-ELT system level, engineering to start the telescope construction with under construction (to bring electricity to budgets have been completed, system a phased approach. the Paranal–Armazones area) will provide engineeringprocesseshavebeenfine- the required supply quality in order not tunedandafirstdetailedAssemblyInte- The planning for the E-ELT phased to affect the operations. The postpone- grationandVerificationplanandsched- approach included a major effort from ment of the construction of these com- ule have been put together. Furthermore, the E-ELT management team and project ponents does not reduce the extraordi- the package of 51 technical nights on managers. This approach, which splits naryscientificachievementsthatthe the Gran Telescopio Canarias telescope, the programme into two phases, permits telescope will be able to accomplish at allocated as part of the Spanish accession the 90% funding level required to start the end of Phase 1. These components agreement to ESO, has now been com- constructiontobemet,asdefinedby will be approved as additional funding pleted. These nights enabled ESO to Council when approving the E-ELT pro- becomes available, including that expect- gather considerable experience in phasing gramme back in 2012. Spending of ed from the accession of Brazil as a a segmented primary mirror and have around one billion euros has been author- Member State. validated the baseline algorithms and isedforthefirstphase,whichwillcover technical budgets developed over the the construction costs of a fully working Theconstructioncountdowntothefirst past few years. telescope with a suite of powerful instru- 40-metre-classtelescopeonskyhas mentsandfirstlighttargetedintenyears begun! The most notable event of the year was time. For the time being, 10% of the over- undoubtedly the Armazones ground- all project costs have been shifted to a At the beginning of the year the handover breaking ceremony on 19 June in the second phase. of the programme leadership from Alistair presence of several distinguished guests McPherson to Roberto Tamai took place. andhigh-levelofficialsfrombothChile The telescope components that are On this occasion, the managerial struc- and the ESO Member States. During this notyetfundedinthefirstphaseinclude ture and processes were consolidated ceremony the Chilean company ICAFAL parts of the AO system, some of the and adjusted to match the needs of the Ingeniería y Construcción S.A. blasted instrumentwork,theinnermostfiverings construction phase. The high-level man- part of the top of Cerro Armazones and of segments of the telescope main mirror agement plan was updated with details loosened about 5000 cubic metres of (a total of 210 mirror segments) and a on the programme organisation and pro- rock.Thisisjustthefirstpartofanelab- spare set of primary mirror segments cesses, leading to a transparent, integrat- orate levelling process, which will help neededformoreefficienttelescopeoper- ed team structure with clear roles and landscape the mountain, so that it can ation in the future. One of the two pre- responsibilities,andwell-definedcommu- accommodate the 39-metre telescope focal stations has also not been funded, nication channels. The approach to pro- and its huge dome. A grand total of but this will be needed only when project engineering and project control has 220 000cubicmetreswillneedtobe

Two test segments for the E-ELT 39-metre primary mirror. The prototype support system on the left RapidprogressinflatteningthepeakofCerro was produced by CESA (Spain) and the one on the ArmazoneshadbeenachievedbyDecember2014. right by VDL/TNO (the Netherlands). ESO/G.Hüdepohl (atacamaphoto.com) ESO/G.Hüdepohl

60 ESO Annual Report 2014 Left:M4adaptivemirrordemonstra- tion prototype showing its two sectors AdOptica equipped with capacitive sensor AdOptica electrodes.

Right:AnelementoftheM4adaptive mirror of the E-ELT housing a set of voice-coil actuators, capacitive sensors and associated electronics and cooling circuitry.

removed to make room for the 150-metre CESA (Compañía Española de Sistemas statements of work for the procurement by 300-metre E-ELT platform. Apart from Aeronáuticos S.A.; Spain) and VDL (Van contracts. Particular emphasis has been this spectacular event, the road and plat- Der Leegte Groep, the Netherlands) to put on the architecture of the Nasmyth form construction contract with ICAFAL include the delivery of the manufacturing platform, which will host the suite of has progressed very well during the year. documentation package for the produc- scientificinstrumentsandthetelescope The massive earthworks for the road tion of the series. The contracts also wavefront control hardware (the pre- were completed over more than half of include the development of the proce- focalstation).Aspecificopticalcontrol the road length (the rest being planned for dures required to integrate the supports project has been established to tackle completion in mid-2015) while the plat- with the E-ELT glass segments, to handle thisdifficulttaskwithaviewtodefining form has been levelled to within less than and transport the segment assemblies the interface between the telescope 1.5metresofitsfinallevel,whichlies and to operate and maintain them. The anditsinstrumentsinsufficientdetailto about 17 metres below the original summit. contracts consist of a design phase fol- enable the instrument design studies to lowed by the production of engineering start in 2015. The year also saw another important models and testing. achievement for the infrastructure of the The control system activities passed an observatory on Paranal and Armazones: The call for tender for the procurement important milestone in December with despite their location in the middle of ofthe2-millimetrethin,2.4-metrediam- the successful Preliminary Design Review the Atacama Desert, both sites will be eter glass shells for the quaternary of the M1 local control system. This served by the Chilean electrical grid. a d a p t i v e mirror(M4)waslaunchedinthe internal ESO design activity focused on ESO succeeded in signing a contract autumn. This was an important milestone a trade-off between two designs of the with Grupo SAESA, a Chilean electrical for this highly critical, fragile and long- local electronic cabinets (segment con- company, to extend the national grid and lead item. It was the result of the intense centrators). These cabinets are critically supply electricity, as a regu lated client, activities performed under the ESO con- close to the primary mirror and must to the different consumers there. tract by Adoptica to develop the prelimi- therefore dissipate a minimum of energy narydesignoftheM4adaptivemirror to avoid thermal disturbance in the glass Another important milestone was the unit. The contract includes a demonstra- segments. At the same time, they must launch, in the spring, of the call for tender tion prototype representing a scale-one pre-process all the signals and com- for the procurement of the dome and subset of the complete, 5316-actuator mands exchanged with the many sensors telescopemainstructure,includingfinal system including the representative opti- and actuators attached to each segment, design and construction until commis- cal shell, electro-mechanics, control notably the edge sensors, the positioning sioning onsite. This contract is expected electronics and cooling system. The tests actuators and the warping harnesses. to be placed by the end of 2015 and will performed on the prototype have shown be the largest industrial contract ever that the very challenging requirements In the summer, the M1 test stand and placed by ESO. for this critical E-ELT subsystem can be the quinternary mirror (M5) prototype met and that the design is mature enough developed during the E-ELT Phase B Another critical call for tender was to enter the procurement phase for the studies were moved from the rented lab- launched for the primary mirror (M1) completeM4unit. oratory space in Garching Hochbrück segment supports, capitalising on the to the brand-new technical building in the lessons learned from the M1 test setup Internal activities have continued on other Headquarters extension building. In addi- activities that have taken place over the mirror units (notably the secondary and tion to the advantage of close proximity pastfewyears.Thefinalisationofthis tertiary mirror units) to optimise the pro- toHeadquartersoffices,thisnewlocation tenderled,inthefirstdaysof2015,tothe curement strategy and prepare the corre- is much quieter in terms of ground micro- signature of two parallel contracts with spondingtechnicalspecificationsand vibrations, a very important feature for

ESO Annual Report 2014 61 A computer-aided design visualisation of the proposed E-ELT multi-object adaptive- optics spectrograph EAGLE. EAGLE instrument consortium instrument EAGLE

future testing of the control system for the future development of a multi-object these optical components at the nano- spectrograph, a revision to the earlier metre level. Finally, development activi - Phase A study for an adaptive-optics- ties continued to reduce the risk associ- assisted,multi-integral-fieldinstrument ated with critical components such as was undertaken by the EAGLE consor- the edge sensors measuring the phasing tium. This new study was necessary of the M1 segments. A new climate- as EAGLE was designed for the gravity- controlled test-bed was developed to fur- invariant platform on the E-ELT that is ther characterise the prototypes devel- no longer included in the design. The oped in the past few years. study was successfully concluded in March2014. Workonthepreparationforthefirstcon- tracts for E-ELT instruments has contin- The E-ELT Programme Scientist contin- uedduring2014.ESOisworkingwith uedtoactivelyliaisewiththescientific consortia of universities and institutes in community by organising a conference theMemberStatestodefinethreeof and a workshop. The topic of the former thefirstgenerationinstrumentsandtheir was exoplanet science and the latter AO systems. The instruments are a near- was devoted to fundamental physics. infrared diffraction-limited camera Advice was sought from the E-ELT Pro- (MICADO), an optical-infrared integral ject Science Team on the top-level fieldspectrograph(HARMONI)andamid- requirements for the mid-infrared imager infrared imager and spectrograph (METIS). and spectrograph, high resolution The requirements for these instruments spectrograph and multi-object spectro- have been revised and updated by the graph, and the discussion of science E-ELT Programme Scientist, in collabora- operations plans was initiated. The E-ELT tion with the ESO community of astrono- Programme Scientist reported to, and mers. To reach the science goals, two responded to several requests from, the standalone adaptive optics modules are E-ELT Subcommitttee of the STC (ESC). foreseen: a multi-conjugate AO module and a laser tomographic AO module. Instrument and AO module concepts that meetthescientificgoalsandfitwithin the timescales and budget constraints of the E-ELT programme are being developed by consortia supported by ESO. After the presentations of these concepts to the ESO committees, the design and construction phases for the instruments will formally start with the signatures of the instrument agreements in 2015.

ESO will issue a call for proposals for a high-resolution spectrograph and a multi- Artist’s impression of the European Extremely Large object spectrograph. In anticipation of Telescope in its enclosure.

62 ESO Annual Report 2014 ESO/L. Calçada

ESO Annual Report 2014 63 Engineering Y. BeletskyY. (LCO)/ESO

64 ESO Annual Report 2014 The Directorate of Engineering pro- Mechanical Engineering Department members can now create new docu- vides engineering resources and ments inside the system, document num- services to all ESO programmes as Within the new matrix operation of the bers are assigned automatically and well as to the operations teams at Directorate of Engineering, a new approvals implemented in the system. the La Silla Paranal Observatory and Mechanical Engineering Department was The transfer of the project data manage- at ESO Headquarters. formed and deployed from mid-October. ment system to ESO premises has been The department is responsible for the accomplishedwiththedefinitionand TheDirectoratewentthroughitsfinal definition,design,analysis,procurement installation of the servers within the ESO re-organisationin2014,whichresulted and initial assembly of mechanical, IT environment. in a leaner structure with seven depart- opto-mechanical, cryogenic and vacuum ments. Many of the activities carried systems for advanced telescope and The laboratories in the new technical out by the staff of this Directorate are instrumentation systems for all ESO building were occupied and equipment under the governance of the Directo- observatories. and machinery were moved from the rates of Programmes and Operations main building to the new facilities. The and are reported at the appropriate One of the main activities of the Mechani- new mechanical workshop is in nominal places in this Annual Report. cal Engineering Department in the past operation, and all machines, including year was dedi cated to writing, consoli- anewfive-axismillingmachine,werere- dating and justifying requirements for the commissioned and are fully operational. variousE-ELTsupplyspecificationsin The metrology laboratory has been fully the areas of mechanical engineering and equipped and was ready for use in mid- structural analysis. Based on structural September. models, systems analysis support was provided to evaluate performance budgets The department supported a large (e.g., wavefront error, stroke, deformation) number of ongoing projects with opto- of the complete telescope including its mechanical design, drafting and manu- subsystems, and to derive requirements facturing, assembly integration and atvariousspecificationlevels.Acon- testingactivities,specificallyfortheFour ceptualdesignandanalysisverification Laser Guide Star Facility and the up - of the interface structure between the gradestoUT4,theVLTIinfrastructureand secondary mirror and its cell was carried CRIRES, ERIS, ESPRESSO, GRAAL and out to check its structural fea sibility and GALACSI. The design and manufactur- required design volume. The quaternary ing, assembly integration and testing for mirror interface to the E-ELT main struc- the laser guide star units involved con- ture was updated to the new handling siderablemodifications,manufacturing scheme and a new design developed and implemen tation of auxiliary parts; andproposedtotheM4contractor. shipmentofthefirstlaserguidestarunit inthefirstquarterof2015isplanned. Computationalfluiddynamicsanalyses were carried out at short notice to study The AQUARIUS detector mount design the possible impact of the planned dis- was upgraded to mitigate potential posalofbackfillmaterialatthenorthern mechanical stress problems. After relia- side of the Armazones summit. Accord- bilitytestingat4K,thenewscience ingtotheresults,nosignificantimpact on the performance of the E-ELT due towindflowandturbulenceabovethe platform is expected.

The transporter team at ALMA was supported in the analysis of a recent transporter failure and recommendations of how to adapt the maintenance scheme were made. Also the operational concept of the antenna transporters was reviewed andproposalsforimprovementsineffi- ciency were presented to ALMA.

The project data management system VLT’sUT4observingthecentreoftheMilkyWay with adaptive optics assisted by the laser guide went into its next phase and is now avail- Upgraded AQUARIUS detector mount to be oper- star. able as a collaboration tool. Project team atedat4K.

ESO Annual Report 2014 65 Work on the upgrade to the VISIR mid-infrared High-precision tool for fabrication of piezoceramic instrument. actuators. grade detector devices were integrated the design. This work included the revi- systems according to E-ELT design con- with both VLT mid-infrared instruments. sion of requirements and overall design, ventions and development standards for One unit was installed in the MATISSE mainly power distribution, electronics and future developments of E-ELT local con- N-band, and two in VISIR. The depart- electronic cabinet design, culminating in trol systems. Active damping based on ment supported the extensive VISIR a successful internal Preliminary Design a positive feedback loop was success- upgrade activities up to the instrument’s Reviewduringthelastquarterof2014. fully tested and the results presented at re-commissioning at the telescope. For the M1 segment subunits, the tender- theSPIE2014conferenceinMontreal. ing process was completed at the end of The assembly, integration and testing of 2014withtheselectionoftwocompa- As well as regular support to the new the GRAVITY wavefront sensor cryostats nies, which won separate contracts for instruments MUSE and SPHERE, those equipped with the SAPHIRA infrared the development of a set of engineering in upgrade (CRIRES+) and those under detector has progressed. Two units were andqualificationmodels. construction (GRAVITY and GALACSI), delivered to the GRAVITY consortium. replacement boards for NACO (high The department provided design and A new control strategy was developed v o l t a g e amplifierandavalanchephoto- manufacturing, assembly integration and using the E-ELT M5 scale-one prototype diode) were designed and tested. These testing of high precision tools for the as a test bench. The aim of upgrading boards,basedonfield-programmable fabrication of piezoceramic actuators for the M5 local control system was twofold: gate array technologies, are part of the the GRAVITY deformable mirror develop- 1)todevelopaflexiblesystemwhich department’s efforts to address, together ment project. permits testing and verifying different with the LPO team, the obso lescence control and active damping techniques; of the VLT’s major instrument electronics and 2) designing the M5 local control subsystems. Based on the principle of Electronics Department

The department consists of four groups: the Telescope and Instrument Electronic Engineering Group; the Electrical Compli- ancy Engineering Group; the Electronic Developments,LabFacilities&Workshop Group; and the Detector System Group.

Preparation of the E-ELT dome and main structure documents for the coming call for tender was a major focus. At subsystem level, the development of the primary mirror’s local control system Replacement avalanche photodiode board for The prototype of the natural guide star detector utilised prototypes already delivered to NACO,basedonfield-programmablegatearray delivered by e2v in its mounting. ESO in order to assess the readiness of technologies.

