ESO European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere Annual Report 2008 presented to the Council by the Director General Prof. Tim de Zeeuw The European Southern Observatory ESO, the European Southern Observatory, is the foremost intergovernmental as­ tronomy organisation in Europe. It is sup­ ported by 14 countries: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Several other countries have expressed an interest in membership. Created in 1962, ESO carries out an am­ bitious programme focused on the de­ sign, construction and operation of pow­ erful ground­based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world­class observing sites in the Atacama Desert ESO’s first site at La Silla. region of Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. ESO’s first site is at La Silla, One of the most exciting features of the Each year, about 2000 proposals are a 2400 m high mountain 600 km north VLT is the option to use it as a giant opti­ made for the use of ESO telescopes, re­ of Santiago de Chile. It is equipped with cal interferometer (VLT Interferometer or questing between four and six times several optical telescopes with mirror VLTI). This is done by combining the light more nights than are available. ESO is the diameters of up to 3.6 metres. The from several of the telescopes, including most productive ground­based observa­ 3.5­metre New Technology Telescope one or more of four 1.8­metre moveable tory in the world, which annually results broke new ground for telescope engineer­ Auxiliary Telescopes. In this interferomet­ in many peer­reviewed publications: in ing and design and was the first in the ric mode, the telescope has a vision as 2008 alone, 700 refereed papers based world to have a computer­controlled main sharp as that of a telescope the size of on ESO data were published. mirror, a technology developed at ESO the separation between the most distant and now applied to most of the world’s mirrors. For the VLTI, this is 200 metres. current large telescopes. While La Silla As soon as the Sun has set the telescopes are pointed to the first sky objects to be observed remains at the forefront of astronomy, and that night. remains among the most scientifically productive in ground­based astronomy, the 2600 m high Paranal site with the Very Large Telescope array (VLT) is the flagship facility of European astronomy. Paranal is situated about 130 km south of Antofa­ gasta in Chile, 12 km inland from the Pa­ cific coast in one of the driest areas in the world. Scientific operations began in 1999 and have resulted in many extremely suc­ cessful research programmes. The VLT is a most unusual telescope, based on the latest technology. It is not just one, but an array of four telescopes, each with a main mirror of 8.2 metres in diameter. With one such telescope, im­ ages of celestial objects as faint as mag­ nitude 30 have been obtained in a one­ hour exposure. This corresponds to seeing objects that are four billion times fainter than those seen with the naked eye. 2 ESO Annual Report 2008 The Atacama Large Millimeter/submil­ A view towards the west of limeter Array (ALMA), the largest ground­ the Japanese ALMA antenna and the Operational Support based astronomy project in existence, Facility at sunset. is a revolutionary facility for world astron­ omy. ALMA will comprise an array of 66 giant 12­metre and 7­metre diameter antennas observing at millimetre and submillimetre wavelengths. Construction of ALMA began in 2003 and it will start scientific observations in 2011. ALMA is located on the high altitude Llano de Chajnantor, at 5000 m elevation. The ALMA project is a partnership between Europe, East Asia and North America, in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. ESO is the European partner in ALMA. The Chajnantor site is also home to the 12­metre APEX millimetre and submillime­ tre telescope, operated by ESO on behalf of the Onsala Space Observatory, the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy and ESO itself. The next step beyond the VLT is to build the European Extremely Large optical/ infrared Telescope (E­ELT) with a primary mirror 42 metres in diameter. The E­ELT An artist’s impression of the will be “the biggest eye on the sky” — the E­ELT mirror in close­up. largest optical/near­infrared telescope in the world and ESO is drawing up detailed construction plans, together with the scientific community in its member states. The E­ELT will address many of the most pressing unsolved questions in astron­ omy. It may, eventually, revolutionise our perception of the Universe, much as Galileo’s telescope did, 400 years ago. The go­ahead for construction is expected in late 2010, with the start of operations planned for 2018. The ESO Headquarters