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 ambi- tious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities ena- bling astronomers to make important ­scientific­discoveries.­ESO­also­plays­a­ leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three world-class observ- ing 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 tele- scopes. 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 larg- est 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 observa- tory in the world whose operation yields many­peer-reviewed­publications:­in­2014­ alone, 865 refereed papers based on ESO data were published. The Atacama Large Millimeter/submilli- meter 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 Offices­for­Science­ 20 Allocation­of­Telescope­Time­ 24 Publication Digest 27 Operations 30 La Silla­­Paranal­Observatory­ 31 Data Management and Operations Division 38 ESO­ALMA­Support­Centre­ 42 European­ALMA­Regional­Centre­ 46 Programmes­ 48 Instrumentation for the ­ ­ La Silla­­Paranal­Observatory­ 49 ALMA 56 European Extremely Large Telescope 60 Engineering­ 64 Administration­ 74 Finance and Budget 76 Human Resources 80 List­of­Staff­ 84 Organigram 88 Director General Support 90 Committees 98 Council 99 Finance Committee 100 Scientific ­Technical­Committee­ 101 Observing Programmes Committee 103 Users Committee 105 Visiting Committee 106 Outreach 108 Calendar­of­Events­ 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.