66 ESO Annual Report 2014 developing pin-to-pin hardware/software the SPHERE instrument and in GALACSI disciplinary integration and technical compatibleboards,significantprogress and GRAAL. A new revision of the proto- coordination, system architectural design hasbeenmadeinfindingasolutionto typequarter-sized880×840pixelsnatu- and system analysis. Its services are replace the MACCON motion control ral guide star detector, with a view to the employed in adaptive optics, instruments, driver boards. All of these boards should more ambitious 1760 × 1680 pixels laser telescopes and infrastructure projects. enter full production in the middle of 2015, guide star detector for the E-ELT, has The work of the Instrument Systems in order to replace aging stock at Paranal beendeliveredfrome2v.Thefirstimages Group features prominently in many of and ensure proper operation for the next taken with these devices at frame rates of the projects described in the Programmes 10 to 15 years. 700 frames s–1 have shown a readout section(seep.48). noise below 3 electrons root mean square. Work has substantially progressed in findingalternativepowersourcesand/or In the domain of infrared wavefront sens- Adaptive Optics cheaper solutions to the provision of ing, the noise-free HgCdTe electron electric power to all the observatory sites. avalanche photodiode arrays developed The mission of the Adaptive Optics Group Although permissions have not yet been incollaborationwithSELEX(UK)have is to provide the ESO community with granted, it is expected that the Chilean matured and are now being deployed in globally competitive ground-based adap- national grid will start to supply electricity the four wavefront sensors and in the tive optics observing capabilities, over- to the Paranal and Armazones sites before GRAVITY fringe tracker. Due to a techno- coming the limitation of atmospheric tur- the end of 2018. On La Silla a photo- logical breakthrough, made possible bulence. voltaic park and electricity supply system bychangingthegrowthprocess,allfive are being planned. Preliminary activities liquid phase epitaxy science arrays of The heart of the SPHERE instrument, have already started onsite and construc- GRAVITY have been exchanged for metal successfullycommissionedduring2014, tion work is expected to start in 2016. organic vapour phase epitaxy science is its extreme adaptive optics system, General support for electric power engi- arrays that do not need deep cooling and SAXO,developedbytheFrenchaero- neering, electromagnetic compati bility can operate in vibration-free nitrogen space research agency, ONERA, in col- and safety-related compliance, lightning bath cryostats. The arrays have excellent laboration with ESO, who supplied the protection and electrical design has cosmetic quality at avalanche photo- novel low light level CCD wavefront sensor continued in the form of support to many diode gains of up to 150. This technology cameras, the deformable mirror and ESO projects, among them instruments is only available in Europe and will revo- theSPARTAreal-timecomputer.SAXO and sites, including the new Headquarters lutionise infrared wavefront sensing and virtually removes the optical degrada- building.ESOtechnicalspecifications fringe tracking. tions introduced by the atmosphere and and international norms and standards restores space-observatory-like image have been applied, and will continue to quality. The corrected image of a star is do so, for ongoing and future projects. Systems Engineering Department largely domi nated by the Airy ring struc- Operational support, e.g., in the electric ture, which is then removed by a corona- power stability of the ALMA Observatory, The department comprises four groups graph.SAXOiscapableofdelivering hasbeenoneofthekeyactivitiesin2014. (Adaptive Optics, Instrument Systems, unprecedented image quality from optical Systems Analysis and Systems Engineer- to near-infrared wavelengths for stars One of the major events for the Detec- ing Processes and Standards) covering brighter than approximately magnitude 10 torsGroupwasthearrivalofthefirst all essential engineering functions, includ- attheVLTandstillhassignificantimage ESPRESSO detector, which belongs to ingrequirementengineering,verification, improvementforstarsasfaintas14. the family of the largest monolithic charge- coupled devices (CCDs) in the world (9k Seeing Extreme adaptive XAO + Coronagraph by9k,10μmpixelsize,16outputs).The optics (XAO) detectorachievedlessthan3 electrons read-out noise with the New Generation Controller (NGC), and shows excellent NIR cosmetic quality. A new detector mount for extremely stable detector perfor- Achernar (α Eridani) mance at the nanometre level to measure observed with SPHERE; radial velocity down to 10 cm s–1 precision the companion, 70 times with the ESPRESSO spectrograph was dimmer than the main designed and constructed in-house. star, is clearly observed when the coronagraph is used. The separation of R In the area of visible wavefront sensing, the two stars is 0.15 arc- zero read noise, high frame rate (1000 seconds and the seeing frames per second), CCD220 L3Vision was 0.7 arcseconds. Near-infrared (NIR): sensors have been deployed in the adap- H-band(1600 nm);visi- tive optics wavefront sensor cameras of ble: R-band (650 nm).

ESO Annual Report 2014 67 SLODAR during com- Anumberofproceduresdefiningthe missioning on Paranal. processes for requirements and interface management,configurationanddocu- mentation management, as well as sys- temverificationwereproducedand becameactive.Theseproceduresdefine a number of E-ELT systems engineering activities, e.g., change request management, organisation and conduct of engineering reviews.

In the coordination of E-ELT technical activities, the aim is to ensure a consistent system-wide approach. The work during the year concentrated mainly on supporting the preparation of technical specificationsandinterfacecontroldocu- ments for the procurement of several subsystems. Also, critical system-level activities like the preparation of the technical budgets were supported.

The approach to the above activities has been developed with a view to the main challengefor2015,thatofdefininga broad systems engineering framework for GRAAL was extensively tested on Systems Analysis ESO, starting from that adopted for the ASSIST, together with the deformable E-ELT. secondary mirror. ASSIST allows realistic The Systems Analysis Group is com- observing conditions to be simulated, posed of AO experts and systems ana- thus to assess and optimise the perfor- lysts involved in the E-ELT effort since Optics and Photonics Department mance of GRAAL. Using Octopus, the Phase B. The group provides support pri- powerful numerical simulation facility marily for the E-ELT project in the areas The department supports ESO’s projects developed within the AO group during of performance budgets, control strategy in the area of optical design for tele- the past decade, it has been possible to and interfaces to instruments. It also scopes and instruments, active optics validate the experi mental results obtained develops expertise within ESO in the con- and wavefront control, metrology for with ASSIST. The agreement between trol of segmented mirrors. telescope alignment, laser guide stars, simulation and laboratory results for opticalfibretechnology,integration both single conjugate AO and for ground In the framework of ESO’s access to and testing of instruments. The depart- layerAOisgood,andgivesconfidence technical time at the Gran Telescopio ment also manages the optics laborato- in the reliability of the AO simulations and Canarias, the group demonstrated an ries and the integration facilities. in the performance that can be achieved innovative bicolour phasing procedure, by GRAAL. which consolidates the E-ELT baseline, Some investigations and tests were con- inherited from the experience with the ducted to assess the performance of After two years of work to bring it to segmented mirror of the Keck Telescope modern high accuracy laser metrology Paranal standards, the SLODAR (SLOpe and mitigates some of the risk with the systems. This was in the context of Detection and Ranging) instrument, phasing of the E-ELT primary mirror. monitoring the E-ELT inter-mirror posi- designed and built at the University of tions and mitigating the risk of blind Durham, was commissioned at Paranal acquisition failure, and helping to detect as part of the upgrade of the VLT astro- Processes and Standards misalignments that cannot be unambigu- nomical site monitor to support AOF ously captured by the wavefront sensors. operation. SLODAR allows the fraction The Processes and Standards Group of the turbulence in the ground layer, provided systems engineering support to Work continued on improvements to the which could be removed by the AOF in theE-ELTprogrammeduring2014.The VST.First-orderstraylightbafflingwas wide-fieldmode,tobeestimated.The workfocusedonthedefinitionofsystems completedandledtosignificantreduc- new VLT astronomical site monitor will engineering processes for the develop- tions in stray light in the VST images. The improve science observation support ment of the E-ELT system and support existing image analysis algorithm used through its ability to distinguish turbu- for E-ELT programme engineering in the by the VST active optics was upgraded lence travelling at high and low altitudes. coordination of technical activities. with a new library of aberration modes

68 ESO Annual Report 2014 The laser launch telescope for the ESO Wendelstein laser guide star unit under demonstration at the Teide Observatory.

Aitor Bereciartua (IAC) Control Software and Engineering Department

The work on the PLC project (programmable logic controller) was concluded, resulting,ontheformalside,inadefini- tion of ESO PLC standards to be released in 2015 and on the technical side, in a set of standard application cases for PLCs. These applications are now available for internal users as well as outside partners for VLT and E-ELT instruments.

The applications were presented in the InstrumentControlSystems2014semi- narthattookplace20–24Octoberin Garching. The aim of the seminar was to and a new calibrated measurement the Gran Telescopio CANARIAS and present the new hardware and software of linear astigmatism. On-sky validation INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma standards being adopted to the VLT tests showed that the rotation of the VST achievedfirstlightandsuccessful instrument developers from ESO partner M2 about its coma-neutral point can commissioning of the ESO Wendelstein institutes, as well as to give a status be controlled to an accuracy of ~ 3 arc- laser guide star system at the IAC’s update on consoli dated systems, like seconds. Based on these results, a new Observatorio del Teide on Tenerife in NGC and SPARTA. The seminar consisted operational version of the image analysis Spain. Following an agreement in April of presentations and two days of hands- softwareisplannedinthefirsthalfof 2014betweenESOandtheIAC,the on exercises where participants had the 2015. Promising alternative means of infrastructure required for the experiment opportunity to gain practical experience measuring telescope perturbations were was built at the observatory. The team controlling instrument functions. developed and tested on sky, by direct carried out the installation and commis- analysis of science images using patterns sioning of the ESO Wendelstein laser The ALMA Common Software (ACS) of spot sizes and ellipticities across the guide star unit, the receiver system and is the software infrastructure used to field.Thismethod,whichdoesnotrequire the automated observing software. develop the ALMA distributed software. additional hardware, could prove to be These joint activities are research and The ACS is mainly maintained through a robust and reliable alignment tool, also development studies to optimise the an industry contract. The 11th ACS useful for other projects. laser guide star return brightness from workshop was held in Garching from the upper atmosphere, with special 4–6November2014.TheACS,released In the area of laser guide stars, a team attentionbeingpaidtotheinfluenceof under the GNU Lesser Public License, of astronomers and engineers from ESO, thegeomagneticfieldontheperfor- has been adopted by a number of other the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, mance. telescopes as the framework within which to develop their control software. Most of the attendees of this part of the workshop came from external projects adopting ACS to develop their distributed control software, including ARIES21 forthe40-metreRadioTelescope,the Cherenkov Telescope Array, the Long Latin American Array, the Sardinia Radio Telescope and Universitätssternwarte Bochum.

The open source tool Jenkins was selected as the basis for future automated test

Participants at the Instrument Control Systems seminarinGarching,October2014.

ESO Annual Report 2014 69 Participants at the 11th Jira, will be used in the context of appli- ALMA Common Soft- cation support. ware Workshop in Garching, November 2014. The Data Flow Infrastructure Group provided development resources to the VLTandALMAdataflowprojects,suchas the ALMA source catalogue tool, the association of master calibrations to raw filestoassistinlocatingcalibrationdata in the Science Archive Facility and laser collision detection for Paranal. One of the highlightsof2014wasthedeployment of ALMA integrated reports, which collate information about science operations from a variety of sources, providing the Director and the Board with up-to-date informationabouttheobservatory’seffi- ciency. environments within ESO. A prototype vatory. Science operations software After successful commissioning and Sci- activity with Jenkins was started in the includes all components required for pro- enceVerificationin2014,theSPHERE VLT software environment on the NRI posal submission, scheduling, execution, pipeline is currently undergoing validation (night run infrastructure), an internally archiving, processing, visu alisation, and with respect to quality control parame- developed system, which has been in quality control of the obser vations. This ters, robustness and reduction speed. use for VLT and ALMA software for many software is used by operational teams The SPHERE pipeline comprises three years. With low effort the NRI could be forplanningandrunningscientificopera- separate reduction cascades, one for replaced by Jenkins to run the VLT soft- tions,aswellasbyscientificusersinthe each of the instrument arms, in effect ware. Jenkins is not only a one-to-one community for the handling of observing three different pipelines. replacement, but also brings additional proposals, the preparation of observa- benefits.Forexampletheruntimeofa tions, and the access and processing of In the context of the multi-object spectra complete test cycle in Jenkins could be observation data. project as part of the Science Data reduced due to parallelism to about eight Products, a major effort has been carried hours (compared to ~ 16 hours in NRI). An important task of the department is to out to improve the science quality of the Besides VLT software, Jenkins is already provide support to operational applica- reduced FORS2 spectroscopic multi- used for the E-ELT as a test environment tions and several process improvements object spectra data (multi-slit, multi-object for the LabView code and in instrument weredefinedinordertostreamlinethe and long slit). All the main algorithms control software for PLC testing. process and provide a better service to of the pipeline were reviewed and a com- operation teams. In particular a single parison with other state-of-the-art multi- A showcase for the excellent co-operation interface for problem reporting, based on object spectra pipelines was carried out, between the Directorates of Operations and Engineering was the upgrade of the VLT primary mirror cell/tertiary mirror tower. Obsolete hardware needed replacement and also the related control software had to be adapted. After intensive discussions on the best solution and proper preparation, the upgrade was performedonUT1inNovember2014. Tests have shown that UT1 performance Screenshot of one of the interactive windows was not impacted by the upgrade, and of the FORS2 spectros- so upgrades to the other three UTs can copyReflexworkflow. follow during 2015. The windows provide information about the quality of the wavelength calibration, slit Science Operation Software Department tracingandflat-field normalisation, while the The Science Operation Software Depart- tabs on the right allow the user to change ment is responsible for the software for parameters and rerun the end-to-end operations of the obser- the recipe.

70 ESO Annual Report 2014 demonstrating the currently adopted autocalibration approach. The spectroscopic pipeline can now be executed withintheReflexenvironmentusinga providedworkflow,whichgreatlysimpli- fiestheorganisationofthedata,quick inspectionofpipelineproductsandfine- tuning of recipe parameters with interactive displays. The pipeline implements full error propagation using the statistical uncertainties associated to most of the processing steps.

ThecommissioningoftheVLTdataflow software comprised the upgrade of 15 dataflowsystemworkstationsto64-bit scientificLinux6.3,aswellastheinstal- lation of patch releases on three data transfer workstations. The entire upgrade went very smoothly and completed a major milestone for the homog enisation ofthedataflowsystem.Technological solutions were also studied with IT to streamline the deployment of applications using standard Unix installation tools, in order to simplify support to the operational groups.

Information Technology Department

The IT Department consists of four groups: IT Group Chile and IT Group Garching, supported by IT Strategy and Governance and the IT Central Service Desk. The IT groups in Chile and Garching are responsible for day-to-day IT support of ESO users and the science archive in Garching and observatories in Chile. The department completed numerous IT projects, such as the implementation of Eduroam, the telephone upgrade at the ESO Guesthouse, the refurbishment of the data centre at Vitacura, and a global network design. IT Strategy and Gov- ernance has provided support to the department in completing calls for tender for laptops and desktops, the backup system in Garching and IT out-tasking in Chile and Garching. The IT Central Service Desk and Procurement manage day-to-day helpdesk queries and are responsible for IT procurement.

TheSunsettingoverthePacificOceanpaintsthe wavering ribbons of cloud overhead and the VLT

platform below in surreal hues. M. Roselund/ESO

ESO Annual Report 2014 71 This image, taken by OmegaCAM on the VLT Survey Telescope at Paranal, shows a section of the Ara OB1 stellar association. In the centre of the image is the young open cluster NGC 6193, and to the right is the emission nebula NGC 6188, illuminated by the ionising radiation emitted by the brightest nearby stars.

72 ESO Annual Report 2014 ESO Annual Report 2014 73 Administration

ESO Headquarters in Garching, Germany, seen from above. The original Headquarters building, the extension offices and the new technical build-

ESO/E. Graf ing are all visible. Industry showed a strong interest in the start-up activities for E-ELT procurements. An industry day was organised in Austria and two events were held in ESO/Luis Calçada ESO/Luis Garching, one for Czech industry and one dedicated to the M1 segment support for the E-ELT. The contract for the road and the platform on Armazones is progressing well and the call for tender for the dome and main structure was released.

In December, ESO and the Consortium L y D–Axis, consisting of the Chilean companies Constructora L y D S.A. and Axis Desarrollos Constructivos S.A., signed the contract for the construction of the ALMA Residencia. Two contracts were also signed to connect La Silla, Paranal and Armazones to the Chilean electrical grid.

The Contracts and Procurement Depart- RemovalofthetemporaryofficebuildingsatESO assessment policy, with consequent ment released some new processes Headquarters. This image shows them being wide application throughout the E-ELT dismantled, and captures both the beginning, and and procedures. Among them was a pro- end, of an era. programme and elsewhere in the organi- cedure on the collaboration with institutes sation and its projects. that regulates the process for the selection of institutes for consortia to build The Administration team in Chile was Tenyearsago,on2June2004,the instruments. successful in selling an ESO property in Enterprise Resource Planning system La Serena, which was no longer in use. commenced operations and since then After the successful move of staff from Together with some logistical streamlin- has been expanded with a series of the Max Planck premises to the Head- ing,thishashelpedtoimprovethefinan- improvements and additional function- quartersbuilding,theoldofficeswere cial situation. alities.Inthecourseof2014,among renovated and returned. The temporary other developments, the supplier data- buildings were sold and removed in Safety aspects were involved in the prep- base for the procurement team was preparation for the construction of the aration and move into the Headquarters updated, and access via web pages ESOSupernovaPlanetarium&Visitor extension building, which took place dur- and an e-learning platform was imple- Centre for which the German authorities ingthefirstquarterof2014.TheE-ELT mented. granted the building permit. dome and main structure tender required significantinputwithregardtosafety- related engineering disciplines. The expe- Architectural rendering of the future ALMA Residencia. Artist’s impression of the ESO Supernova Planetarium View of the interior yard, between the dormitory rience gained in this process has allowed &VisitorCentre.ConstructionisfundedbytheKlaus buildings. furtherrefinementoftheconformity Tschira Stiftung and it will be run by ESO. ESO/Rigotti + Simunovic Arquitectos Simunovic + ESO/Rigotti Architekten Bernhardt + Partner (www.bp-da.de) Partner + Bernhardt Architekten

ESO Annual Report 2014 75 Finance and Budget

Financial Statements 2014

Accounting Statements 2014 (in €1000)

Statement of Financial Position 31.12.2014 31.12.2013 Cash Flow Statement 2014 2013

Assets Cash Flow Cash and cash equivalents 22 045 4 208 Net receipts 173 615 162 805 Inventories, receivables, advances and other 23 066 25 279 Net payments – 135 778 – 171 937 current assets Net Cash Flow from Operating Activities 37 837 –9132 Non-current assets 1069 676 1058 053 Total Assets 1 114 787 1087 540 Net Cash Flow from Financing Activities –20000 7000

Liabilities Net Cash Flow = 17 837 –2132 Short-term borrowing 0 20000 Net Increase/Decrease in Cash and Cash Equivalents Payables, advances received and other 65 261 54 057 current liabilities Non-current liabilities 504 281 306 374 Total Liabilities 569 542 380 431

Accumulatedsurpluses/deficits 641 538 660 310 Pension fund loss/gain –98 157 65 571 Other changes in net assets – – Netsurplus/deficitfortheyear 1864 – 18 772 Total Net Assets 545245 707109

