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ESO Calendar 2013European Southern Observatory

2013

Cover

APEX stands sentry on Chajnantor The southern Milky Way above ALMA

La Silla from base to summitESO’s VLT reveals the Carina Nebula’s hidden secrets

VISTA’s look at the Helix NebulaA dusting of snow in the Atacama Desert Artist’s impression of the E-ELT

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ESO’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) has captured this unusual view of the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293), a planetary nebula located 700 light-years away. The coloured picture was created from images taken through Y, J and K infra-red filters. While bringing to light a rich back-ground of stars and galaxies, the telescope’s infrared vision also reveals strands of cold nebular gas that are mostly obscured in visi-ble images of the Helix.

Credit: ESO

The domes of ESO’s Very Large Telescope sit atop Cerro Paranal, basking in the sun-light of another glorious cloudless day. But something is different about this picture: a fine layer of snow has settled across the desert landscape. This isn’t something you see every day: quite the opposite in fact, as the Atacama Desert gets almost no precipitation.

Credit: ESO/S. Guisard (www.eso.org/~sguisard)

This image of the Carina Nebula, a region of massive star formation in the southern skies, was taken in infrared light using the HAWK-I camera on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. Many previously hidden features, scattered across a spectacular celestial landscape of gas, dust and young stars, have emerged.

Credit: ESO/T. Preibisch

Artist’s impression of the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) in its enclosure on Cerro Armazones, a 3060-metre moun-taintop in Chile’s Atacama Desert. The 39-metre E-ELT will be the largest optical/infrared telescope in the world — the world’s biggest eye on the sky. Operations are planned to start early in the next decade, and the E-ELT will tackle some of the big-gest scientific challenges of our time.

The design for the E-ELT shown here is preliminary.

Credit: ESO/L. Calçada

European Southern Observatory

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The antennas of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), set against the splendour of the Milky Way. The richness of the sky in this picture attests to the unsurpassed conditions for astronomy on the 5000-metre-high Chajnantor plateau, in Chile’s Atacama region.

Credit: ESO/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org)

A view of the La Silla mountain from base to summit. La Silla Observatory, ESO’s first observatory site, can be seen on the sum-mit. At the foot of La Silla is Camp Pelicano, in the narrow valley Quebrada Pelicano. The small oasis seen here provides the obser-vatory’s water. ESO installed its original base camp in Pelicano in the mid-1960s.

Credit: ESO/José Francisco Salgado ( josefrancisco.org)

The Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) telescope looks skyward during a bright, moonlit night on Chajnantor, one of the high-est and driest observatory sites in the world. The beautiful sky is a testament to the excel-lent conditions offered by this site, which is also home to the ALMA observatory. On the left shine the stars in the tail of the constella-tion Scorpius (The Scorpion). In the centre, Sagittarius (The Archer) looms over APEX’s dish.


ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world’s most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It is sup-ported by 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observ-ing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organ-ising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world’s most advanced visible-light astronomical observa-tory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world’s larg-est survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is the European partner of a revolution-ary astronomical telescope ALMA, the larg-est astronomical project in existence. ESO is currently planning the 39-metre European Extremely Large optical/near-infrared Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”.

Moon phases are indicated in Universal Time.

Produced by the ESO education and Public Outreach Department.

Wide-field view of NGC 253 from the VLT Survey Telescope

The VLT Survey Telescope (VST) has cap-tured in sharp detail the beauty of the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 253. This new portrait is probably the best wide-field view of this object and its surroundings ever taken. It demonstrates that the VST, the newest tele-scope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory, pro-vides broad views of the sky while also offer-ing impressive image quality. Luminous regions of ongoing star formation are spread throughout NGC 253, which is pumping out new stars at a furious pace.

Credit: ESO/INAF-VSTAcknowledgement: A. Grado/L. Limatola/INAF–Capodimonte Observatory

VISTA before sunset

Here VISTA’s enclosure appears in front of a seemingly endless mountain range, which stretches to the horizon. As sunset approaches, the mountains cast longer shadows, which slowly cover the brownish tones that colour the magnificent landscape that surrounds Paranal. Soon, the Sun will drop below the horizon, and the tele-scopes at Paranal will start another night of observations.


Thor’s Helmet Nebula imaged on the occasion of ESO’s 50th Anniversary

This VLT image of the Thor’s Helmet Nebula was taken on the occasion of ESO’s 50th Anniversary, 5 October 2012, with the help of Brigitte Bailleul — winner of the Tweet Your Way to the VLT! competition. The observations were broadcast live over the internet from the Paranal Observatory in Chile. This object, also known as NGC 2359, lies in the constellation of Canis Major (The Great Dog). The helmet is a cosmic bubble, blown as the wind from the bright, massive star near the bubble’s centre sweeps through the surrounding molecular cloud.

Credit: ESO/B. Bailleul

The Pencil Nebula

This strange and beautiful structure is the Pencil Nebula, NGC 2736, a supernova remnant in the constellation of Vela (The Sails). The glowing filaments were created from material ejected in a supernova explo-sion that took place about 11 000 years ago. The brightest part resembles a pencil, hence the name, and the whole structure looks a little like a traditional witch’s broom. This picture was captured by the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre tele-scope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile.

Credit: ESO

Icy penitents by moonlight on Chajnantor

These striking ice and snow formations are known as penitentes (Spanish for “penitents”). Although they look like bizarre sculptures, the penitentes are natural marvels created by specific physical condi-tions in high- altitude regions, such as here on the 5000-metre Chajnantor Plateau, the site of the Atacama Large Millimeter/ submillimeter Array (ALMA).


The cool clouds of Carina

Observations made at submillimetre wave-lengths with the APEX telescope — shown here in orange tones, combined with a visible-light image — reveal the cold dusty clouds from which stars form in the Carina Nebula. This site of violent star formation, which plays host to some of the highest-mass stars in our galaxy, is an ideal arena in which to study the interactions between these young stars and their parent clouds.

Credit: ESO/APEX/T. Preibisch et al. (Submillimetre); N. Smith, University of Minnesota/NOAO/AURA/NSF (Optical)

January 2013

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A dusting of snow in the Atacama Desert

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February 2013

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Friday Saturday Sunday

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The Pencil Nebula

March 2013

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Artist’s impression of the E-ELT

April 2013

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VISTA’s look at the Helix Nebula

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May 2013

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La Silla from base to summit

June 2013

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Wide-field view of NGC 253 from the VLT Survey Telescope

July 2013

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The cool clouds of Carina

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August 2013

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APEX stands sentry on Chajnantor

Friday Saturday

September 2013

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Thor’s Helmet Nebula imaged on the occasion of ESO’s 50th Anniversary

October 2013

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VISTA before sunset

November 2013

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Icy penitents by moonlight on Chajnantor

December 2013

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The southern Milky Way above ALMA

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