Astronomy at ESO

ESO's main mission, laid down in the 1962 Convention, is to provide state-of-the-art research facilities to astronomers and astrophysicists, allowing them to conduct front-line science in the best conditions.

Whilst La Silla, the first of ESO's observational facilities, remains one of the scientifically most productive observatories in the world, the most prominent new facility is the Paranal Observatory with the Very Large Telescope Array (VLT). The VLT was offered for the first time to the astronomers on April 1, 1999, and has since provided a great number of unique scientific discoveries. Since 2005, a new 12-m submillimetre telescope, APEX, is also in operations on the Chajnantor plateau, the place where ESO, together with its international partners, is presently building ALMA.

Astronomers from around the world make extensive use of the unique facilities operated by ESO, which prove every year more and more popular. Each year, about 2000 proposals are made for the use of ESO telescopes, requesting between four and six times more nights than are available. ESO is the most productive ground-based observatory in the world, which annually results in many peer-reviewed publications: in 2008 alone, 700 refereed papers based on ESO data were published. Moreover, research articles based on VLT data are in the mean quoted twice as often as the average.

The very high efficiency of the ESO's "science machines" now generates huge amounts of data at a very high rate. These are stored in a permanent Science Archive Facility at ESO headquarters. The archive now contains more than 1.5 million images or spectra with a total volume of about 65 terabytes (65,000,000,000,000 bytes) of data. This corresponds to the content of about 30 million books of 1000 pages each; they would occupy more than 1000 kilometres of bookshelves!

With ESO's telescopes, astronomers tackle key questions that challenge our minds and our imagination. Astronomy is the study of origins. It is also the study of apocalyptic events. And great mysteries. Most of all, however, it is humankind's boldest attempt to understand the world in which we live.

To enable these observations, astronomy employs some of the most sophisticated instruments and methods ever conceived by humans. High technology plays a very important role in astronomy.

ESO also hosts the European Coordinating Facility for the Hubble Space Telescope, a collaboration between ESA and NASA. It's a long-term, space-based observatory. The observations are carried out in visible, infrared and ultraviolet light. In many ways Hubble has revolutionised modern astronomy, by not only being an efficient tool for making new discoveries, but also by driving astronomical research in general.

A glossary of astronomical terms is also provided, as well as a list of acronyms used at ESO.