Total Liabilities and Net Assets 1 114 787 1 087 540

Statement of 2014 2013 Financial Performance

Operating Revenue Contributions from Member States 151 086 143 668 Contributions to special projects 9 213 6 226 In-kind contributions 7 506 1 313 Sales and service charges 2 333 3 432 Other revenue 662 611 Total Operating Revenue 170 800 155 250

Operating Expenses Installations and equipment 1705 3 858 Supplies and services 47 670 44 246 Personnel expenses 68081 74 492 Depreciationoffixedassets 60 446 53 955 Other operating expenses 839 844 Total Operating Expenses 178 741 177 395

Net Surplus/Deficit from Operating Activities – 7 941 –22145

Financial revenue 2 495 2 490 Financial expenses 1000 1270 Net Surplus/Deficit from Financial Activities 1495 1220

Non-periodic and extraordinary revenue 8 310 3 192 Non-periodic and extraordinary expenses – 1039 Net Surplus/Deficit from Non-periodic and 8 310 2 153 Extraordinary Activities

Net Surplus/Deficit for the Period 1864 – 18 772

76 ESO Annual Report 2014 Budgetary Reports 2014 Budget for 2015 (in €1000) (in €1000)

Income Budget Budget Actual Income Budget 2015 Contributions from Member States 166 884 169 843 Contributions from Member States 173 487 Income from third parties and advances received 11 644 15 809 Income from third parties 23 543 Other income 1726 8 426 Other income 1293 Consolidated entities 620 681 Consolidated entities 747 Total Income Budget 180 874 194 759 Total Income Budget (approved) 199 070

Expenditure Budget Expenditure Budget 2015 Programme 69 311 47 985 Programme 73 063 Technical infrastructure and production 8 254 7908 Technical infrastructure and production 8 389 Operations 73 643 72 208 Operations 70 235 Science support 8 460 7 776 Science support 7 969 General activities 26 562 25 600 General activities 25 401 Financing cost 124 99 Financing cost 52 Consolidated entities 697 642 Consolidated entities 867 Total Expenditure Budget 187 051 162 218 Total Expenditure Budget (approved) 185 977

The External Auditors, Tribunal de Thecashflowfromoperatingactivities The 2015 approved income budget ContasdePortugal*,haveexpressed in2014waspositiveby37.8million amounts to 199.1 million euros. It includes theiropinionthatthefinancialstatements euros. The main payments were for the the regular contributions from the ESO for2014giveatrueandfairviewofthe Headquarters extension building and European Member States, income from affairs of the organisation. firstexpendituresontheE-ELT,inpar- third parties and partners, and other ticular for the road and platform. Receipts income as well as additional income for Theaccountingstatementsfor2014 increased due to additional advance the E-ELT from all Member States and show a positive result of 1.9 million euros funding from Member States for the E-ELT funding from the Klaus Tschira Stiftung againstadeficitof18.8millioneurosin and funds received from the Klaus for the visitor centre. Conditional income 2013. It is composed of a result from Tschira Stiftung for the new visitor centre. from Brazil and Poland will be added as operating activities of –7.9 million euros, Short-term loans taken up in 2013 were soon as these countries have completed asurplusfromfinancialactivitiesof paid back and no borrowing was needed theirrespectiveratificationprocedures. 1.5 millioneurosandapositiveimpact attheendof2014.Thecashpositionat from non-periodic activities of 8.3 million 31December2014was22.0millioneuros. euros. ESO Council approved the budget for The net assets of the organisation at 2015inDecember2014.Theapproved 31 December2014amountto545.2mil- 2015 expenditure budget amounts to lion euros. 186.0 million euros. The increase with respectto2014mainlyreflectsthestart of the E-ELT Phase 1 as well as the construction of the visitor centre. It also covers commitments for the current Paranal instrumentation programme and for the ALMA Residencia. *AntonioJoséAvérousMiraCrespo(Judgeofthe Portuguese Court of Auditors), Maria da Luz Carmezim (Head of Audit Department), Filomena Maria de Oliveira Rolo (Auditor), Nuno Martins Lopes (Auditor).

ESO Annual Report 2014 77 Coated in a layer of ashen dust and littered with heavy equipment vehicles, the peak of Cerro Armazones appears conspicuously flattened as work continues to craft a platform for the European Extremely Large Telescope.

78 ESO Annual Report 2014 ESO/G. Hüdepohl (atacamaphoto.com) Hüdepohl ESO/G.

ESO Annual Report 2014 79 Human Resources The Human Resources (HR) Department matrixstructurewerespecifiedinmore of the employment conditions, and to deals with all services provided to employ- detail; benchmark, collate and analyse relevant ees in connection with their employment −Forstaffmemberswhoworkina data from other organisations or private atESO,startingfromthedefinitionof matrix structure, the feedback provider industry. A working group comprising applicable policies to the execution and participates in parts of the annual members from the Tripartite Group, the conclusion of employment contracts. review meeting as needed; International Staff Committee and HR Within this scope, HR manages the fol- −Theprocessofmanagingpartialper- wassetupandmetthroughout2014.A lowing tasks: formancehasbeenclarified; data collection enquiry was distributed to −Planninganddefinitionofoverallper- −Inencouragingawideruseoftheself- twelve reference organisations covering sonnel resources policy and strategy; reflectionform,emphasisisnowlaid the following aspects: −Coordinationoftherecruitmentand on focusing on the plan for profes- −Realmovementinnetremunerationfor selection procedure; sional development during the perfor- the period 2006–2013; − Employmentcontracts; mance review meeting. −Basicsalarylevelsasper2013; −Supporttoemployeeswithregardto −Remuneration,socialsecurityand implementation of the applicable rules, Human Resources delivered several train- social conditions for ESO Fellows and regulations and contractual terms; ing sessions to managers and staff to PhD Students; −Maintenanceandstorageofpersonnel reinforce the performance management −Comparisonofallowances,indemnities, records; and professional development process. reimbursements and other payments; − Occupationalhealthandwelfare; The quality of these reviews has clearly −Workingtimeandsocialconditions; − Socialsecuritymatters; improved and advances have been made −Annualindexationofsalaries. −Trainingandprofessionaldevelopment; in managing underperformance. There is −Familymattersconnectedwith now also a clearer link between PMPD and The deadline for replies to this data col- employment contracts, including day- the learning and development process lectionwassetatJuly2014andapre- care and education provision at the and the ESO Competency Framework. liminary report was presented to the European School Munich. T r i p a r t i t e GroupinSeptember2014.Fur- ther follow-up is foreseen at the begin- Fair treatment, courtesy and respect ning of 2015. Collective bargaining policy

Preparation for the collective negotiations The ESO policy regarding fair treatment, Munich Dual Career Office for Local Staff Members took place dur- courtesy and respect has been revised ingmuchof2014,andincludedasalary together with ESO Management to take Human Resources are in regular contact study and review of working conditions into account the experiences of working withtheMunichDualCareerOfficeto inChile.On30September2014,theunion with it over the last few years. support spouses of international employ- proposal for the collective contract was ees during their job search in the Munich received, marking the starting date of the The role of the mediator and HR harass- area. negotiation process. The latter part of mentadvisorhasbeendefinedinmore October was devoted to the preparation detail and an external contact person of statistical information, formal presenta- is now available for members of person- Gender in ESO tions to the union and an initial answer nel (one for Garching and one for Chile). to the collective contract proposal. Several The external contact person, just like the A presentation on Gender in ESO took bargaining meetings with union directives internal harassment contact person, is place in March given by HR and a (Paranal/La Silla) then took place during impartial and her/his role is to provide r epresentative from the Directorate for thefirstthreeweeksinNovember.The information and guidance to members of Science. The main topics covered were: collective bargaining process was suc- personnel who feel they are not being the example to be set by managers cessfully concluded within the established fairly treated, members of personnel at all times in meetings and through their schedule and the contract was signed for accused of harassment, members of per- actions; freezing of posts for fellows in atwo-yearperiod(2014–2016). sonnel who indicate they have witnessed Chile during unpaid maternity leave; fel- harassment, or others seeking support lowship scheme for engineers; and related to harassment issues. improvements in work/life balance issues Performance management and in general. professional development Regular review — conditions of The performance management and employment Girls’ Day at ESO Headquarters professional development (PMPD) programme was further strengthened in As foreseen in the ESO Staff Regulations, On27March2014,ESOopeneditsdoors 2014ineth followingareas: a regular review can be initiated by to 50 female school students, aged −Therolesandresponsibilitiesconcern- Council, or by the Tripartite Group estab- between 10 and 17, to give them an insight ing performance management within a lished by Council, to consider the nature into science and technology professions

ESO Annual Report 2014 81 within the organisation, and thereby to Distribution of Inter- Spain Finland encourage them to choose such careers national Staff Members 6.3% 0.5% by nationality at in the future. Denmark France 31 December2014. 1.9 % 15.4 % The 50 students were split into eight groups, with each group focusing on Germany United two engineering / technical topics (one 30.5% Kingdom 9.4% of them in the laboratory) and one astro- Switzerland nomical topic. With one hour for each 0.7 % Italy topic, the girls could participate in experi- 16.3 % ments and engage in discussions. The Belgium The Netherlands girls actively participated and informal 3.6% 3.1 % positive feedback was received. Austria Portugal 1.2 % 0.7 %

Other Sweden Recognition for 25 and 35 years of 9.6% 0.7 % service In addition, seventeen members of per- heads) through the delivery of tailored In2014,sevenstaffmemberscelebrated sonnel in Garching and four in Chile were development activities that addressed 25 years of service and three celebrated reassigned internally due to operational key areas of the 360° Feedback: 35 years of service. re-configuration,oruponrequest. − Managingdifficultconversations; − Managingupwards; − Delegationskills; Recruitment, selection and reassignment Employee relations and communications − Conflictmanagement; − Timemanagement. Duringtheyear,42vacancynoticeswere Human Resources continues to have publishedpromptingatotalof1470appli- r egular consultations and discussions Coaching is considered as a further cations. The number of recruitment cam- with the International Staff Committee development of the 360° Feedback, and paigns completed according to contract and the unions in Chile. HR is investigating the establishment of type were as follows: a structured approach towards coaching, In the course of the year, the Rehabilita- through use of external coaches. Contract type No. of No. of tion Boards examined one case concern- campaigns applications ing incapacity, illness and procedural International Staff Members 31 1035 actions and an Advisory Appeals Board Fellow Development Programme Local Staff Members 9 230 was appointed. Fellows 2 205 Theyear2014alsomarkedtheroll-outof the Fellow Development Programme, Collaboration and representation of HR designed by Human Resources in collab- All positions were advertised on the ESO oration with fellows and the heads of the Recruitment Portal. For International Staff ESO HR has participated in monthly OfficesforScience.Theaimofthepro- positions,notificationsweresenttoall meetings of the ALMA Human Resources gramme is to offer learning opportunities members of Council, the Finance Com- Advisory Group giving advice on union for ESO’s postdocs to develop their inter- mittee and the delegates of other ESO and appointment matters. personal and employability-related skills committees, as well as to national and and competencies, providing the scientif- international research centres and obser- Duringtwomeetingsin2014,theTripar- ic community with well-trained fellows. vatories. In addition, prominent adver- tite Group dealt mainly with the develop- tisements for selected positions were ments of the CERN Pension Fund, mat- placed in appropriate specialist publica- ters related to the Staff Rules and Health and welfare and social security tions and on recruitment web pages. Regulations and the annual review on All ESO advertisements contain a state- salary adjustments. CERN Pension Fund ment regarding the commitment to equal opportunities. A new pension scheme with the CERN Learning and professional development (European Organization for Nuclear Within the ESO Fellowship Programme, Research) Pension Fund for staff mem- six applicants were selected with duty Follow-up after 360° Feedback bers and fellows was introduced to station in Chile and four for Garching. newrecruitsasofJanuary2014.The Furthermore, six candidates were HumanResourcesfocusedin2014onthe conditions are: awarded ESO Studentships in Europe development of the organisation’s middle −Contributionsandbenefitscontinueto and four in Chile. management (Department and Group be paid in Swiss francs;

82 ESO Annual Report 2014 −ContributionsarebasedonactualESO salaries converted into Swiss francs at market rate; −Retirementpensionsarebasedonthe finalreferencesalaryusingtheaverage exchange rate over the career.

The Annual Information Meeting of the CERN Pension Fund took place at ESO Headquarters in September.

Health insurance

Several amendments to the health insurance scheme were made in order to adjust and update the medical coverage to the needs and/or the developments of health care in the Member States.

HR advice and administration

HR also handles a wide spectrum of personnel-related activities. As an integral part of this service, a variety of pertinent documents and circulars have been produced and issued.

Staff departures

Thedeparturesofstaffin2014fallinto the following categories:

Reasons Staff Member Local Staff Member Resignation 8 3 Expiry of contract 12 0 Retirement 2 3 Mutual agreement 3 0 Death 1 0 Total 26 6

WithinRCW34—locatedinthesouthernconstella- tion of Carina — a group of massive young stars hide in the brightest region of the cloud. List of Staff

As of 31 December 2014

Director General

Tim de Zeeuw

Directorate of Directorate of Administration Engineering Director General Support Patrick Geeraert Michèle Péron

Laura Comendador Patricia Adriazola José Antonio Abad Michael Esselborn Mervi Johanna Babak Sedghi Frutos Andres Oldemar Arias Roberto Abuter Sylvie Feyrin Lampinen Paola Sivera Fernando Comerón Angela Arndt Matteo Accardo Gert Finger Uwe Lange Fabio Sogni Gabriela Gajardo Katalin Baltayne Eric Allaert Gerhard Fischer Miska Le Louarn Heiko Andreas Sommer Nikolaj Gube Korompay Emmanuel Aller Vincenzo Forchi Samuel Lévêque Christian Sönke Priya Nirmala Hein Roland Block Carpentier Robert Frahm Steffan Lewis Jörg Stegmeier Isolde Kreutle Anita Bode Domingo Álvarez Christoph Frank Paul Lilley Stefan Ströbele Elena Llopis Liske Jean-Michel Bonneau Méndez Armin Gabasch Jean-Louis Lizon à Marcos Suárez Valles Claus Madsen Renate Brunner Paola Amico Fernando Gago L’A l l e m a n d Dieter Suchar EnikőPatkós Marcela Campos Luigi Andolfato César Enrique García John Lockhart Helmut Tischer Douglas Pierce-Price Karina Celedon Javier Eduardo Dabó Simon Lowery Rodrigo Javier Tobar Jasna Razmilic Claudia Silvina Cerda Argomedo Zazzali Daniel Gaytan Christian Lucuix Carrizo Diego Rioseco Mercedes Chacoff Gerardo Ávila Christoph Geimer Lars Kristian Lundin MirkoTodorović Jane Wallace Amal Daire Andrea Balestra Rodrigo Gesswein Pierre-Yves Madec Sebastien Tordo Alain Delorme Pascal Ballester Paolo Ghiretti Antonio Ramón Stefano Turolla Evelina Dietmann David Bargna Bruno Gilli Manescau Hernández Arno Van Kesteren Emeritus Astronomers Andrea Dinkel Pablo José Barriga Percy Glaves Alisdair Manning Elise Vernet Thijs de Graauw Sabine Eisenbraun Campino Andreas Glindemann Massimiliano Marchesi Jakob Vinther Robert Fosbury Willem Eng Domenico Bonaccini Domingo Gojak Enrico Marchetti Rein Warmels Sandro D’Odorico Alain Gilliotte Calia Juan Carlos González Juan Antonio Marrero Andrew Wright Massimo Tarenghi Rebonto Guha Henri Bonnet Herrera Hernández Michèle Zamparelli Robert Hamilton Roland Brast Justo Antonio González Stewart McLay Stefano Zampieri Charlotte Hermant Martin Brinkmann Villalba Leander H. Mehrgan Georg Junker Paul Bristow Thomas Grudzien Serge Menardi Nathalie Kastelyn Iris Bronnert Ivan Maria Guidolin Samantha Milligan Katarina Kiupel Enzo Brunetto Carlos Guirao Sanchez Andrea Modigliani Katjuscha Lockhart Bernard Buzzoni Ronald Guzman Christophe Moins Ignacio Lopez Gil Blanca Camucet Collazos Antonio Ignacio Molina Rodrigo Lorca Alessandro Caproni Wolfgang Hackenberg Conde Qiao Yun Ma Sandra María Castro Andreas Haimerl Michael Müller Maria Madrazo Cecilia Cerón Peter Hammersley John Murray Alessandro Martis Alberto Maurizio Chavan Jochen Haucke Michael Naumann María Angélica Moya Gianluca Chiozzi Gerald Hechenblaikner Lothar Noethe Christian Muckle Emanuela Ciattaglia Florian Heissenhuber Ralf Palsa Hélène Neuville Mauro Comin Guy Hess Moreno Pasquato Claudia Ober Livio Condorelli Renate Hinterschuster JérômePaufique Ester Oliveras Ralf Dieter Conzelmann Ronald Holzlöhner Marcus Pavez Ernesto Orrego Paula Cristina Correia Stefan Huber Federico Pellegrin Betül Özener dos Santos Georgette Hubert Martine Peltzer Thomas Penker Claudio Cumani Evi Hummel Lorenzo Pettazzi María Francisca Pérez Sebastian Deiries Derek James Ives Thomas Pfrommer Florence Perrault Bernard-Alexis Delabre Olaf Iwert Duc Thanh Phan Leonel Pizarro Françoise Gerd Jakob Werther Pirani Mauricio Quintana Delplancke-Ströbele Bogdan Jeram Dejan Popovic Fabian Reckmann Nicola Di Lieto Paul Jolley Eszter Pozna Mario Riedel Canio Dichirico Andreas Jost Marco Quattri Jürgen Riesel Martin Dimmler Yves Jung Jutta Quentin Rosa Ivonne Riveros Robert Donaldson Dimitrios Kalaitzoglou Andrew Rakich Francky Rombout Dario Dorigo Markus Kasper Roland Reiss Elke Rose Reinhold Dorn Lothar Kern Javier Reyes Marcia Saavedra Mark Desmond Mario Kiekebusch Robert Ridings Nadja Sababa Downing Jean Paul Kirchbauer Jesús Rodríguez Ulloa Johannes Michel Duchateau Barbara Klein Stefan Sandrock Schimpelsberger Philippe Duhoux Maurice klein Gebbinck Marc Sarazin Heidi Schmidt Christophe Dupuy Jens Knudstrup Marcus Schilling Maria Soledad Silva Toomas Erm Franz Koch Christian Schmid Erich Siml Siegfried Eschbaumer Johann Kolb Dominik Schneller Roswitha Slater Maximilian Kraus Alexandra Specht Basilio Kublik SteffiSteins Hervé Kurlandczyk Orsolya Szécsényi Paolo La Penna Arnoldus Gregorius Tromp Lone Vedsø Marschollek Maritza Vicencio Michael Weigand

