Announcement
ESO becomes a partner in the IAU Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky
10 December 2025
Yesterday, ESO signed an agreement with the International Astronomy Union (IAU)’s Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky (CPS) to become a contributing partner. The agreement was signed by the ESO Director General Xavier Barcons and Piero Benvenuti, IAU CPS Director during a high-level event on the protection of astronomical sites in Vienna.
“This signing underscores ESO’s unwavering commitment to the protection of the sky above astronomical observatory sites. We are proud to join our partners at the IAU CPS in the fight against light pollution and satellite interference,” Barcons said.
Remote locations with pristine dark skies, ideal for most astronomical observations, are increasingly at risk from light pollution due to the urban growth of cities and industrial complexes near the observatories. An acute example is the threat of INNA, an industrial project planned to be located just a few kilometres away from the telescopes of ESO’s Paranal Observatory. In addition, in recent years a new threat has emerged: the large number of satellites being introduced into low-Earth orbits, which affect astronomical observations both due to their bright appearance and their transmissions, which can affect the measurements made by highly sensitive radio telescopes.
The CPS brings together astronomers, satellite operators, policy makers and other stakeholders to "coordinate efforts and unify voices across the global astronomical community with regard to the protection of the dark and quiet sky from satellite constellation interference,” as stated on their website. ESO now joins the centre’s two founding partners, the US national centre for ground-based, night-time optical astronomy NSF NOIRLab and the SKA Observatory (SKAO), an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to promoting global collaboration in radio astronomy, as a formal partner of the institution. The agreement means ESO will dedicate personnel and resources to the IAU CPS, while having an active role in the centre’s decision-making process.
The event and agreement signing took place on sidelines of a joint United Nations–SKAO workshop on “Dark and Quiet Skies for Science and Society".
Contacts
Bárbara Ferreira
ESO Media Manager
Garching bei München, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6670
Email: press@eso.org
About the Announcement
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