ESOcast SD

For the first time ever astronomers have studied an asteroid that has entered the Solar System from interstellar space. Observations from ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile and other observatories around the world show that this unique object was travelling through space for millions of years before its chance encounter with our star system. It appears to be a dark, reddish, highly-elongated rocky or high-metal-content object.

A temperate planet has been discovered only 11 light-years from Earth by a team using ESO’s unique planet-hunting HARPS instrument. The new world has the designation Ross 128 b and is now the second-closest temperate planet to be detected after Proxima b.

The ALMA Observatory in Chile has detected dust around the closest star to the Solar System, Proxima Centauri. These new observations reveal the glow coming from cold dust in a region between one to four times as far from Proxima Centauri as the Earth is from the Sun.

How can astrophysicists study the story of the Universe? Billions of years ago, when the Big Bang happened, there was no Milky Way Galaxy, no Solar System, no planet Earth and, especially, no human beings to witness these and all the events that followed. So, how would they know about this stuff?

The VLT Survey Telescope has captured the most detailed image yet of the galaxy NGC 1316 and its rich surroundings. Discover more in this episode of ESOcast Light.

Astronomers using a fleet of ESO telescopes have observed a visible counterpart to gravitational waves for the first time: a kilonova from merging neutron stars.

What are you made of? You’re made of matter, which is made of molecules, which are made of atoms. But where did those atoms come from? The ones in you! How were they formed? Well, they were created inside of stars! Really, you’re made of star stuff!

Astronomers found the molecule Freon-40, which is made by biological processes on Earth, in places which predate life... Watch this episode to find out more!

ESOcast 130 describes why astronomers are so keen to exploit ALMA’s enormous size and power, and how its state of the art technology is leading to observations of groundbreaking precision and quality.

The spectacular planetary nebula NGC 7009, or the Saturn Nebula, emerges from the darkness like a series of oddly-shaped bubbles, lit up in glorious pinks and blues.

ESOcast 128 describes how astronomers look at the Universe and why astronomers need ALMA, the largest ground-based facility for observing radio waves, in order to understand phenomena in some of the dustiest and most distant regions of our Universe.

ESOcast 127 Light: Ageing Star Blows Off Smoky Bubble (4K UHD)

ESO’s new Director General, Xavier Barcons, gives his perspective on ESO, astronomy, and his new position.

In ESOcast 124 ESO’s outgoing Director General, Tim de Zeeuw, gives us his thoughts and reflections on a decade at ESO.

Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer astronomers have constructed the most detailed image ever of a star — the red supergiant star Antares. They have also made the first map of the velocities of material the atmosphere of a star other than the Sun, revealing unexpected turbulence in Antares’s huge extended atmosphere.