84 ESO Annual Report 2014 Joint ALMA Directorate of Directorate of Observatory Operations Programmes

Pierre Cox Andreas Kaufer Adrian Russell

Andreas Andersson Sergio Abadie Michel Frantz Rodrigo Olivares Michael Fritz Sterzik Robin Arsenault Lundgren Margarita Acuña Wolfram Freudling Francisco Olivares Felix Stoehr Fabio Biancat Marchet Denis Barkats Claudio Agurto Eloy Fuenteseca Jared O’Neal Sandra Strunk Claudio Cabrera Itziar De Gregorio Bernardo Ahumada Dimitri Gadotti Juan Osorio Thomas Szeifert Mark Casali Monsalvo Javier Alarcón Sergio Gaete Juan Carlos Palacio Lowell Tacconi-Garman Marc Cayrel William Dent Jaime Alonso Julien H. V. Girard Laurent Pallanca Richard Tamblay Frédéric Derie Giorgio Filippi José Luis Álvarez Andrés González Rodrigo Javier Parra Gie Han Tan Philippe Dierickx Diego Alex García Nicolás Álvarez Edouard González Ricardo Nelson Parra Mario Tapia Roberto Gilmozzi Serge Guniat Paola Andreani Jaime González Andrés Parraguez Konrad Tristram Frederic Yves Joseph Tracey Hill Iván Aranda Javier Andrés González Diego Parraguez JosefinaUrrutia Gonte Jorge Ibsen Juan Pablo Araneda Leonardo González Ferdinand Patt Guillermo Valdes Peter Murray Gray Rüdiger Kneissl Pablo Arias Sergio González Eduardo Peña Elena Valenti Christoph Haupt Stéphane Leon Tanne Oriel Alberto Arriagada Patricia Guajardo Isabelle Percheron Jose Javier Valenzuela Volker Heinz Gianni Marconi Karla Aubel Carlos Guerra Monika Petr-Gotzens Karen Vallejo Norbert Hubin Gautier Mathys Francisco Azagra Stéphane Guisard Dirk Petry Mario Van Den Ancker Lieselotte Jochum Lars-Åke Nyman José Baez Jonas Haase Jorge Pilquinao Eelco van Kampen Florian Kerber José Parra Pedro Baksai Nicolas Haddad Juan Pineda Pierre Vanderheyden Bertrand Koehler Neil Matthew Phillips Giacomo Beccari Juan Pablo Haddad Andres Pino Paulina Venegas Nicholas Charles David Rabanus Juan Beltran Pierre Haguenauer Aldo Pizarro Sergio Vera Kornweibel Armin Silber Thomas Bierwirth Reinhard Hanuschik Emanuela Pompei Ignacio Vera Sequeiros Pascal Martínez Giorgio Siringo Andrew Biggs Evanthia Hatziminaoglou Sébastien Poupar Jorge Vilaza Katia Montironi Russell Smeback Guillaume Blanchard George Hau Matteo Pozzobon Zahed Wahhaj Luca Pasquini Baltasar Vila Vilaro Israel Blanchard Juan Pablo Henriquez Francesca Primas Jeremy Walsh Jean-François Pirard Eric Villard Maxime Boccas Cristian Herrera John Pritchard Ueli Weilenmann Gero Rupprecht Catherine Vlahakis HenriBoffin Michael Hilker Andrés Ramírez Luis Wendegass Valérie Saint-Hilaire Nicholas Whyborn Carlos Bolados Gerhard Hüdepohl Christian Ramírez Wolfgang Wild Stefano Stanghellini Gert Tommy Wiklind Pierre Bourget Rodrigo Huerta Suzanna Randall Markus Wittkowski Josef Strasser Stéphane Brillant Wolfgang Hummel Claudio Reinero Burkhard Wolff Donald Tait Erich Bugueno Christian Hummel Marina Rejkuba Pavel Yagoubov Roberto Tamai Francisco Caceres Elizabeth Humphreys Sridharan Rengaswamy Véronique Ziegler Gianluca Verzichelli Luis Alejandro Valentin Ivanov Jörg Retzlaff Gerard Zins Caniguante Nestor Jiménez Claudia Reyes Elena Zuffanelli Michael Cantzler Petr Kabath Miguel Riquelme Martin A. Zwaan Robin Capocci Ismo Kastinen Leonel Rivas Rubén Cárcamo Thomas Klein Thomas Rivinius César Cárdenas Carlos La Fuente Chester Rojas Giovanni Carraro Francisco Labraña Pascual Rojas Duncan Castex Robert Alexander Laing Martino Romaniello Mónica Castillo Cédric Ledoux Cristian Romero Roberto Castillo Alfredo Leiva Rodrigo Romero Susana Cerda Marcelo Lopez Silvio Rossi Claudia Cid Fernando Luco Felix Alberto Rozas Lodovico Coccato Felipe Mac-Auliffe Laura Ruiz Zorrilla Franco Colleoni Vincenzo Mainieri Francisco G. Ruseler Alex Correa Pedro Mardones Fernando Salgado Alejandra Cortés Kiriako Markar Ariel Sanchez Carlos De Breuck Christophe Martayan Sebastian Sanhueza Willem-Jan de Wit Stéphane Marteau Pierre Sansgasset Diego Del Valle Mauricio Martínez Jorge Santana Nausicaa Delmotte Eduardo Matamoros Ivo Saviane Álvaro Díaz Dimitri Mawet Erich Schmid María Díaz Trigo Angel Mellado Linda Schmidtobreick Danuta Dobrzycka Alejandra Mena Ricardo Schmutzer Adam Dobrzycki Antoine Mérand Nicolas Schuhler Reinaldo Donoso Alberto Micol Frédéric Schuller Javier Duk Steffen Mieske Fernando Selman Christophe Dumas Sabine Möhler Waldo Siclari Michael Dumke Palle Møller Peter Sinclaire Carlos Duran Lorenzo Monaco Nicolas Slusarenko Cristian Elao Francisco Miguel Alain Smette Cristian Esparza Montenegro-Montes Gerardo Smith Lorena Faundez Alex Morales Jonathan Smoker José Figueroa Ivan Muñoz Christian Spille Erito Flores Sangeeta Mysore Thomas Stanke Nathalie Fourniol Julio Navarrete Christian Stephan Mark Neeser Hernan Nievas

ESO Annual Report 2014 85 Directorate for Science

Robert Julian Ivison

Rebeca Aladro XavierHaubois Matthew Shultz Susana Almagro García Richard Hook Ralf Siebenmorgen Julian David Alvarado Renate Elisabeth Hoppe Jason Spyromilio Gomez Bernd Husemann Matthew Taylor Joseph Anderson Gaitee Hussain Marco Tazzari Mathias André Soh Ikarashi Leonardo Testi Suryashree Aniyan Katharina Immer Svea Teupke Maryam Arab Salmani Laura Inno Laura Ventura Vinodiran Arumugam Edmund Janssen Joël Daniel Roger Daniel Asmus Izaskun Maite Jiménez Vernet Dietrich Baade Serra Ruud Visser Juan Carlos Beamin Paulina Jirón Karina Theresia Voggel Jean-Philippe Berger Evelyn Johnston Ke Wang Matthieu Bethermin Darshan Kakkad Yue Wang Jutta Boxheimer Tomasz Kaminski Linda Watson Pamela Bristow Muhammet Emin Roger Wesson Stella-Maria Karabal Julien Woillez Chasiotis-Klingner Hans-UlrichKäufl SiyiXu Roxana-Adela Chira Wolfgang Kerzendorf Bin Yang Lars Lindberg Martin Kornmesser Tayyaba Zafar Christensen Thomas Krühler Sarolta Zahorecz Silvia Cristiani Harald Kuntschner Herbert Zodet Gergely László Csépány Claudia del Pilar Lagos Joana Mafalda da Cruz Urbina Carmo Martins Bruno Leibundgut Jozua de Boer Jochen Liske Claudio De Figueiredo Gaspare Lo Curto Melo Kate Louise Maguire Marco De Pascale Michaël Marsset Suhail Dhawan Luca Matrà Eric Emsellem Anna Faye Mc Leod Steve Ertel Melissa McClure Anja Feldmeier Silvia Meakins Maud Muriel Galametz Andrea Mehner Stephan Geier Julien Milli Neale Gibson André Müller Adam Ginsburg Juan Carlos María Eugenia Gómez Muñoz-Mateos Luis Goncalves Calçada Koraljka Muzic Oscar A González Gaël Noirot Uta Grothkopf Paolo Padovani Jason Harley Grunhut Ferdinando Patat Adrien Guerou Lura Katherine Pitchford Nicolas Guillard Gergely Popping Bitten Gullberg Farid Rahoui Claudia Patricia Suzanne Ramsay Gutiérrez Avendaño Javier Adrián Rodón Lizette Guzman Francisco Rodríguez Olivier Hainaut Paula Valentina Rodríguez Markus Schöller Christine Schulz Elyar Sedaghati Raquel Yumi Shida

TheALMASantiagoCentralOffice,locatedin Vitacura, plays host to astronomers, technicians and administrative staff. Some 15 kilometres off, in the background of this image, the beautiful snow- capped peaks of the Chilean Andes are visible.

86 ESO Annual Report 2014 ESO/J. Girard Organigram

OrganisationalStructureDecember2014

Director General Tim de Zeeuw DG Cabinet Ofﬁce of Representation Internal Laura Comendador in Chile Auditor Frutos Fernando Comerón Elena Llopis

Directorate of Directorate of Directorate of Directorate of Directorate for Administration Engineering Programmes Operations Science Patrick Geeraert Michèle Péron Adrian Russell Andreas Kaufer Robert Ivison

Data Contracts and Information ALMA European ALMA Project La Silla Paranal Management Procurement Technology Programme Support Centre Science Observatory & Operations Arnout Tromp Mervi Lampinen Wolfgang Wild Andreas Kaufer Wolfgang Wild Jason Spyromilio Michael Sterzik

Facility, Control Science Observing E-ELT ALMA Regional ALMA Logistics, Software & Operations Programmes Programme Centre Computing Transport Engineering Paranal Ofﬁce Roberto Tamai Paola Andreani Erich Schmid Erich Siml Jochen Haucke Christophe Dumas Ferdinando Patat

Armazones Maintenance, Back-end Ofﬁce for Electronic ALMA Technical Finance Instrumentation Support Operations Outreach Engineering Support Renate Brunner Programme and Engineering Martino Lars Lindberg Christian Lucuix Silvio Rossi Mark Casali Maxime Boccas Romaniello Christensen

Paranal Ofﬁce for Human Mechanical Logistics and User Support Instrumentation Science Resources Engineering Facilities Paranal Programme Francesca Garching Heidi Schmidt Franz Koch Francisco Ruseler Primas Luca Pasquini Eric Emsellem

Infrastructure Technology Ofﬁce for Science Optical Chile Development La Silla Chile Engineering Jean-Michel Programme Ivo Saviane Claudio De Lothar Noethe Bonneau Mark Casali Figueiredo Melo

Science Project Operation Management APEX Software Fabio Biancat Thomas Klein Pascal Ballester Marchet

System Engineering Gerald Hechenblaikner

88 ESO Annual Report 2014 This colourful view of the ALMA array shows the Milky Way shining high above the antennas. The array allows astronomers to address some of

the deepest questions of our cosmic origins. BeletskyY. (LCO)/ESO

ESO Annual Report 2014 89 Director General Support

ESO’s Director General, Tim de Zeeuw at the 223rd AAS Meeting which was held in Washington DC, 5–9 January 2014.

90 ESO Annual Report 2014 The Cabinet of the Director General, the Signature of the agree- OfficefortheESORepresentationin ment between ESO and the company Grupo ChileandtheInternalAuditOfficework SAESA to connect the together to support the Director General. sites at Cerro Paranal The Cabinet brings together a number and Cerro Armazones to of expert areas that are necessary to the Chilean electric power grid. ensure ESO’s function as an intergovernmental organisation, but — because of their horizontal and non-technical charac- ter — are not covered within the structure of the Directorates. These include the areas of legal affairs, internal communication, corporate risks and intellectual property management, international affairs, the Council Secretariat and Cabinet Officeandprotocol.Withintheseareasof expertise, the Cabinet additionally supports the ESO Council and Finance Com- mittee and the ESO Management Team, level objectives, structure and principles In addition to advising ESO Management as appropriate, in the development and of ALMA operations in place, the review and others on internal com munication implementation of ESO’s overall strategy. of all related agreements, policies and in general, the Internal Communication procedures has begun — a task within Officecontinuedtoruntheinternal ESO led by the Cabinet. In par ticular, the announcements and internal newsletter. Legal affairs negotiations on the management agree- These were set up in 2013 and are the ment between the three ALMA Executives, officialinternalchannelforESO-wide OneofthemaintasksoftheOfficeof AUI, ESO and NAOJ have commenced, news, and for other ESO news of interest Legal and International Affairs this year withfirstmeetingsattheendof2014. to a substantial group of staff members. was to assist in the development of the Almost 500 internal announcements were E-ELT Way Forward, independent of FortheOfficeofLegalandInternational publishedduringtheyear.During2014, progressoftheratificationoftheBrazilian Affairs in Chile, beyond the regular task the coverage expanded to include, among accession agreement to ESO. In the of providing assistance in all legal matters other things, introductions of newly process, several meetings, both within to the ESO Representation in Chile, one arrived high-level staff, information about ESO Management and with the E-ELT ofthemainareasofworkin2014wasto VIP and media visits to the sites, and Working Group set up by Council, took assist the Directorate of Engineering in additional news from the observatories. place as well as several iterations with the the nego tiation and signature of contracts Finance Committee (FC) and the STC. regarding the supply of electricity to More “Coffee with the Director General” All the input and comments were consid- La SillaandParanal.Ineth samecontext, events took place in Garching, Vitacura, ered in the corresponding document, Legal Affairs in Chile provided support in Paranal,LaSillaandatAPEX,offering whichCouncilused,inDecember2014, the environmental study of the gas pipe- staff an opportunity to ask questions as the basis for its approval of the con- line project to the ALMA site. and give feedback in an informal setting. struction of the E-ELT in two phases. As one of the major construction activities As in previous years, the Cabinet closely TheInternalCommunicationOfficeorgan- fortheE-ELT,theOfficeofLegaland collaborated with the Directorate of isedthe2014ESOO v e r v i e w , atwhich Interna tional Affairs further supported the Administration, in particular the Human highlights of ESO’s entire programme ProjectOfficeandtheContractsandPro- Resources and the Contracts and were presented by speakers from across curement Department in the preparation Procurement Departments and, inter alia, the organisation. The talks covered a and release of the calls for tender for the provided support with internal appeals broadrangeofscientific,technical,oper- E-ELT dome and main structure. and complaints before the Adminis trative ational and administrative topics for an Tribunal of the International Labour ESO-wide audience. Particular effort was After several years of negotiations and Organisation, and with an update of the put into adding variety to the schedule following more meetings and iterations in StaffRulesandRegulationsandspecific by including dif ferent speakers and topics 2014,theTrilateralAgreementconcerning contractual issues. from those in previous years. After the operations of ALMA with the partners at overview, a survey was taken to gather the National Science Foun dation (US) and feedback about the event from staff. the National Institutes of Natural Sciences Internal communication (Japan)couldbefinalised.ESOCouncil The “What ESO Really Does” programme approved the agreement in December and TheInternalCommunicationOfficecon- of informal and non-technical talks the corresponding approval processes of tinued working to strengthen and coordi- remained popular. These talks aim to give the partners have started. With the top- nate internal communication across ESO. ESO staff an insight into what they and

