1 00:00:02,500 --> 00:00:05,500 This is the story of an epic adventure... 2 00:00:10,500 --> 00:00:15,500 A story of cosmic curiosity, courage and perseverance... 3 00:00:18,500 --> 00:00:23,500 The story of how Europe went South to explore the stars. 4 00:01:12,500 --> 00:01:16,500 Going South 5 00:01:17,500 --> 00:01:22,500 Welcome to ESO, the European Southern Observatory. 6 00:01:25,500 --> 00:01:28,500 Fifty years old, but more vital than ever. 7 00:01:34,500 --> 00:01:37,500 ESO is Europe’s portal to the stars. 8 00:01:38,500 --> 00:01:41,500 Here astronomers from fifteen countries 9 00:01:41,500 --> 00:01:43,500 join forces to unravel the secrets of the Universe. 10 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:46,000 How? 11 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:49,500 By building the largest telescopes on Earth. 12 00:01:49,500 --> 00:01:51,500 Designing sensitive cameras and instruments. 13 00:01:52,500 --> 00:01:54,500 Scrutinising the heavens. 14 00:01:56,500 --> 00:01:59,500 Their work has looked at objects near and far, 15 00:01:59,500 --> 00:02:02,500 from comets traversing the Solar System, 16 00:02:02,500 --> 00:02:06,500 to distant galaxies at the very edge of space and time, 17 00:02:06,500 --> 00:02:11,500 giving us fresh insights and an unprecedented view of the Universe. 18 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:45,500 A Universe of deep mysteries and hidden secrets. 19 00:02:46,500 --> 00:02:48,500 And staggering beauty. 20 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:52,000 From remote mountaintops in Chile, 21 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:54,500 European astronomers are reaching for the stars. 22 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:56,000 But why Chile? 23 00:02:56,500 --> 00:02:59,500 What made the astronomers go South? 24 00:03:03,500 --> 00:03:07,500 The European Southern Observatory has its Headquarters in Garching, Germany. 25 00:03:11,500 --> 00:03:15,500 But from Europe, only part of the sky can be seen. 26 00:03:15,500 --> 00:03:19,500 To fill in the gaps, you have to travel south. 27 00:03:28,500 --> 00:03:32,500 For many centuries, maps of the southern sky showed extensive blank areas – 28 00:03:32,500 --> 00:03:35,500 the Terra Incognita of the heavens. 29 00:03:37,500 --> 00:03:39,000 1595. 30 00:03:39,500 --> 00:03:43,500 For the first time, Dutch traders set sail to the East Indies. 31 00:03:49,500 --> 00:03:53,500 At night, navigators Pieter Keyser and Frederik de Houtman 32 00:03:53,830 --> 00:03:58,890 measured the positions of more than 130 stars in the southern sky. 33 00:04:05,500 --> 00:04:10,500 Soon, celestial globes and maps showed twelve new constellations, 34 00:04:10,500 --> 00:04:14,500 none of which had ever been seen before by any European. 35 00:04:16,500 --> 00:04:20,500 The British were the first to construct a permanent astronomical outpost 36 00:04:20,500 --> 00:04:21,500 in the southern hemisphere. 37 00:04:22,500 --> 00:04:27,500 The Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope was founded in 1820. 38 00:04:28,500 --> 00:04:33,000 Not much later, John Herschel built his own private observatory, 39 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:35,500 close to South Africa’s famous Table Mountain. 40 00:04:38,500 --> 00:04:39,500 What a view! 41 00:04:39,500 --> 00:04:44,500 Dark skies. Bright clusters and star clouds high overhead. 42 00:04:46,500 --> 00:04:49,500 Little wonder that Harvard, Yale and Leiden observatories 43 00:04:49,500 --> 00:04:53,500 followed suit with their own southern stations. 44 00:04:53,500 --> 00:04:56,500 But the exploration of the southern sky 45 00:04:56,500 --> 00:05:00,500 still took lots of courage, passion and perseverance. 46 00:05:05,500 --> 00:05:08,000 Until fifty years ago, 47 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:12,500 almost all major telescopes were located north of the equator. 48 00:05:13,500 --> 00:05:15,500 So why is the southern sky so important? 49 00:05:17,500 --> 00:05:21,500 First of all, because it was largely uncharted territory. 50 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:24,500 You just can’t see the whole sky from Europe. 51 00:05:25,500 --> 00:05:29,500 A prominent example is the centre of the Milky Way, our home galaxy. 