European
Southern
Observatory
ESO Science Newsletter August 2025
15 Aug 2025

This newsletter is a summary of recent ESO Science Announcement items. Follow the links or visit ESO Science Announcements to read more.



Science Announcements


Call for Proposals for Period 117

13 Aug 2025:

The Call for Proposals for observations at ESO telescopes in Period 117 (1 May 2026 - 30 April 2027) has been released. Please consult the Period 117 document before applying for time on ESO telescopes. All technical information about the offered instruments and facilities can be found on the ESO webpages linked from the Call for Proposals. The proposal submission deadline is on 23 September 2025, 12:00 CEST.

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ESO Fellowship Programme 2025

12 Aug 2025:

ESO’s prestigious postdoctoral fellowship programme in both Garching (Germany) and Santiago (Chile) offers outstanding early-career scientists the opportunity to further develop their independent research programmes. From exoplanets to cosmology, observational, theoretical and fundamental astrophysics, these are all areas where ESO Fellows can benefit from a highly dynamic scientific environment, at some of the most advanced ground-based telescopes in the world. Do watch ESOCast 165 to hear what previous ESO fellows have to say about the fellowship programme or watch the virtual tour to ESO’s premises from 2020 or 2021 where young scientists could ask questions about the fellowship programme.

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Apply Now for ESO Studentships – Second Annual Call

11 Aug 2025:

Are you a PhD student eager to dive into the cutting-edge scientific world at one of the most prestigious observatories on the planet? The ESO research studentship programme offers you a chance to do just that. This exceptional programme is open to students enrolled in a PhD programme in astronomy or related fields. You will continue your doctoral research under the formal supervision of your home university, but with the added benefit of spending a minimum of six months (Chile) or one year (Germany), and up to two years at ESO, working closely with a dedicated ESO staff astronomer.

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The EXO-ELT 2025 Workshop Programme is Now Live

11 Aug 2025:

Explore the full schedule and session details of the conference Planetary formation and Exoplanets in the ELT Era (EXO-ELT) at the Programme webpage. Don't miss your chance to register -the deadline is 24 September 2025. Register soon and join the discussions shaping the future of exoplanet science! The workshop will take place in Garching bei München between 17 and 21 November 2025.

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ESO Workshops Selected for 2026

11 Aug 2025:

ESO is delighted to announce the ESO workshops chosen to take place in 2026. These events will bring together astronomers from around the world to explore some of the most exciting frontiers in astrophysics. Seventeen proposals were submitted this year and reviewed by a panel of experts from ESO in Garching and Chile. After careful consideration, and with input from ESO's Programme Scientists, the top-ranked proposals were confirmed by the Heads of the Offices for Science and the Director for Science.

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Astronomers are Encouraged to Use the MUSE Wide Field Mode with Adaptive Optics

04 Aug 2025:

MUSE WFM users are reminded that MUSE Wide Field Mode with Adaptive Optics is more efficient and suitable than non-AO for most science cases. Until now, a large fraction of MUSE observations were taken in Wide Field Mode without Adaptive Optics (NOAO) for a mixed bag of reasons as testified by the results of an ESO-led survey to over 190 MUSE previous PIs (see the figure above).

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NIRPS First Scientific Results

29 Jul 2025:

The first scientific results of the high-resolution near-infrared spectrograph NIRPS (Near Infra-Red Planet Searcher) are published (July 29th) in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. In operation at the ESO La Silla 3.6m telescope since April 2023, and working in tandem with HARPS, NIRPS is a new ESO facility that offers exceptional performance for the detection of exoplanets orbiting M dwarfs and for studying exoplanet atmospheres (Bouchy et al. 2025, A&A, 700, A10). It is the first spectrograph operating in the near infrared that reaches similar results to state-of-the-art spectrographs operating in the visible, such as HARPS.