ESO Annual Report 2014 91 GroupphotooftheworkshopASTRONET2014— The ESO accession agreement with Poland was Tools, Best Practices and Methodologies for Tech- signed by the Polish Minister of Science and Higher nology Transfer. Education,LenaKolarska-Bobińska,andESO’s Director General Tim de Zeeuw, in the presence of otherseniorofficialsfromPolandandESO. their colleagues across the organisation harmonise coverage, one single umbrella International affairs doandwhytheydoit.In2014,nine policy has covered all ESO property since talkstookplaceinGarching,andfivein August2014.Theactivitiesoftheyear During2014,effortscontinuedinsup- Vitacura, on topics ranging from the were closed with a site survey visit by the portoftheratificationprocessinBrazil, applicationsoflasersandopticalfibres insurance broker and underwriter for the directed towards enabling the country at ESO, through the importance of safety, Garching facilities. toformallyjoinESO.Significantprogress to the role played by the ESO libraries. had been achieved towards the end of In2014,ESO’scorporateriskswere 2013,butin2014theprocesswas revised every three months at the man- slowed down, partly due to high-level Risk and intellectual property manage- agement team meetings. Both the respec- changes within the Brazilian administra- ment, EU contracts tive methodology and procedure is now tion and partly due to the presidential part of ESO’s management practices and congressional elections in October In2014,oneofthemajortasksofRisk on many different levels and in all pro- and the ensuing effects on the law- and Intellectual Property Management grammes. making process. Thus the ESO case was to ensure the proper implementation could not be closed and remains on the ofESO’sdataclassificationpolicy,which In the area of intellectual property man- table of the Congress for approval during was published in 2013. The aim of this agement and knowledge transfer, ESO thefirsthalfof2015. policyistoensurethenecessaryandeffi- continued its modest but successful cient safeguarding of ESO’s, and of its activities.TheESORamanfibreamplifier Negotiations with Poland moved from collaborators, and contractors, proprie- patenthasbeenfinallygrantedinallthe informal discussions in 2013 to a formal taryandconfidentialdata,information designated countries: Germany, United stage, resulting in the signing of the and knowledge. Many areas were affect- Kingdom, France, Canada, Japan and accession agreement in Warsaw on ed by the policy, and, among others, the USA. The know-how is available for 28 October2014.Thetaskofformal thedocumentclassificationpracticesof licensing. negotiations of the terms and conditions ESO, as well as the data storage and of the Polish accession to ESO as well archiving rules were adjusted in order to ESO, within the ASTRONET EU project, as the drafting of the accession agree- complywithESO’sdataclassification organised a one-day technology transfer ment was led by the Cabinet. By the policy.Closelyconnectedtodataclassifi- workshop at ESO Headquarters on endoftheyeartheparliamentaryratifica- cation, ESO also looked into the question 24 November2014,attendedby tech- tion process had been initiated. It is of data security, in particular in the area nology transfer experts from ESA, CERN, expectedtobefinishedwithinthefirst of cloud storage and its legal implications the European Synchrotron Radiation half of 2015, after which ESO will formally for intergovernmental organisations. Facility,theEuropeanX-rayLaserProject, welcome Poland as a new Member State. Innovative faseroptische Spekroskopie With regard to non-life insurance policies, und Sensorik (innoFSPEC) Potsdam and Theyear2014sawrenewedinterest ESO, via its broker, implemented some other ASTRONET organisations (http:// for ESO membership from Norway and fundamental changes within its policy www.eso.org/public/events/special-evt/ Ireland, prompted by the continued portfolio. In order to reduce costs and astronet2014/). operational success of the current ESO

92 ESO Annual Report 2014 E-ELTgroundbreakingeventofficialphoto. facilities and ALMA, and the progress tee for the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, The agreement for the connection of made towards the realisation of the E-ELT. with a particular focus on the preparation the observatory to the power grid was This has also sparked a strong interest of a possible global response to the signed at Paranal on the same day. The in the Australian astronomical community. potential threat from near-Earth objects. groundbreaking ceremony received Discussions with Australian scientists extensive coverage by both national and and authorities took place throughout the international media. year and resulted in the establishment Host state activities of an informal ESO–Australia working The new Chilean government took group. Early-stage informal discussions Major events took place in Chile in officeinMarch.ESOwashonouredby took place with other countries, as well. connection with the beginning of the con- the presence of President-elect Michelle struction of the E-ELT. Work by the Bachelet at one of the bilateral meetings ESO took part in the International Con- Chilean company ICAFAL on the con- of diplomatic and international organisa- ference on Research Infrastructures in struction of the access road and the tion delegations that occurred the day April and the conference “Evolving land- platform started in early March. An prior to the Presidential inauguration. The scape of Research Infrastructures in officialceremonytookplaceon19June President of the Council, the Director Europe” in September, which were organ- onParanal,andthefirstmajorblasting General, the Director of Operations and ised by the Greek and Italian EU Presiden- of the summit of Cerro Armazones was the Representative in Chile could thus cies, respectively. In addition, ESO par- watched from Cerro Paranal by repre- update President-elect Bachelet on the ticipated in the EuroScience Open Forum sentatives of the ESO Council and upper developments that had taken place since in2014inJulyinCopenhagen,which management, observatory staff, national, the end of her previous administration. A offered a forum for exchange with science regional and local authorities, ambassa- number of meetings with the new authori- policymakers from several countries. dors of Member States, and representa- ties, many of them coordinated by the tives of companies involved in the works. Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ESO continued its active participation in EIROforum. This included the preparation The Director General of a position paper on the sustainability Tim de Zeeuw met Michelle Bachelet, the of research infrastructures, at the invita- incoming President tion of the European Commission. Contri- of Chile, on 10 March butions were made to the formulation 2014,thedaybefore of a Charter for Research Infrastructures her inauguration. and discussions about a possible major technology initiative within the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme regarding thedevelopmentofnewscientificdetec- tors. The Cabinet also represented ESO as an observer in the Square Kilometre Array board meetings.

Finally, ESO participated in the regular meetings of the United Nations Commit-

ESO Annual Report 2014 93 ESO/F. Comerón ESO/F.

OnThursday21August2014,formerChileanPresi- Anambassadors’visittoParanalon2May2014. dent Ricardo Lagos visited the ESO Guesthouse in From left to right, Mr Luis Lorvão, Ambassador Santiago, where he met the Director General and of Portugal; Ms Brigitta Al-Ojeil, Head of Mission of other ESO staff. Lebanon; and Mr Timothy Kane, Ambassador of Australia. with the participation of representatives funding through the ESO–Chile Joint In Europe, ESO accepted invitations to of the other international observatories Committee, to which a record 38 propos- participate in events organised by the based in Chile, have taken place during als from 16 institutions where submitted German Federal Government, including the year. in2014. the annual meeting of the German diplomatic representations worldwide, ESO was honoured by the private visit of ESO and its observatories continue to and by the Bavarian State Government. former President Ricardo Lagos to the be of special interest to the diplomatic Contacts increased between the State ESO Guesthouse in August. The Director representations of the Member States GovernmentCabinetOfficeandthe General, the Director of Administration and other countries. Besides the diplo- Ministry of Economic Affairs, in particular. and the Representative in Chile gave matic representatives who attended the Mr Lagos an overview of the most impor- Armazones groundbreaking cere mony tant developments in the relationship on 19 June, Paranal was visited this Internal audit between ESO and Chile since the end of year by the following ambassadors: Ms his Presidency, and Mr Lagos offered Marion Kappeyne van de Copello, of the The internal audit provided support to the some valuable views on matters of cur- Netherlands; Mr Luis Lorvão, of Portugal; external auditors in the performance of rent interest in this area. Mr Carlos Robles Fraga, of Spain; Mr their duties and delivery of reports to the Timothy Kane, of Australia; Mr Yang Director General. The internal audit is Visits by Brazilian academic authorities Wanming, of China; Ms Naciye Gökçen an independent, objective assurance and to ESO facilities have continued during Kaya, of Turkey; Ms Reem Al-Khaled, consulting activity designed to add value 2014,hostedbytheHeadoftheOffice of Kuwait; and the Head of Mission of and improve the organisation’s opera- for Science in Chile and by the Represent- Lebanon, Ms Brigitta Al Ojeil. The former tions. Other regular activities during the ative, to raise awareness of the advan- ambassador of Chile to Germany, yearweretheauditcertificateforESO tages of ESO membership in view of the Mr JorgeO’RyanSchütz,alsovisited partnersaswellasvariousauditcertifi- impendingratificationbyBrazil.Thesta- Paranal. Both ESO and ALMA were visit- catesforEU-financedprojectsandthe tus and perspectives of the accession ed by a delegation of Dutch universities certificationoftheannualaccountsofthe process were discussed during the visit forming part of NOVA. Other Chilean Staff Associations in Chile and Europe. of the Brazilian Minister of Science and visitors to Paranal include Senator Guido Technology, Mr Clélio Campolina, to Girardi and former minister Carlos The internal auditor also performed sev- Santiago in June. Ominami. Last but not least, the Polish eral other audits, including of the in-kind vice-minister of Foreign Affairs Ms elementsinthefinancialstatementsfor The long-term collaboration between Katarzyna Kacperczyk visited the Vitacura 2013. ESO and a variety of institutions in Chile premises in October, shortly before the has continued in many ways. One of signature of the Poland’s accession these continues to be the allocation of agreement to ESO.

94 ESO Annual Report 2014 In this scene a bright, crimson sunset comple- ments the colourful centre of the Milky Way and the zodiacal light above the platform of the Very

ESO/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org) Large Telescope on Cerro Paranal.

ESO Annual Report 2014 95 The little-known nebula Gum 15 is located in the constellation of Vela (The Sails). It has some similarity to the more famous H II region, the Trifid Nebula (Messier 20).

96 ESO Annual Report 2014

Committees

Top: At their meeting on 3 December 2014 ESO’s main governing body, the Council, gave the green light for the construction of the European Extremely Large Telescope in two phases.

Below: Three generations of Council presidents. From left to right: Patrick Roche (current Council president), Xavier Barcons (Patrick Roche’s predecessor) and Laurent Vigroux (Xavier Barcon’s predecessor).

98 ESO Annual Report 2014 Council

As its main governing body, ESO Council the External Audit Report and the 2013 determines the policy of the organisation financialstatements.Dischargewas Council and Committee of Council 2014 withregardtoscientific,technicaland granted to the ESO Director General for administrative matters. Both the Council the same year and much appreciation PresidentXavierBarcons(Spain) and the Committee of Council (the infor- was expressed to the external auditors mal body of Council) normally meet twice for their hard work and efforts over the duringtheyear:however,in2014there past twelve months. Finally, concerns Austria Sabine Schindler/ João Alves was a requirement for two addi tional were expressed about the status of the Daniel Weselka extraordinary Council meetings, which funding for the CERN Pension Fund, took place in conjunction with the March which were to be raised with the CERN Belgium Christoffel Waelkens and October Committees of Council. Council President. Sophie Pireaux The two ordinary Council meetings were Czech Republic Jan Palouš heldinGarching,on3–4Juneand In October, a short extraordinary Council Jan Buriánek 3–4December.ThetwoCommitteeof meeting took place. During this meet- Council meetings were kindly hosted ing, Council approved the accession of Denmark Uffe Jørgensen Cecilie Tornøe by the Italian and Finnish delegations Poland to ESO and looked forward respectivelyinRomeon4–5Marchand to welcoming them into the organisation Finland Jari Kotilainen in Turku on 7–8 October. All meetings oncetheratificationprocesshadbeen Antti Väihkönen were chaired by the Council President, completed, which was envisaged to be France Denis Mourard XavierBarcons. around mid-2015. Laurent Vigroux

During the March meeting, Council ThefinalCouncilmeetingoftheyeartook Germany Thomas Henning approved the establishment of the place in Garching. Following the regular Thomas Roth E-ELT Management Advisory Committee updates of the ESO programme, approval Italy Giovanni Bignami (EMAC), which was put in place as an was given by Council for the establish- Matteo Pardo advisory body to both Council and the ment and membership of an ALMA Con- ESO Director General. The prime function struction Lessons Learned Committee. The Netherlands Konrad Kuijken Jan van de Donk of this committee is to provide appro- This was not a formal review of the pro- priate and timely management oversight ject,butafact-findingexercisetoestab- Portugal Paulo Garcia and advice to assist in the delivery of the lish what ESO had learned from ALMA, Fernando Bello/Pedro E-ELT programme. which could in turn be applied to future Carneiro projects, in particular the E-ELT. The Spain Rafael Bachiller At the June meeting, an update was ALMA Trilateral Agreement was also Fernando Ballestero provided by the Council President and approved. For the E-ELT Way Forward, the ESO Director General on a number the revised document and resolution Sweden Hans Olofsson Catarina Sahlberg of ongoing events and actions and the were discussed and, following the rec- respective directors and heads of depart- ommendation from the FC and STC, the Switzerland Georges Meylan ment presented feedback on all aspects resolution was approved by Council. Martin Steinacher (Vice of ESO’s programme, including the status Council expressed their great pleasure at President) of La Silla, Paranal and ALMA. Spain having reached this very important mile- United Kingdom Patrick Roche confirmeditsparticipationintheE-ELT, stone and looked forward to the success John Womersley/Colin which was approved by the delegates of the E-ELT programme in the future. Vincent and Council expressed its great satisfac- The E-ELT policy on Guaranteed Observ- tion that all the ESO Member States were ing Time was agreed. As part of the dis- now part of the programme. After much cussionsrelatedtofinance,approvalwas discussion, it was agreed that further given for the ESO Budget and the scale was warmly thanked for his many contri- reconsideration would be postponed until of contributions, both for 2015. Elections butions during his time as a member of the December Council meeting with took place for the appointment of per- the Swiss delegation from 2008 onwards. regard to the way forward for the E-ELT, sonnel to the various ESO Committees AppreciationwasalsoexpressedtoXavier which would be preceded by a revised including the ALMA Board, FC, OPC, Barcons for his dedicated and most version of the related document being STCandtheTripartiteGroup.AsXavier effective leadership of Council and all reviewed during the forthcoming FC, STC Barcons and Martin Steinacher were present wished him every success for his and Committee of Council meetings. completing their three-year terms as future endeavours. Council was provided with the report of Council President and Vice President thefindingsoftheVisitingCommittee,the respec tively, elections took place for their recommendations from which were being successors and Patrick Roche and Jan taken forward by the Executive. The Palouš were duly appointed. As he was Annual Report was approved, as were retiring from Council, Georges Meylan

ESO Annual Report 2014 99 Finance Committee

The Finance Committee had two ordinary Approval for securing the Chilean peso Finance Committee 2014 meetings, as well as one extraordinary exchange rates, limited until December meetingin2014,allofthemchairedby 2014,securedasubstantialsavinginthe Chair Colin Vincent (United Colin Vincent. execution of the budget. The delegates Kingdom) also discussed the new procedure for In these meetings, the Finance Commit- the selection of collaborating institutes. teedelegatesdiscussedthefinancial Such collaborations could be for the Austria Sabine Hertgen (Vice-chair asofJune2014) aspects of the various options for the way development and construction of instru- forward for the E-ELT and prepared a ments, development of technology and Belgium Alain Heynen recommendation for Council. The FC other subjects. The Finance Committee also recommended that Council approve also received an update on the status of Czech Republic Pavla Katzová several amendments to the Staff Rules ESO’s insurance policies, where savings Denmark Cecilie Tornøe (Vice-chair and Regulations. In total, they also could be achieved after a call for tender untilMay2014) approved eight contracts exceeding and a restructuring of policies. €500 000,twoamendmentstoexisting Finland Sirpa Nummila contracts and six single-source pro- The 139th meeting in September focused France Patricia Laplaud curementsexceeding€250 000.The on the way forward for the E-ELT, the contracts regarding the supply of electric budget for 2015 and the forward look for Germany Gisela Schmitz-DuMont power to the La Silla Observatory and 2016–2018. These subjects were recom- Italy Giampaolo Bologna the extension of the Chilean grid system mendedtoCouncilinthe140thFCmeet- to supply power to the Paranal and ing together with the scale of contribu- The Netherlands Mirjam Lieshout-Vijverberg Armazonesareaswillsignificantlyreduce tions and a small increase in the cost to costs for energy supply. completion for the construction of the Portugal Filipa Baptista Coelho ALMA Residencia. Spain Inmaculada Figueroa In addition, at the 138th meeting in May, the FC recommended that Council Moreover, the Finance Committee Sweden Johan Holmberg approvetheESOfinancialstatements approved seven proposals for the award Switzerland Astrid Vassella and the external audit report for 2013. of contracts by written procedure.

United Kingdom Maggie Collick Roger Wesson/ESO Roger

ESO signed an agreement with the Chilean company Astronomy and Energy (a subsidiary of the Spanish LKSGroup)toinstallaSolarfarmattheLa Silla Observatory. ESO has been working on green solutions for supplying energy to its sites for several years, and these are now coming to fruition.