52 00:05:29,500 --> 00:05:32,500 It can hardly be seen from the northern hemisphere, 53 00:05:32,500 --> 00:05:34,500 but from the south, it passes high overhead. 54 00:05:36,500 --> 00:05:38,500 And then there are the Magellanic Clouds – 55 00:05:38,780 --> 00:05:42,100 two small companion galaxies to the Milky Way. 56 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:47,500 Invisible from the North, but very conspicuous if you’re south of the equator. 57 00:05:48,500 --> 00:05:49,500 And then finally, 58 00:05:49,500 --> 00:05:53,800 European astronomers were hindered by light pollution and poor weather. 59 00:05:54,500 --> 00:05:57,000 Going south would solve most of their problems. 60 00:06:00,500 --> 00:06:04,500 A scenic boat trip in the Netherlands, June 1953. 61 00:06:04,500 --> 00:06:07,000 It was here, on the IJsselmeer, 62 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:10,000 that the German/American astronomer Walter Baade 63 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:12,500 and the Dutch astronomer Jan Oort 64 00:06:12,500 --> 00:06:15,500 told colleagues about their plan for a European observatory 65 00:06:15,500 --> 00:06:17,500 in the southern hemisphere. 66 00:06:22,500 --> 00:06:27,000 Individually, no one European country could compete with the United States. 67 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:29,000 But together, they might. 68 00:06:29,500 --> 00:06:34,500 Seven months later, twelve astronomers from six countries gathered here, 69 00:06:34,500 --> 00:06:37,000 in the stately Senate Room of Leiden University. 70 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:39,500 They signed a statement, 71 00:06:39,500 --> 00:06:44,500 expressing the desire to establish a European observatory in South Africa. 72 00:06:45,500 --> 00:06:47,500 This paved the way for the birth of ESO. 73 00:06:48,500 --> 00:06:51,500 But hang on!… South Africa? 74 00:06:52,500 --> 00:06:54,000 Well, it made sense, of course. 75 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:59,500 South Africa already had the Cape Observatory, and, after 1909, 76 00:06:59,500 --> 00:07:02,500 the Transvaal Observatory in Johannesburg. 77 00:07:02,500 --> 00:07:07,000 Leiden Observatory had its own southern station in Hartebeespoort. 78 00:07:09,500 --> 00:07:11,500 In 1955, 79 00:07:11,500 --> 00:07:17,000 astronomers set up test equipment to find the best possible spot for a big telescope. 80 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:23,500 Zeekoegat in the Great Karoo. Or Tafelkopje, in Bloemfontein. 81 00:07:24,500 --> 00:07:27,500 But the weather was not all that favourable. 82 00:07:28,500 --> 00:07:34,500 Around 1960, the focus shifted to the rugged landscape of northern Chile. 83 00:07:35,500 --> 00:07:38,500 American astronomers were also planning 84 00:07:38,500 --> 00:07:41,000 their own southern hemisphere observatory here. 85 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:47,500 Harsh horseback expeditions revealed much better conditions than in South Africa. 86 00:07:48,500 --> 00:07:52,500 In 1963, the die was cast. Chile it would be. 87 00:07:52,500 --> 00:07:55,500 Six months later, Cerro La Silla was picked 88 00:07:55,500 --> 00:07:58,500 as the future site of the European Southern Observatory. 89 00:07:58,500 --> 00:08:02,500 ESO was no longer a distant dream. 90 00:08:03,500 --> 00:08:10,000 In the end, five European countries signed the ESO Convention, on 5 October 1962 — 91 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:15,500 the official birthday of the European Southern Observatory. 92 00:08:15,500 --> 00:08:19,000 Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Sweden 93 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:23,500 were firmly committed to jointly reach for the southern stars. 94 00:08:25,500 --> 00:08:29,500 La Silla and its surroundings were bought from the Chilean government. 95 00:08:30,500 --> 00:08:32,500 A road was built in the middle of nowhere. 96 00:08:33,500 --> 00:08:39,000 ESO’s first telescope took shape, at a steel company in Rotterdam. 97 00:08:40,500 --> 00:08:43,500 And in December 1966, 98 00:08:43,500 --> 00:08:48,500 the European Southern Observatory opened its first eye on the sky. 99 00:08:48,500 --> 00:08:54,500 Europe had embarked on a grand voyage of cosmic discovery.