La Silla Observing School (2027)
Santiago and La Silla Observatory, Chile, February 8 - 19, 2027
ESO is happy to announce the next La Silla Observing School, which will be held at the ESO premises in Santiago de Chile and at the La Silla Observatory, from Monday February 8th to Friday February 19th, 2027.
During two weeks of intense work, the participants will have a hands-on real-life experience on the full cycle from observation planning, observing with professional 3-4 meter telescopes and the data reduction & analysis afterwards. All this will be done with the help of experienced tutors who will guide the students through science projects. (The science projects will be defined by the tutors.)
Who is eligible for the school?
The school is primarily meant for PhD students in Astronomy who have little or no observing experience with professional telescopes. MSc students in the late stages of their thesis work and post-docs no more than a year since PhD, will also be considered.
Additionally, the school is ONLY open to those who comply with at least one of the following prerequisites:
- Currently enrolled at a University or Institute in an ESO member state (including Chile)
- Currently enrolled at a University or Institute in Latin America
- National of an ESO member state (including Chile) enrolled anywhere
- National of a Latin American country enrolled anywhere
How much does the school cost?
The school will be free of charge. ESO will cover lodging from Sunday February 7th afternoon until Saturday 20th morning in Santiago and at the La Silla Observatory. In addition, ESO will cover the travel from Santiago to La Silla and back, breakfast and lunch in Santiago during the school, and all meals (full board) at the La Silla Observatory. The students, however, are expected to pay for their travel to Santiago and back home, as well as for dinner during their stay in Santiago.
We ask potential applicants to clarify the funding situation with their supervisors before applying to the school. ESO has a very limited budget for the organization of the school, thus financial support (up to a few hundred EUR) may be offered in exceptional and well-justified cases only. Requests for financial support will be collected at the registration, and they do not have any influence on the selection process. In any case, ESO will not commit to any financial support before the selection of the students has finished. The school cannot fund full interncontinental trips, and therefore if you are unable to cover the majority of this cost, please do not apply for the school before clarifying this.
How to apply:
The registration will be open between the 1st and the 30th of September, 2026.
As we usually receive many applications for the La Silla Observing School, it is very important that the applicants motivate their application well. To expedite the selection process somewhat, the selection committee will do an initial ranking of the applications based only on the application form. At this point a cut will be made, and only those applicants making the cut are required to arrange for a recommendation letter (preferrably in pdf-format) typically from the advisor, to be sent to ls27_school@eso.org . An email will be sent out to those making the cut, giving the deadline for this letter.
The working language of the school is English, and you therefore are expected to be able to communicate in this language during the school.
Important dates:
- Registration deadline: September 30th, 2026
- Announcement of the selected students: first 2 weeks of November. Please do not contact us about this. We will let you know when the decision has been made.
- Arrival to Santiago de Chile: February 7th, 2027, at the latest.
LOC: E. Sedaghati, P. Jirón, L. Kiefer & the La Silla Logistics Team
Write to us in case of questions: ls27_school@eso.org
Organizer: ESO