100 ESO Annual Report 2014 Scientific Technical Committee

TheScientificTechnicalCommitteemet Thehighscientificpriorityofmovingfor- The Scientific Technical Committee 2014 twiceinordinarysessionduring2014,on ward with the E-ELT was re-emphasised 8–9 April and 21–22 October, and for an by the STC and the importance was Chair Alessandro Marconi (Italy) extraordinary meeting on 19 September. stressed of being on sky with as much as There was also an STC teleconference on overlap with the James Webb Space 11Junetodiscussascientificprioritisa- Telescope as possible. The STC therefore Austria Josef Hron tion exercise being led by the Director for supported staying on the current sched- Belgium Hans Van Winckel (LSP) Science, which covers the majority of the ulewithfirstlightforE-ELTplannedfor activities at ESO, excluding the Cabinet 2024andwasgladtonotethecallfor Czech Republic Stephane Vennes and the Adminis tration, and which is due Phase A proposals for two E-ELT instru- to report to the STC in April 2015. ments, namely a multi-object spectro- Denmark Johan Fynbo (LSP) graph (MOS) and a high-resolution spec- Finland Alexis Finoguenov trograph (HIRES). In view of ESO’s desire 82nd STC meeting to have competitive proposals, the STC France Anne-Marie Lagrange recommended announcing a deadline (ESC Chair) At its regular spring meeting, the STC distant enough to allow the community to Germany Matthias Steinmetz (ESC) heard the outcomes of meetings of the properly organise itself and wished to E-ELT Subcommittee (ESC), the La Silla see the number of available Guaranteed Portugal André Moitinho (LSP) Paranal Subcommittee (LSP) and the Observing Time nights announced Spain Almudena Alonso-Herrero European ALMA Science Advisory Com- together with the call for proposals. The (ESC) mittee (ESAC). STC endorsed the top-level requirements of the E-ELT instruments MOS and HIRES SwedenSofiaFeltzing(ESC) The STC noted that recent events had and the mid-infrared instrument (METIS). Switzerland Michael Meyer (ESAC) resulted in an “overheating” of the ESO programme. The STC welcomed the fact Regarding ALMA, the STC was pleased The Netherlands Marco de Vos (LSP Chair) that the instrumentation programme is to hear of progress in addressing several being reviewed in a coherent way, argu- of the areas of concern from its last United Kingdom Ian Smail (ESAC) ing that particular attention must be given meeting. The power supply at the ALMA Chile Leonardo Bronfman to the trio of projects, NACO, CRIRES+ site was reported to be much more sta- and ERIS, which had been put on hold. ble. The return to a 12-month observing Members at Large cycle from Cycle 3 onwards was wel- Elaine Sadler (ESAC Chair) The results of the PRIMA gate review comed. Good progress was reported in Gillian Wright were presented to the STC along with a delivering Cycle 1 data, and the STC John Monnier (LSP) proposed course of action. The STC commended the excellent support being Rachel Akeson (ESAC) concurred with the recommendation of provided by all ARC nodes. The STC the board that the PRIMA project should was concerned that several key positions Observer be cancelled, but with no irreversible at the Joint ALMA Observatory were still Brazil Marcos Diaz actionbeingtakenpriortotheconfirma- eitherunfilled,orfilledonaninterim tion by ESA that Gaia is fully functional. basis, and requested that the position of The STC endorsed the plan to utilise all ALMA Chief Scientist be reinstated, since the personnel and resources thus freed this person could provide several impor- toward VLTI infrastructure projects. The tant linkages, for example as a JAO sci- STC supported the view that a lessons- entificrepresentativetotheALMADevel- learnt review be held, considering stew- opment Plan and a point of contact for ardship and management as well as very long baseline interferometry issues technical points. and planning.

TheSTCrecognisedthehighscientific The STC was concerned that the tech- merit of two exoplanet transit projects pro- nical assessment of almost 1000 ALMA posed for the LPO. The proposers were Cycle 2 proposals was placing a very urged to provide more information on the heavy workload on the ARC and JAO extent of the proposed public archive and staff, and probably represents the maxi- aclearerpictureofthepossiblescientific mum number of proposals that this group return to the ESO com munity. With regard can assess effectively. The STC recom- to the call for ideas for the NTT, the num- mended that the technical assessment ber of proposals received impressed the process for ALMA proposals be revised. STC and it asked to be represented in the TheSTCendorsedthedefinition,respon- proposal evaluation. sibilities and evaluations proposed by ESO for the ALMA centres of expertise.

ESO Annual Report 2014 101 The STC noted the recent review of the 83rd and 84th STC meetings The STC noted that the ALMA construc- ALMA Band 2+3 development study, tion phase was formally completed on and recommended the continuation of The STC supported the adoption of a 30 September2014.Althoughafew coordinated efforts to develop a com- two-phase approach to construction of items (including the ALMA Residencia) bined Band 2+3 receiver system for the E-ELT as a backup plan, allowing remain to be completed, this represented ALMA. The strength of the science case major contracts to be placed in 2015. a major achievement for the project. STC for millimetre very long baseline inter- The STC stated that ESO had presented was also pleased to hear of the good ferometry was acknowledged, and the a convincing example of a two-phase progress on the ALMA Long Baseline high level of interest shown by European constructionplanwithafixedcostfor Campaign, with phase closure achieved groups; it was recommended that Phase 1, allowing for the construction of on baselines out to 15 kilometres. A millimetre very long baseline interferom- ascientificallycompetitivetelescopewith spectacularlongbaselineScienceVerifi- etry, including phased ALMA, should be full instrument capabilities at the end cation image at 230 GHz (of HL Tauri) offered as an open-access facility subject of Phase 2. The STC felt that Phase 1 will gaveafirsttasteofthetransformational to peer review. The STC supported the provideworld-leadingfacilitiesatfirst science enabled by the commissioning of idea that ALMA development should pro- light; in order to maintain that leadership, the long baselines. ceed within the framework of an over- and for a complete and competitive arching long-term strategy for ALMA, and exploitation of the E-ELT, Phase 2 is Concern was voiced by the STC that the was pleased to hear that a working group essential. The STC endorsed the decision scientificexecutionefficiencyforthefirst has been set up by the ALMA Develop- to design the two-phase plan so that it three months of ALMA Cycle 2 (June– ment Steering Committee to develop a does not diverge from the original base- September2014)waslow—significantly scientificvisionforALMAinthe2030s. lineuntil2017,sothatfirst-lightscience belowthetargetefficiencyforCycle2. remains competitive. The STC recom- The STC recommended that urgent ESOandtheAPEXteamwerecongratu- mended that after Council approval of action be taken to identify the main rea- lated on another year of high observing the two-phase plan, ESO should explore sonsforthislowefficiency,andthata efficiencyandcontinuedscientificpro- avenues to identify additional funding timely plan be developed (and advertised ductivity.TheconnectionsbetweenAPEX in order to either remove the need for the to the community) to deal with incom- and ALMA observations were acknowl- back-up plan or, if necessary, to ensure plete proposals ahead of the Cycle 3 call edged to be strong. The initial results that a minimum of activity has to be post- for proposals. The STC noted that from ArTeMiS appear encouraging and poned to Phase 2. In the event that the ALMA’sscientificproductivityismaxim- cover a wide range of astrophysical back-up plan is needed, the STC recom- ised by getting data into the hands of topics. The STC recommended that mended that bringing laser tomographic PIs as rapidly as possible, and endorsed Supercam,a345GHzreceiverbuiltby AO back to the baseline schedule is the recommendations of an ALMA Scien- the Arizona Radio Observatory, should thehighestscientificpriority.TheSTC tificAdvisoryCommitteereportondata be offered again to the ESO community also recommended that the Guaranteed delivery policies. The STC recommended in Period 95. The STC also recom- Observing Time policy for the E-ELT pro- that the opportunity to propose large mended that the ALMA Band 5 receiver posed by ESO be implemented. programmes on ALMA should only be atAPEXshouldbeofferedtotheESO offered(inCycle4andbeyond)when community. The teams from ESO and from the instru- certainimportantconditionsarefulfilled. ment consortia were congratulated on The STC thanked the CTA representa- the smooth commissioning of MUSE and A large number of STC members retired tives, Werner Hofmann and Stephan SPHERE, an unprecedented achievement attheendof2014,includingitsmost Wagner, for attending the STC meeting for simultaneously dealing with two com- recent chair, Alessandro Marconi. and providing an interesting and illumi- plex instruments. nating presentation of the CTA science case. The STC concurs that the science The STC was happy to note that in gen- for CTA is of interest to the ESO com- eral the Public Surveys are progressing munity, as outlined in the ASTRONET well, but was concerned with the public roadmap. availability of data products for some of the surveys. The committee recom- mendedthatESObefirmwithPIsand data centres, as agreed in the survey management plans.

The STC was presented with a document onhostingtelescopeprojects(STC-545) and recommended the proposed guide- lines for implementation.

102 ESO Annual Report 2014 Observing Programmes Committee

During its meetings in May and November, The OPC reviewed 19 open-time pro- The Observing Programmes Committee 2014 the Observing Programmes Committee posals for the VISTA survey telescope, of evaluated the proposals submitted for which ten were scheduled. observations to be executed in Periods Maria Teresa Ruiz (Chair) 94(1October2014to31March2015) On La Silla, HARPS and EFOSC2 Nial Tanvir (Vice-Chair) and 95 (1 April 2015 to 30 September remained in high demand.

2015). The numbers of proposals for YannAlibert(P94) observations with the ESO telescopes in Within the framework of the continuing Micol Bolzonella (P95) these two periods were 901 and 931 agreement between ESO and ESA for WolfgangBrandner(P94) respectively. a joint telescope time allocation scheme Fabio Bresolin (P95) for coordinated observations with the Alessandro Bressan (P95) The fraction of submitted proposals VLTandXMM-Newton,proposalsfor Marcio Catelan (P95) (excluding Large Programmes) is 22.2%, such observations were invited again in AndreaComastri(P94) 19.7%,27.4%and30.7%forA,B,Cand 2014.ESOreceivedoneapplicationin EmanueleDaddi(P94) D categories, respectively. In terms of P94andP95,whichdidnotqualifyfor MassimoDellaValle(P94) requested time the fractions are 30.3%, the allocation of telescope time. Time at Pierre-Alain Duc (P95) 17.5%,25.9%and26.4%.Thisisaslight both facilities was granted to two joint Jesus Falcon-Barroso (P95) shift towards stellar science (categories C proposalsevaluatedbytheXMM–Newton Alan Fitzsimmons (P95) and D) with respect to extragalactic sci- Observing Time Allocation Committee. Malcolm Fridlund ence (categories A and B). The advent of Henk Hoekstra (P95) KMOS(P94)andMUSE(P95)haslargely Suzanne Madden re-established the balance between the Targets of Opportunity SimonaMei(P94) two branches, which in previous periods DanteMinniti(P94) was clearly dominated by stellar and Despite the stricter criteria applied to Tim Naylor (P95) planetary science. Target of Opportunity programmes as AnnaPasquali(P94) of Period 86, the number of Target of Reynier Peletier TheOPCcategoriesarespecifiedinfull Opportunityproposalssubmittedin2014 DonPollacco(P94) at www.eso.org/sci/observing/proposals/ remained similar to previous years. For RainerSchoedel(P94) opc-categories.html. P94andP95theOPCevaluated44and Ignas Snellen (P95) 50proposalseach,ofwhich14and Ben Stappers As in previous periods, FORS2, which 26 were scheduled, for a total of about Roland Walter is mounted on Antu (UT1), remained the 375 hours. FORS2 is the most requested VLT instrument receiving the largest instrument for Target of Opportunity ThorstenRatzka(member-at-largeP94) amountofobservingtimerequested(431 observations (about 260 requested hours), AlanFitzsimmons(member-at-largeP94) nights),slightlyaheadofX-shooter(429) followedbyX-shooterandUVES.These GregHerczeg(member-at-largeP94) on Kueyen (UT2). Because of the com- three instruments were allocated 56% of PeterJonker(member-at-largeP94) bined presence of FORS2, NACO and the ToO time. WalterMaciel(member-at-largeP94) KMOS, Antu is the most popular UT, with Francesco La Barbera (member-at-large P95) a ratio between the requested and the Marcella Longhetti (member-at-large P95) availabletime,orpressure,of4.9,fol- Calibration Programmes lowedbyKueyen(4.0).Thetemporary unavailability of VISIR and the move of Calibration Programmes are meant to X-shootertoUT2havedecreasedthe allow users to complement the existing pressure for UT3 (2.7). The possibility of coverage of the calibration of ESO instru- installing a visitor instrument at the VLTI ments. Their main evaluation crite rion is continued to generate considerable inter- the comparison of the potential enhance- est in the community. ment of the outcome of future science that can be expected from their execution InP94,proposalsrequestingatotal with the immediate return of current peri- of 78 VLTI nights were submitted for od science proposals directly competing PIONIER, a near-infrared interferometric for the same resources. visitor instrument designed for imaging and fed by four telescope beams. These In2014(P95only)twoCalibrationPro- proposalswereallocated45nights. grammes were sub mitted. Both pro- The VLTI was not offered in P95 because posals were recommended for imple- of the planned activities for the prepara- mentation by the OPC, and one of them tion of the new generation of VLTI instru- was recommended for implementation mentation. during technical time.

ESO Annual Report 2014 103 Large Programmes for the execution of Large Programmes, GeneralandscheduledasofP94.These encouraged by ESO and already two Public Spectroscopic Surveys are Large Programmes are projects requiring embraced by the community in recent in addition to those approved in P88, a minimum of 100 hours of observing years, continued. The total allocation PESSTO (NTT+EFOSC2/SOFI) and ESO– time that have the potential to lead to a tonewandongoingLPsinP94–95atthe Gaia (UT2+FLAMES). major advance or breakthrough in the 3.6-metre telescope and at the NTT r e l e v a n t fieldofstudy.Theexecutionof was 153 and 166 nights respectively. This Large Programmes is spread over several correspondsto48%and50%ofthe Director’s Discretionary Time observing periods with a maximum dura- available science time at these two tele- tion of four years for observations to be scopes (this includes the PESSTO Public Proposals asking for Director’s Discre- carried out with the La Silla telescopes Spectroscopic Survey to which 90 nights tionary Time (DDT) may be submitted and of two years on the VLT/I and on per year are allocated at the NTT). throughout the year for programmes that APEX. present a level of urgency incompatible with the regular proposal cycles handled A total of 37 Large Programme proposals Public Spectroscopic Surveys bytheOPC.In2014theESOusercom- werereceivedin2014:20inP94and munitysubmitted74DDTproposals. 17 inP95. InP94theOPCrecommendedtwonew After taking advice from an internal com- Public Spectroscopic Surveys, both at mittee composed of ESO staff astrono- Following the OPC’s recommendations, UT3 with VIMOS, for implementation for mers, the Director General approved for four new Large Programmes were imple- a total allocation 181 and 103 nights, implementation49DDTproposals.The mentedinP94,andtwoinP95.The to be distributed across seven and four total amount of requested DDT was about trend towards using a large fraction of the semesters, respectively. The two pro- 383 hours. science time on the La Silla telescopes grammes were approved by the Director A. Tudorica/ESO A.

The road leading to the VLT at Paranal.

104 ESO Annual Report 2014 Users Committee

The Users Committee represents ESO’s release 3 [OT3] and the Visitor Mode The Users Committee 2014 astronomical community at large and Observing Tool), but also included a acts as an advisory body to the ESO number of ancillary tools, such as the Chair Gary Fuller (United Director General on matters related to the observing preparation software tools Kingdom) performance, operation and user inter- FIMS (the FORS Instrument Mask Simu- faces to the La Silla Paranal Observatory, lator), FPOSS (the FLAMES Fibre Posi- APEXandALMA.Theannualmeeting tioner Observation Support Software), Austria Bodo Ziegler of the Users Committee took place at VMMPS (the VIMOS Mask Preparation Belgium Emmanuel Jehin ESOHeadquarterson10 –11April2014. Software),SADT( S u r v e y AreasDefinition Tool), etc. At the special topic sessions, Czech Republic Adéla Kawka The Users Committee meeting is an expert users are invited to attend and Denmark Hans Kjeldsen (Vice-chair) important forum, where updates from ESO share their experience. Their feedback, and feedback from the user community together with that collected by the Users Finland Elja Laurikainen are exchanged and openly discussed. Committee members directly from their The meeting is organised by the User own communities, drives the sub sequent France Philippe Delorme Support Department, within the Directo- discussion. Overall, the user community Germany Thomas Preibisch rate of Operations, one of the main inter- isverysatisfiedwiththeupgradestothe faces between ESO and the user com- tools and endorses further improve- Italy Stefano Benetti munity. After the opening talk by the ments, some of which are already being The Netherlands Matthew Kenworthy ESO Director General, who provided an planned. update on the ESO programme, repre- Spain María Rosa Zapatero sentatives of the main operational units Finally, on both days of the meeting some Osorio reviewed ESO’s major operational time is reserved to discuss old and new Sweden Kirsten Kraiberg Knudsen achievements. This introductory session recommendations,alwayswiththefinal closed with a special presentation — goal of improving ESO services and com- Switzerland Hans Martin Schmid Fifteen Years of End-to-end Operations munications. Based on detailed input at the VLT — showing the productivity provided by ESO representatives, the Chile Wolfgang Gieren of ESO facilities in terms of publications Users Committee evaluates ESO’s accom- and how this compares with the comple- plishments with respect to the recom- tion rates of approved programmes. mendations they had set the year before and formally closes them once these As is now the norm at the Users Com- have been achieved. The meeting closes mittee meetings, the second day started with the reading of a new set of recom- with a special topic session, which this mendations, usually drawn from the feed- year was dedicated to observing tools. back the Users Committee has received, The choice of topic was driven by the as well as from the discussions that took l a t e s t releaseofasignificantlyupgraded place during the two-day meeting. These version of ESO’s main observing tools representtheofficialUsersCommittee (the Phase 2 Proposal Preparation feedback to ESO and guide further devel- release 3 [P2PP3], the Observing Tool opments in different operational areas. ESO/B. Tafreshi

Sunset at the La Silla Observatory.