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Upcoming ESO or ESO-related workshops

 

Understanding the mechanisms—AGN and stellar feedback—that drive the expulsion and redistribution of baryons in collapsed structures remains a cornerstone of our paradigm for galaxy formation and evolution. These processes are simultaneously the greatest strength and the most significant challenge for theoretical models. While current models can successfully reproduce key observables, such as the evolution of the galaxy stellar mass function and the hot gas content of massive clusters, they diverge considerably in their predictions.

 

Library and Information Services in Astronomy (LISA) is a series of scientific meetings for librarians, traditional archivists, data specialists, bibliographers, archive scientists, publishers, documentalists, and scientists that aims to provide a platform to discuss the state of the art for information maintenance, retrieval, metrics, preservation, and information systems such as ADS/SciX, Zenodo, ORCID, and DataCite. Topics such as open access publishing, e.g., PlanS and S2O; open science; machine learning applications in relation to the literature; and how artificial intelligence is influencing our profession are expected to feature prominently at LISA 10, Research Equity and Access in the Age of AI.

 

Understanding how giant and rocky planets form and evolve, their internal structure and that of their atmosphere, represents one of the major challenges of modern astronomy, which is directly linked to the ultimate search for life by 2040. At the Horizon 2028-2030, the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) will shine its first light on the sky. The high angular resolution and the great collecting capacity associated with the extreme sensitivity of the instruments will allow unprecedented observations of the regions of planetary formation and exoplanetary systems. In this perspective, the ESO community has developed a key expertise on the study of the initial conditions of planetary formation, the search for exoplanets, the atmospheric characterisation of giant and rocky exoplanets, and the search for biomarkers. This community includes various international laboratories and scientists who are also heavily involved at a technical and scientific level in the construction, scientific preparation and operation of the ELT instruments, and who have the opportunity to play a key role in ensuring a global return and shared success in the exploitation of the ELT.

 

The fifth edition of the "Why Galaxies Care About AGB Stars" conference series will bring together researchers working on Asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, stellar populations, and galaxy evolution to foster collaboration and advance our understanding of the role of AGB stars in the Universe. This workshop will be a unique opportunity to discuss the latest observational and theoretical developments, featuring among others recent results from high-resolution imaging, spectroscopic studies, and advanced simulations. Topics will range from AGB stellar physics and dust formation to their impact on unresolved stellar populations and galaxy evolution. In addition, we will brainstorm the role and potential breakthroughs of AGB star research in the E-ELT and beyond era, ensuring that future observational and theoretical efforts align with the next generation of astronomical facilities.

 

Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are among the most dynamic and powerful sources in the universe, powered by supermassive black holes (SMBHs) through mass accretion. The accretion rate influences many AGN properties, with high accretion rates playing a key role in growing black holes and launching outflows that may shape the host galaxy's growth. Highly accreting AGN, particularly at low redshift, offer a benchmark to understand the rapid growth of the first SMBHs in the early Universe, which remains a mystery to be solved. Significant theoretical and observational advancements have been made in understanding fast-accreting systems, thanks to long-running observatories like VLT, ALMA, JVLA, Chandra, XMM, HST, and NuSTAR, as well as the recently launched JWST, Euclid, and IXPE. With the first light of the ELT on the horizon and the recent results from JWST on the growth of SMBH at high redshift, now is the ideal time to convene and share insights on highly accreting SMBHs. The workshop will gather astronomers to summarize the field’s current status, bridging the accretion history from the early to the local Universe, and explore the mechanisms driving their growth and impact on the Universe.

 

ESO aims to maintain the VLT and VLTI at the science forefront of astrophysical research in the ELT era. The development of the facilities follows planning that is discussed with the ESO governing bodies to derive the best synergies amongst the facilities. As part of this process, ESO is organising a conference in Garching near Munich (Germany) in January 2026. The meeting will review science topics, emerging technologies and expanding parameter spaces relevant for the VLT/I in the next decade and beyond. The goal of the meeting is to reach a broad community by covering topics and through contributed talks across scientific topics, new technologies, facilities landscapes, operational opportunities. ESO will issue a call for white papers for new projects/instruments for VLT/I during the conference with a deadline a year later, in January 2027, marking the start of the assessment phase.