are located in Garching, near Munich, Germany. This is the scientific, technical and administra- tive centre of ESO where technical devel­ opment programmes are carried out to provide the observatories with the most advanced instruments. It is also home for the Space Telescope — European Co­ ordinating Facility, operated jointly by ESO and the European Space Agency. The annual member state contributions to ESO are approximately 135 million € and ESO employs around 700 staff. ESO Annual Report 2008 3 Contents The European Southern Observatory 2 Foreword 6 Introduction 7 Science 10 Research Highlights 11 Allocation of Telescope Time 20 Outreach 22 Operations 30 La Silla Paranal Observatory 31 Data Management and Operations Division 40 ST­ECF 47 Programmes 50 European Extremely Large Telescope 51 Survey Telescopes 54 Instrumentation for the La Silla Paranal Observatory 56 Technology Developments 64 ALMA 66 Software Development 78 Administration 84 Finance and Budget 86 Human Resources 88 List of Staff 92 Organigram 97 Committees 98 Council 99 Finance Committee 100 Scientific Technical Committee 101 Observing Programmes Committee 103 Users Committee 105 International Relations 108 Chile Relations 110 Four Seasons at a Glance 112 Publications 119 Glossary of Acronyms 142 ESO Annual Report 2008 5 Foreword One of the most important achievements In this situation, the European Astronomy for ESO in 2008 has been the new man­ Infrastructure Roadmap, prepared by agement organisation, put in place by ASTRONET, is a very strong signal in the ESO Director General. With the crea­ favour of the E-ELT. For the first time, the tion of four main directorates, ESO man­ whole European astronomical community agement now has a new configuration, has defined its priorities for new infra­ tailored to meet the challenges that ESO structures, taking a comprehensive view, faces today: operating Paranal and La considering space­borne and ground­ Silla, completing ALMA and preparing for based observatories, and covering the the E­ELT. In addition to these challeng­ entire electromagnetic spectrum from ing programmes, ESO is also increasingly gamma rays to radio astronomy. ESO, becoming the leading organisation for with its VLT, VLTI and ALMA has been astronomy in Europe, as the number of recognised as a key part of this future, member states has grown continuously. and the ASTRONET Roadmap identifies In the near future, ESO may play the the E­ELT as a top priority, acknowl­ same role for European astronomy that edging that everything is being put in CERN does for particle physics. The re­ place to enable a rapid decision. This structured management should help ESO should help in the decision process, and to fulfil the important task of supporting ESO should continue to work with the the European astronomy community in ASTRONET funding agencies on the the best possible way. Roadmap implementation. In this short foreword it is impossible The fact that several European countries to give proper credit to all the outstanding who are not yet members of ESO have scientific and technical results obtained expressed an interest in joining ESO in with ESO telescopes. This report high­ the near future is also a sign of the vitality lights some of them, but it is, of course, and attractiveness of the organisation. just a small fraction of the many important We have been very pleased with the ac­ research projects carried out over the cession of Austria, recognising the addi­ year. European astronomers recognise the tional strength that it will bring to the importance of the facilities offered by organisation. ESO to maintain their position at the fore­ front of astronomical research. Over the recent years, ESO has been able to maintain a prominent role as an ESO’s continued success demonstrates observatory, while actively pursuing new what can be achieved when countries and ambitious projects like the second decide to join together in a common effort. generation instruments for the VLT/VLTI, ESO can, and indeed should, deal with ALMA and the design studies for the projects that exceed the capability of indi­ E­ELT. This has been achieved through vidual member states, but for this to hap­ the immense dedication of the whole ESO pen, the support of the member states staff, and the commitment of the Direc­ must remain at the highest level. This was tors General. A good relationship be­ true for the VLT; it should be the same for tween the Council and the ESO manage­ the next large endeavour, the European ment has also been key to this success. Extremely Large Telescope. It will be a I would like to thank the previous Council challenging project in every respect: tech­ President, Richard Wade, for his work nically, programmatically and politically.