ESO Annual Report 2014 105 Visiting Committee

Every three to four years, the international of European science. The organisation Visiting Committee 2013–2014 scientificprofileofESOisassessedbya continues to deliver and operate world- Visiting Committee of eminent scientists. leading opportunities for its Member Chair Jean-René Roy (Canada) The Visiting Committee reports to the States and their astronomers. Both the Council and the Director General; a pres- scientificdiscoveriesandthetechnical entation of results is made to Council developments in collaboration with insti- Switzerland Willy Benz and also to staff at an All Hands meeting. tutes and industry have made ESO a United Kingdom Paola Caselli The last Visiting Committee reported in world leader in astronomical technologies. 2010 and a new committee was selected France Fabienne Casoli in 2013. The Committee noted that the size of the portfolio is growing and, even with con- Australia Matthew Colless The role of the Visiting Committee is to tinuing stable funding from the Member Switzerland Lyndon Evans present an international perspective, from States, expressed some concern whether a distinguished group of active scientists the match of funding to the programme Germany Hartmut Grote with a broad range of backgrounds, on ESO is asked to deliver will continue to USA Buell T. Jannuzi how well ESO complies with its overall be adequate. They advocated “clear mission. The Committee examines the prioritisation among programmes, con- Germany Hans-Walter Rix international competitiveness of the tinued skilful management, and full utili- research carried out by the users of ESO sation of the talents and skills of the com- Italy Monica Tosi (Vice-chair) facilities. It comments on the range and munity” as being essential in order for futureperspectivesforthescientificactiv- ESO to successfully continue operation at ities at the ESO sites and how they foster the planned level. competitive international research in comparison with other facilities worldwide. Specificcommentsontheevolutionof operations for Paranal, a clear roadmap In order to guide science planning, the for La Silla, support for dealing with 2013–2014VisitingCommitteewere multiple Large Programmes (LPO and tasked with commenting on several spe- ALMA) at the same time as developing cificaspects,inadditiontoweighingthe the E-ELT, staff empowerment and implementation of the recommendations engagement, the retention of a high value of the previous Visiting Committee. Their giventoscientificresearchwithinESO, views were sought on the role of ESO in the matrix project and outreach, were the ALMA global partnership, the integra- presented. tion of ALMA into the ESO programme, and how ESO efforts have affected the As directed, the role of ESO within ALMA construction phase and the transition to was commented on by the Committee operations. One particular aspect, on and some concern expressed that the which the Visiting Committee were asked transition from construction to operation to comment, was the progress, current required careful management. ESO’s long performance and future prospects of experience in operating observatories can VLTI and its broad impact on astronomy. provide strong support in this area. The Finally, feedback on the internal readiness Committee’sreviewoftheVLTIconfirmed of the organisation to carry out major that it delivers unique science and that programmes, such as the E-ELT, in par- steady progress has been made, and is allel with current operations of La Silla continuing; the Committee report con- Paranal,APEXandALMA,wassought. cluded that VLTI is the future in optical– near-infrared milli-arcsecond astronomy. During the period 8–13 December 2013, the Visiting Committee visited the sites A number of the concerns expressed in Chile (Vitacura, the La Silla and Paranal in the Visiting Committee report had Observatory,andAPEXandALMAat already been addressed by the end of Chajnantor) followed by a visit to ESO 2014,suchasthegreenlightfortwo- Headquartersfrom10–14February2014. phased E-ELT construction, the review Their report was presented to the Director of the VLTI instrumentation and the General in May and the Chair reported its cancellation of the PRIMA project, and content at the Council meeting in June. theimprovingefficiencyofALMAopera- tionsthroughout2014culminatingin The Visiting Committee opened their the successful completion of the ALMA reportbyhighlightingESOasaflagship Long Baseline Campaign.

106 ESO Annual Report 2014 This night scene, taken at ESO’s La Silla Obser - vatory, is humming with activity. The major players are Comet Lovejoy, glowing green in the centre of the image; the Pleiades above and to the right; and the California Nebula, providing some contrast in the form of a red arc of gas directly to the right

of Lovejoy. Horálek/ESO P.

ESO Annual Report 2014 107 Outreach

The year marked the beginning of a new era for ESO’s outreach efforts with the preparation for the ESO Supernova Planetarium&VisitorCentre,donatedby the Klaus Tschira Stiftung. This project will have an impact on both the local and global community. In the ramp up to the firstactivitiesfortheESOSupernova, education and planetarium productions have started to play a much larger role. At the same time, the core outreach focal areas are being maintained, with special attention being paid to innovative ways of communicating astronomy.

There were several major outreach E-ELT groundbreaking event. Left: Part of the 3000- Vice Minister of National Assets Jorge Maldonado, milestonesin2014.Themostprominent metre high peak of Cerro Armazones was blasted Intendente de Antofagasta Valentin Volta and away as a step towards levelling the summit in prep- presidentofESOCouncilXavierBarcons.Jorge was the groundbreaking ceremony for aration for the construction of the largest optical/ Maldonado is holding the radio as he is giving the the E-ELT, which revolved around a con- infrared telescope in the world. Right (from left to command for the blast. trolled blasting on the summit of Cerro right): ESO Director General Tim de Zeeuw, Chilean Armazones. Later in the year, the green light given by ESO Council for the con- was one of the main points of interest dur- As part of the preparations for the ESO struction of the E-ELT in two phases, ingtheOpenHouseDayon11 October. Supernova, the education and Public proved a substantial highlight. The architects of the Headquarters exten- Outreach Department started producing sion Auer Weber won the prize for Best high-quality material for use in digital The new Headquarters extension building, in Interior and Architecture for the building fulldome planetarium shows in the facility opened at the end of 2013, attracted project at the Architecture – Interior – from 2017. As part of the mandate to considerablemediaattentionin2014,and TechnicalSolutionsAwards2014. communicate astronomy with the Member

Photos from the Open HouseDay2014.Incon- junction with the other facilities based at the science campus in Garching, ESO invited visitors to experience atfirsthandtheworkat ESO Headquarters.

108 ESO Annual Report 2014 Left: Christoph Malin and Herbert Zodet load- ing equipment into one of the trucks early in the morning, for the trip to ALMA Observatory. Taken during the ESO Ultra HD Expedition. ESO/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org)

Right: Poster for the Journey to the Centre of the Milky Way,thefirst fulldome planetarium mini-show produced in-house by ESO for the ESO Supernova Plane- tarium&VisitorCentre.

States and beyond, this material is made that the visitor uses, and integrates the of results from both the VLT and La Silla available free of charge to other plane- many different languages available with facilities. Overall the number of incoming tariums. The multimedia production was seamless navigation. results that are evaluated for press alsoupgradedtoultra-highdefinitionas releases is on the increase. part of these preparations. Press activities There was no obviously most popular An expedition with four world-renowned release of the year, but the most viewed astrophotographers travelled to Chile to Compared to earlier years, the total num- ones covered a wide range of topics capturematerialinultra-highdefinition ber of press releases was a little lower, and facilities. They included a release and fulldome format. Hundreds of video but the number of science releases was about the biggest known yellow hyper- clips and photographs from the Ultra HD almost unchanged. There were many giant star (HR 5171A), the discovery of Expedition have been released online. releases based on data from ALMA and rings around the Centaur (10199) Chariklo, Theyear2014alsosawthefirstshort the two survey telescopes VISTA and the ALMA long baseline observations of the fulldome plane tarium show — Journey to VST, in addition to the continuing stream disc around the young star HL Tauri and the Centre of the Milky Way, which is a mysterious result about the alignment available for free download on the ESO of quasar spin axes across large-scale website. structure in the Universe. The installation of two important new science instru- Tofulfiltheeducationalgoalsofthe ments on the VLT, MUSE and SPHERE, ESO Supernova, ePOD has joined in were marked by press releases for both partnership with the Heidelberg House firstlightandsubsequentscienceresults. of Astronomy (also built by the Klaus Tschira Stiftung) for the development of The major news event of the year was an educational strategy. Plans for several the groundbreaking ceremony for the important educational activities have E-ELT in Chile on 19 June. The event took been made, such as: educational plane- place at the Paranal Observatory, 20 kilo- tarium shows at different levels; educa- metres away from the blasting, and was tional workshops; supporting material for attended by distinguished guests from teachers; and material to improve astron- both Chile and the Member States, as omy literacy. All the programmes are well as representatives of the local com- linked to school curricula. munities,seniorofficialsfromtheproject and ESO staff. A comprehensive out- Another important project was a redesign reach campaign was designed around of the ESO public web pages. The main the event including live streaming, live motivation for the changes was to give tweets, dedicated video and photo mate- the site a more user friendly interface and rials. These efforts led to impressive to make it more mobile friendly. The media coverage, with many major pieces new responsive design adapts itself auto- in national newspapers and on radio and matically to the resolution of the display Screenshot of the new eso.org front page. television news.

ESO Annual Report 2014 109 Web visitors 2014: 7 705 356 The distribution of the 7.7 million The online image and video archive webvisitsin2014amongtheweb- eso.org – 56% remains one of the biggest outreach sites hosted at ESO. spacetelescope.org – 28% assets and continues to grow at a con- iau.org – 8% stant rate. The crowdsourcing of subtitle almaobservatory.org – 4% portaltotheuniverse.org – 1% translations is functioning well and has astronomy2009.org recently received a boost with more than gigagalaxyzoom.org 400volunteertranslatorscontributing. communicatingastronomy.org capjournal.org virtualastronomy.org eyesontheskies.org Exhibitions and events galileannights.org cosmiccollisions.org hiddenuniverse.org In terms of exhibitions and events, the year was less active than the recent past but a handful of exhibitions were set ESO 2014: News popularity 262 200 up in Chile and Europe. One of them was 248 400 a renovation of the exhibition Una ventana 234 600 220 800 al Universo,oneoffivepermanentexhi- 207 000 193 200 bitions installed at the Museum Ruinas de 179 400 165 600 Huanchaca, in the city of Antofagasta, 151 800 Chile. After several months of renovation 138 000 124 200 work, the exhibition was reopened on 110 400 96 600 7 October2014byFernandoComerón, 82 800 69 000 ESO Representative in Chile, and Paula 55 200 Baltra, General Manager of Fundación 41 400 27 600 Ruinas de Huanchaca. 13 800 0 41 32 38-Sci 39 40 31 37 33- 34-Sci 35-Sci 36 30-Pho 29 27 28 6- 7- 21 22 23 24 25 26 3-Pho- 4- 2- 5-Sci- 8-Sci-betaPic 9- 10 19 20 11 1- 15 16 17 18 12 13 14 Or Sci- Sci- Sci-Br Sci- Ph -O -Pho-NGC -Pho-M -Sci-E -Pho-Lupus -Sci- -Pho -Sci-S -Sci-E -Pho-Gum -Pho-M3 -Sci-Magneta r -Sci -A -Sci-Bpi -O -Pho-Carina -Pho-NGC3 -Sci- -Pho-NGC3603 -Pho-M54 -c -Sci -A -Sci -A -Pho-Gum -Pho-MGC353 -Pho -O Or g-MUSE -A rg-SPHER o-Scorpi rg-E rg-E g-P ALMA Ye Ex As -A -Q -V LM VST -A Glx Web and software development Charikl -A -W ow ll SO oplane N xo te LT LM LM LM LM SO -E ow -E oland bell33 LM 47 A d il

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s make the site more visually appealing I Meltwater press clippings (× 250) Eurekalert (× 10) Google Analytics (× 1) while retaining a low response time. This new design was implemented using Therelativepopularityofthe41pressreleasesin articles about a particular news release. These three responsive technologies to ensure that 2014.GoogleAnalyticsmeasuresthenumberofvisi- metrics have widely different values and have been the site is user friendly regardless of tors to the news release web page on www.eso.org. scaled to the range of Google Analytics values. The Eurekalert counts how many journalists followed the mostpopularreleaseswereeso1409(discoveryof the type of devices used (desktop com- news release link on the Eurekalert website (a news thelargestyellowhypergiant),eso1410(ringsaround puter, tablet, phone, etc.). The layout and aggregation and distribution site for journalists). Chariklo),eso1436(ALMAlongbaselineobserva- content of the pages were adjusted Meltwater is an electronic press clippings service; tionsofthediscaroundHLTauri)andeso1438(mys- accordingly, in all the languages in which the metric being the number of online newspaper terious quasar alignments). ESO provides information.

An ESO Picture of the Week was issued Publications The different sites maintained by ePOD for each week of the year, continuing this were migrated to new servers and use series of beautiful and striking (terrestrial) The number of products remained very a new back-end architecture that allows photographs and astronomical images, high (at just below 100), and the volume for faster and more consistent deploy- and remains a very valuable channel to of pages produced showed an increase. ment. New kiosks were installed in the report on news items that do not neces- Examples of ePOD products are bro- Headquarters extension building. sarily require a full press release or chures, the calendar, stickers, apparel, announcement. electronic posters and periodicals. The supernova website (supernova.eso. org) re-uses the new methodology from During2014ESOreceivedmorethana eso.org, while keeping a distinct identity. hundred formal interview requests from Audiovisuals the media in addition to interviews given during media visits to the sites. This The ESOcast video podcast series Media, VIP and weekend visits in Chile number does not include many dozens remains alive and well, and continues to ofinterviewsgivenbyESOofficials, nudge its way up the iTunes rankings. Many prestigious media outlets visited the experts and staff at the E-ELT ground- Fourultra-highdefinitionvideocompila- sites in Chile, including the BBC (United breaking. tions were issued during the year. Kingdom), New Scientist magazine (Italy),

110 ESO Annual Report 2014 France 5 TV (France), TV2 (Denmark), aswellastheaward-winningChileanfilm director Patricio Guzmán (Best Director, Berlinale 2015). The visit to Paranal and Armazones by the Swiss 3D movie company NVP3D was especially exciting and challenging. The project, co-led by the Swiss delegate to the ESO Council, Georges Meylan, captured the complex placing of the explosive charges and subsequent spectacular blast on the top of Cerro Armazones in high-resolution 3D. The media visits remain an extremely visible activity for ESO with an audience counted in the hundreds of millions.

The public weekend visits to La Silla and Paranal enjoyed a small increase compared with 2013.

ESO Science Outreach Network

In order to increase the visibility of ESO in the Member States, ePOD operates the ESO Science Outreach Network (ESON), consisting of outreach special- ists,pressofficersandeducatorswho act as direct, local contacts with the media and who organise the translation of ESO-related information into their local language. ESON also includes vol- unteers in other countries, who dissemi- nate astronomical news and information about ESO. Furthermore, an ongoing fruitful collaboration with the EU Universe Awareness programme results in additional versions for children, issued as Space Scoops, which are also available Above:SomekeyfiguresfromESO’soutreachin Below: Annual meeting of the ESO Science Outreach inmultiplelanguages.In2014,25%of 2014. NetworkinMarch2014. the web pages viewed on eso.org were translated by ESON.

Community coordination and distribution

Efforts were made to reduce distribution costs by doing more coordinated checks of returned shipments and by requesting all subscribers to The Messenger to re- confirmtheirsubscriptions.Theaddress database continued to undergo updates and improvements as a central communication tool. The newsletter subscriber base has continued to grow.

Arevampofthepromotionworkflowwas implemented to enable full use to be

ESO Annual Report 2014 111 made of the many promotional channels for each product, activity or partnership.

ESO has continued to develop its presence in all of the most popular social media networks. Over 10 000 messages were posted solely on Facebook and Twitter, attracting millions of visitors. Facebook competitions were organised, and social media were used to reach out to local schools and public observatories.

Anewstreamlinedworkflowforsocial media was implemented, allowing more content to be posted on more channels with less effort and translation of the posts into many languages (with the help of the ESON network and volunteer translators). The activity on social media has moved from a couple of posts per week to a couple of posts per day, which has had a strong impact on the statistics. A steady reach of about 30 000 visitors/ day has been achieved, which is a sig- nificantimprovement.TheALMA,Inter- national Astronomical Union and ESA/ Hubble social media channels were also integratedintothenewworkflow.

New channels could be opened as a consequenceofthenewworkflow:ESO is now on Google+ and Pinterest, and later in the year social media accounts for the ESO Supernova were added in both English and German.

Artist’s impression of the ESO Supernova Planetarium &VisitorCentre.TheESOSupernovaismadepossi- ble by a collaboration between the Heidelberg Insti- tute for Theoretical Studies and ESO. The Klaus Tschira Stiftung, a German foundation that supports the natural sciences, mathematics and computer science, offered to fully fund the construction and ESO will run the facility.

112 ESO Annual Report 2014 Architekten Bernhardt + Partner (www.bp-da.de) Partner + Bernhardt Architekten

ESO Annual Report 2014 113 Calendar of Events

January ESO and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias,

IAC/ESO represented by the ESO APEXboardmeeting,ESOGarching. Director General and Rafael Rebolo, the IAC First light of MUSE on 31 January, with Director, sign an agree- observation of Kapteyn’s Star (VZ Pic). ment on adaptive optics collaboration.

February

ESO Visiting Committee present in Garching,10–14February.

IndustrialLiaisonOfficers’meeting.

