These Striking Star Images Will Brighten Your Day
This dramatic infrared image shows the nearby star formation region Monoceros R2, located some 2700 light-years away in the constellation of Monoceros (the Unicorn). The…
European Southern Observatory
Astronomers Discover Fascinating Discs Around Young Stars
The SPHERE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile allows astronomers to suppress the brilliant light of nearby stars in order to obtain…
Astronomers Discover a Dead Star Hidden in the Small Magellanic Cloud
New images from ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile and other telescopes reveal a rich landscape of stars and glowing clouds of gas in one…
Ten Must-See Images from the European Southern Observatory
More images from the European Southern Observatory.
Spectacular and Unusual ALMA Image of Web Filaments in the Orion Nebula
New data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and other telescopes have been used to create this stunning image showing a web of filaments…
European Southern Observatory’s MATISSE Instrument Sees First Light
The new MATISSE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) has now successfully made its first observations at the Paranal Observatory in northern Chile….
ESO Views Pulsating Red Giant Star R Sculptoris
This ghostly image features a distant and pulsating red giant star known as R Sculptoris. Situated 1,200 light-years away in the constellation of Sculptor, R…
ESO’s VLT Combines Light From All Four Telescopes For First Time
The ESPRESSO instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile has for the first time been used to combine light from all four of the…
TRAPPIST-1 Exoplanets Potentially Hold More Water Than Earth
A new study has found that the seven planets orbiting the nearby ultra-cool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 are all made mostly of rock, and some could…
ESO Views Star-Forming Region Lupus 3, Most Detailed Image to Date (4K UHD Video)
A dark cloud of cosmic dust snakes across this spectacular wide field image, illuminated by the brilliant light of new stars. This dense cloud is…
ExTrA Telescopes Successfully Make First Observations
A new national facility at ESO’s La Silla Observatory has successfully made its first observations. The ExTrA telescopes will search for and study Earth-sized planets…
MUSE Instrument Reveals a Black Hole Hiding in Star Cluster NGC 3201
Astronomers using ESO’s MUSE instrument on the Very Large Telescope in Chile have discovered a star in the cluster NGC 3201 that is behaving very…
First Mirror Segment for Extremely Large Telescope Successfully Cast
The first six hexagonal segments for the main mirror of ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) have been successfully cast by the German company SCHOTT at…
Astronomers Spot Granulation Cells on the Surface of Giant Star π1 Gruis
Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope, astronomers have for the first time directly observed granulation patterns on the surface of a star outside the Solar System…
ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope Views Stellar Nursery Sharpless 29
The OmegaCAM camera on ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope has captured this glittering view of the stellar nursery called Sharpless 29. Many astronomical phenomena can be…
Next Generation ESPRESSO Planet Hunter Makes First Observations
The Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanet and Stable Spectroscopic Observations (ESPRESSO) has successfully made its first observations. Installed on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in…
Research Shows K2-18b Could be a Scaled-Up Version of Earth
New research using data collected by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) has revealed that a little-known exoplanet called K2-18b could well be a scaled-up version…
SPHERE Instrument Views Asteroids 29 Amphitrite, 324 Bamberga, 2 Pallas, and 89 Julia
These images were taken by ESO’s SPHERE (Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch) instrument, installed on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory, Chile. These…