Second thin meniscus Zerodur mirror (1.2-metre diameter and 2-millimetre April ESO Workshop on Formation and thick) for the AOF adaptive secondary Evolution of Star Clusters in Chile, ESO delivered to ESO by Safran-Reosc. Magnitude 8.2 earthquake in northwest Vitacura,14–16May. Chile occurs on 2 April. There were no ESO Workshop on Exoplanet Obser- casualties and no damage was incurred vations with the VLT, ESO Garching, at the ESO observing sites. June 3–6 February. 82ndScientificTechnicalCommittee 131st Council meeting, ESO Garching, in meeting. whichSpainconfirmeditsfullparticipa- March tion in the E-ELT. 38th Users Committee meeting. 84thCommitteeofCouncilmeeting,ESO SPIE2014meetingonAstronomicalTele- Garching, immediately followed by 130th The Paranal–Armazones area is scopes and Instrumentation, Montreal, Council meeting. announced as one of the two possible Canada, with many ESO presenters par- sites for the Cherenkov Telescope Array ticipating. ALMA board meeting, ESO Garching. by the international consortium. The other site is at Aar in Namibia. Groundbreaking ceremony for the E-ELT Tim de Zeeuw and Council President held on Cerro Paranal on 19 June with XavierBarconsmeetMichelleBachelet, ESO Workshop on Herbig Ae/Be stars: controlled blasting of the peak of Cerro the incoming President of Chile. The missing link in star formation, ESO Armazones. Vitacura, 7–11 April. ESO Overview (internal review). Signing of agreement with Grupo SAESA to connect Paranal and Armazones to Initial work begins on the construction May the Chilean national electrical power grid. of the road from Paranal to Cerro Armzones by the Chilean company FirstlightofSPHEREon4May. Final ALMA antenna arrives on the ICAFAL Ingeniería Construcción S. A. Chajnantor high site. This was the last of ALMA Centre of Expertise opens at the the 25 European ALMA antennas (12- Annual meeting of the ESO Science Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, metre aperture), manufactured by the AEM Outreach Network. Faculty of Science of the University of consortium, to be integrated into the array. Lisbon, Portugal. The new 22-watt laser for use in the AOF was accepted from the supplier TOPTICA 138th Finance Committee meeting. July and its partner MPB. 94thObservingProgrammesCommittee European Week of Astronomy and Space Girls’ Day, part of the German nationwide meeting. Science meeting, in Geneva, featuring event, was held at ESO Garching. many ESO presentations. Signing of agreement to use the Teide ESOWorkshop3D2014:Gasandstarsin Observatory on Tenerife of the Instituto Signing of an agreement between ESO galaxies: A multi-wavelength 3D perspec- de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) for laser and the Chilean company, Astronomy tive,ESOGarching,10–14March. guide star adaptive optics experiments. and Energy (a subsidiary of the Spanish LKS Group) to install a Solar electricity farm at La Silla.

114 ESO Annual Report 2014 ESO/Davide Cenadelli ESO/Davide

GroupphotooftheworkshopHIRES2014:Astronomy A group photo of the participants at the Astronomy at high angular resolution — a cross-disciplinary Campin2014. approach. ESO Workshop on Clustering Measure- 85th Committee of Council meeting. Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental ments of Active Galactic Nuclei, ESO Physics awarded for discovery of dark Garching,14–18July. 83rdScientificTechnicalCommittee energy to a team including two present meeting. and two former ESO staff.

August Open House Day at ESO Garching Tim de Zeeuw received an honorary attended by some 3300 members of the degree in astronomy from the University The Korea Astronomy Space Sciences public. of Padova in Italy. Institute and the Japanese National Insti- tutes of Natural Sciences sign an agree- ESO exhibition, A Window to the Universe, European ARC CASA Tutorial for ment, marking the entry of Korea into the re-opens in Antofagasta at the Museum ALMA Cycle 2 PIs, ESO Garching, East Asia ALMA Consortium. de Ruinas Huanchaca. 26–28 November.

ESO Workshop RASPUTIN: Resolved ASTRONET2014—Tools,BestPrac- September And unresolved Stellar PopUlaTIoNs, tices and Methodologies for Technology ESO Garching, 13–17 October. Transfer workshop, ESO Garching, 139th extraordinary Finance Committee 24 November. meeting. Instrument Control Systems seminar, ESOGarching,20–24October. ESOWorkshopHIRES2014:Astronomy Austrian Industry Day held at the Austrian at high angular resolution — a cross- Federal Economic Chamber in Vienna. Signing of the agreement for entry of disciplinary approach, ESO Garching, Poland into ESO between the Polish 24–28November. Czech Industry day held at ESO Garching. Minister of Science, Lena Kolarska- BobińskaandESODirectorGeneralin International Symposium “Life as a Plane- ESO mini-workshop on Fundamental Warsaw on 28 October. tary Phenomenon”, part of the Santander Physics with ESO Facilities and the International Summer School organised E-ELT, ESO Garching, 18–19 September. by the University of Heidelberg and held at November ESO Vitacura, 27–28 November. Signing of agreement between ESO and the UK Science and Technology Facilities 140thFinanceCommitteemeeting. Council Edinburgh-based Astronomy December Technology Centre (UK ATC) to build the ALMA board meeting. VLT Multi-Object Optical and Near-infrared 132nd Council meeting, ESO Garching. Spectrograph (MOONS). 11th ALMA Common Software workshop, Adoption of the way forward for the ESOGarching,4–6November. E-ELT construction with a two-phased Beginning of the ALMA Long Baseline approach and approval for spending of Campaign. 95th Observing Programmes Committee 1012millioneurosonthefirstphase. meeting. Second ESO Astronomy Camp for school October Announcement of winners of 2nd ESO students held at the Astronomical Obser- Astronomy Camp bursaries. vatory of the Aosta valley in Nus, Italy. 1 October — MUSE enters regular Service and Visitor Mode observing.

ESO Annual Report 2014 115 The Milky Way looms over the Residencia at the

ParanalA. Duro/ESO Observatory in Chile's Atacama Desert.

116 ESO Annual Report 2014 Laguna Miñiques is situated high in the Chilean Atacama Desert, close to the border with

Argentina. (colosimophotography.com)/ESO Colosimo John

ESO Annual Report 2014 117 Glossary of Acronyms

4MOST4-metreMulti-ObjectSpectroscopic CEA Commissariat à L’Energie Atomique, Gaia Astrometric satellite (ESA) Telescope (Proposed new spectro- France GALACSI Ground Atmospheric Layer Adaptive scopic instrument for VISTA) CERN European Organization for Nuclear Optics for Spectroscopic Imaging A&A Journal,Astronomy & Astrophysics Research (AOF) A&ARvJournal,Astronomy and Astro- CESA Compañía Española de Sistemas GIRAFFEFibre-fedmulti-object spectrograph physics Review Aeronáuticos S.A. (Spain) and part of the VLT FLAMES facility ACS ALMA Common Software CHAMP+ Dual channel heterodyne receiver GmbH Gesellschaft mit beschränkter AEM ALMA construction consortium array(APEX) Haftung, German limited liability company AFNOR Association Française de CO Carbon monoxide Normalisation CONDOR1.5THzheterodynereceiver(APEX) GNU Free Unix-style operating system AGN Active Galactic Nucleus CONICA High-resolution near-infrared camera GRAAL GRound-layer Adaptive optics Assisted by Lasers (AOF) AJ The Astronomical Journal ( VLT, NACO) COSMOS HST survey programme GRAVITY AO assisted, two-object, multiple- ALMA Atacama Large Millimeter/submil- beam-combiner (VLTI) limeter Array CRIRES Cryogenic InfraRed Echelle Spectro- GRBs Gamma-ray bursts AMBER Astronomical Multi-BEam combineR meter (VLT) (VLTI Instrument) CRIRES+ Planned upgrade to CRIRES HARMONIProposed firstlightintegralfield spectrograph for the E-ELT AN Journal, Astronomische Nachrichten CTA Cherenkov Telescope Array HARPS High Accuracy Radial Velocity Antu VLT Unit Telescope 1 DDT Director’s Discretionary Time Planetary Searcher (3.6-metre) AO Adaptive Optics DG Director General HAWK-IHighAcuityWidefield K-band AOF Adaptive Optics Facility EAGLE Proposed E-ELT multi-object Imager APEXAtacamaPathfinderExperiment adaptive-optics spectrograph HD HighDefinition ApJ Astrophysical Journal EASC ESO ALMA Support Centre HEDP Journal, High Energy Density ApJS Astrophysical Journal Supplement E-ELT European Extremely Large Physics Series Telescope HeRGÉ HErschel Radio Galaxies Evolution AQUARIUS Mid-infrared detector array (VISIR) EFOSC2 ESO Faint Object Spectrograph and Hi-GALHerschel infraredGalacticPlane Camera (v.2) ARA&AJournal,Annual Review of Astrono- Survey my and Astrophysics EIROforum Organisation consisting of eight HIRES Proposed E-ELT high-resolution scientificEuropeaninternational spectrograph ARC ALMA Regional Centre organisation, devoted to fostering ARIES21Controlsystemfor40-metreRadio mutual activities HR Human Resources Telescope (Yebes, Spain) EM&PJournal, Earth, Moon, and Planets HST Hubble Space Telescope ArTeMiSBolometriccameraforAPEX ePOD education and Public Outreach IAC Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias ASAC ALMAScientificAdvisoryCommittee Department ICAFAL Ingeniería y Construcción S.A., ASSIST Adaptive Secondary Setup and ERIS Enhanced Resolution Imager and Chilean construction company Instrument Simulator (AOF test Spectrograph Icar Icarus, Planetary science journal bench) ESA European Space Agency ICT Integrated Computing Team (ALMA) ASTRONET EU scheme for astronomy to ESAC European Science Advisory Com- IEPOT Integrated Education and Public increase cooperation and coordina- mittee (for ALMA) Outreach Team (ALMA) tion of research activities carried out at national or regional level in the ESC E-ELT Subcommittee (of STC) IET Integrated Engineering Team (ALMA) Member States and Associated ESO European Organisation for Astro- INAF Italian National Institute for States nomical Research in the Southern Astrophysics AT Auxiliary Telescope of the VLTI Hemisphere ISAAC Infrared Spectrometer And Array ATLAS VST survey of southern sky at high ESON ESO Science Outreach Network Camera (VLT) Galactic latitudes ESPRESSO Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky ISM Interstellar medium ATT ALMA Technical Team Exoplanet- and Stable Spectro- IST Integrated Science Team (ALMA) scopic Observations au Astronomical unit IT Information Technology EU European Union AUI Associated Universities Inc., the JAO Joint ALMA Observatory ExA Journal, Experimental Astronomy North American executive for ALMA JMoSp Journal of Molecular Spectroscopy FC Finance Committee CAMCAO Camera for Multiconjugated Adap- KMOS K -band Multi-Object Spectrograph tive Optics, near-infrared camera FEROS Fibre-fed, Extended Range, Échelle (VLT) (AOF) Spectrograph (2.2-metre) Kueyen VLT Unit Telescope 2 CASA Common Astronomy Software FIMS FORS Instrument Mask Simulator LABOCALargeAPEXBolometerCAmera Applications (ALMA) FLAMES Fibre Large Array Multi Element CCD Charge Coupled Device Spectrograph (VLT) LBC Long Baseline Campaign (ALMA) FORS2 FOcal Reducer/low dispersion LKS Spanish energy company Spectrograph (VLT)-2 FPOSS FLAMES Fibre Positioner Observa- tion Support Software

118 ESO Annual Report 2014 LPO La Silla Paranal Observatory OS Operating system telbib ESO Telescope Bibliography (ESO LSP La Silla Paranal Subcommittee OSF ALMA Operations Support Facility Library database) M# Mirror # OT3 Observing Tool release 3 TNO Netherlands Organisation for AppliedScientificResearch MACAO Multiple Application Curvature P# Observing Period Adaptive Optics instrument TRAPPIST TRAnsiting Planets and Planet- P&SSJournal,Planetary and Space esImals Small Telescope (La Silla) MACCON Motion controller manufacturer Science UFRN Universidade Federal do Rio Grande MATISSE Multi AperTure mid-Infrared Spectro- P2PP3 Phase 2 Preparation Tool release 3 do Norte, Brazil Scopic Experiment (VLTI) PASJ Journal, Publications of the Astro- UK United Kingdom MaTYSSE Magnetic Topologies of Young Stars nomical Society of Japan UK-ATC UK Astronomy Technology Centre &theSurvivalofclose-inmassive PASP Journal, Publications of the Astro- Exoplanets nomical Society of the Pacific UltraHDUltra-highdefinition Melipal VLT Unit Telescope 3 PESSTO Public ESO Spectroscopic Survey of ULTRACAMHigh-speedcamera (VLTUT3:P74– METIS Proposed mid-infrared imager and Transient Objects 79; NTT: P85–87) spectrograph (E-ELT) PhRvL Journal, Physics Review Letters UltraVISTA Ultra-deep near-infrared survey in theCOSMOSfield MICADO Proposed adaptive optics imaging PI Principal Investigator camera (E-ELT) USD User Support Department PIONIER VLTI visitor instrument MIDI Mid-infrared Interferometric Instru- UT VLTUnitTelescopes1–4:Antu, ment (VLTI) PLC Programmable Logic Controllers Kueyen, Melipal and Yepun MNRAS Journal, Monthly Notices of the PMPD Performance management and pro- UVES UV-Visual Echelle Spectrograph Royal Astronomical Society fessional development (VLT) MOONS Multi Object Optical and Near- PRIMA Phase-Referenced Imaging and VDL Van Der Leegte Groep, the infrared Spectrograph (VLT third Micro-arcsecond Astrometry facility Netherlands (VLTI) generation) VHS VISTA Hemisphere Survey REM Rapid Eye Mount telescope (La Silla) MOS Proposed multi-object spectrograph VIMOS VIsible MultiObject Spectrograph (E-ELT) SABOCA Shortwave Apex BOlometer Camera (VLT) MPG Max-Planck-Gesellschaft SADTSurveyAreasDefinitionTool VISIR VLT Mid-Infrared Imager MUSE Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer SAESA Sociedad Austral de Electricidad, Spectrometer (VLT) Chilean electrical company VISTA Visible and Infrared Survey Tele- NACO NAOS-CONICA (VLT) SAPHIRA Detector for the GRAVITY wavefront scope for Astronomy NAOJ National Astronomical Observatory sensor VLT Very Large Telescope of Japan SAXOSPHERE’SAOsystem(VLT) VLTI Very Large Telescope Interferometer NAOMI Adaptive optics system for the ATs SEPIASwedish-ESOPIreceiverforAPEX VLTI-PR VLTI projects (VLTI) SHFI Swedish Heterodyne Facility VMCVISTA survey oftheMagellanic NAOS Nasmyth Adaptive Optics System Instrument Cloud system (VLT) SINFONI Spectrograph for INtegral Field VMMPS VIMOS Mask Preparation Software NASA National Aeronautics and Space Observations in the Near Infrared Administration (VLT) VPHAS+ ESO Public Survey VST/OmegaCAM Photometric Hα Survey NewA Journal, New Astronomy SLODAR SLOpe Detection and Ranging VST VLT Survey Telescope NewAR Journal, New Astronomy Reviews (Paranal) SMG Submillimetre galaxies VVV ESO Public Survey VISTA Variables NGC New General Catalogue in the Vía Láctea SOFI SOn oF Isaac (NTT) NIR Near-infrared XAOExtremeadaptiveoptics SPARTA Real-time computer for the AOF NGC New Generation Controller XMM-NewtonX-rayMulti-Mirrorsatellite(ESA) NOVA The Netherlands Research School SpecialVLTIDesignationforVLTI visitor instrument(s) X-shooterWidebandultraviolet-infraredsingle for Astronomy (Nederlandse target spectrograph (VLT) Onderzoekschool voor Astronomie) SPHERE Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast YepunVLTUnitTelescope4 NRAO National Radio Astronomy Exoplanet Research instrument Observatory (VLT) Z-specMillimetre-wavespectrograph(APEX visitor instrument) NRI Night Run Infrastructure SPIE International society for optics and photonics μm Micrometre NTT New Technology Telescope (La Silla) SPIFFI SPectrometer for Infrared Faint Field NVP3DSwiss3Dfilmcompany Imaging (SINFONI, VLT) OCA Observatoire de la Cote d’Azur SPT South Pole Telescope OmegaCAMWide-fieldcamera(VST) STC ScientificTechnicalCommittee ONERAOfficenationald’étudesetde Supercam64-pixelheterodyneimagingspectro- recherches aérospatiales meter (APEXvisitorinstrument) OPC Observing Programmes Committee TAROT Télescopes à Action Rapide pour les Objets Transitoires TB Terabyte

ESO Annual Report 2014 119 ESO Europe Cover: Construction of the asphalt road from Paranal to Armazones, where the E-ELT will be sited, is underway. Work began in March and is due to take Headquarters around 16 months to complete. Karl-Schwarzschild-Straße 2 Credit: ESO/Gerd Hüdepohl (atacamaphoto.com) 85748 Garching bei München Germany Phone +4989320060 Fax +49893202362 [email protected] www.eso.org

ESO Chile

ESO Vitacura Guesthouse Alonso de Córdova 3107 Rey Gustavo Adolfo 4634 Vitacura Las Condes Casilla 19001 Santiago Santiago de Chile Chile Chile Phone +56222084254 Phone +56224633000 Fax +56 2 2228 9333 Fax +56224633101 ESO 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 +56552260032 Fax +56552260081 La Silla Paranal Observatory Paranal Site II Región Chile ESO is a partner in the international Phone +56 55 2435100 ALMA project Fax +56 55 2435101 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 2448 200 Phone +56 2 2467 6100 Fax +56 55 2448221 Fax +56 2 2467 6101

APEX Chajnantor Site ALMA Operations Support Facility II Región Kilómetro 121 Chile Carretera CH 23 Phone +56 55 2448 299 San Pedro de Atacama All images are courtesy of ESO unless Chile otherwise indicated. ESO La Serena Office Phone +56224676416 Avenida Panorámica 4461 Edited by the DG Cabinet. Sector Aeroparque La Florida ALMA Array Operations Site Casilla 567 II Región Produced by the education and Public La Serena Chile Outreach Department. Chile Phone +56 51 2272 601 ESO 2015 Fax +5651215175 ISSN 0531-4496 www.eso.org