Search Results for "ESOastronomy"

This episode of the ESOcast introduces a new type of ESOcasts called "Chile Chill". These ESOcasts offer a calm experience of the Chilean night sky and ESO's observatory sites, undisturbed by facts or narration. In this episode we follow a typical night of observing for ESO's telescopes. Credit: ESO

More information: http://www.eso.org/public/videos/esocast53a/ Credit: ESO. Editing: Herbert Zodet. Web and technical support: Mathias André and Raquel Yumi Shida. Music: John Stanford (johnstanfordmusic.com). Footage and photos: ESO, Christoph Malin (christophmalin.com), Babak Tafreshi (twanight.org), Stéphane Guisard (www.eso.org/~sguisard), José Francisco Salgado (josefrancisco.org), ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), L. Calçada, M. Kornmesser, Nick Risinger (skysurvey.org), Digitized Sky Survey 2. Directed by: Herbert Zodet. Executive producer: Lars Lindberg Christensen.

A European team of astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has measured the distance to the most remote galaxy so far. By carefully analysing the very faint glow of the galaxy they have found that they are seeing it when the Universe was only about 600 million years old (a redshift of 8.6). These are the first confirmed observations of a galaxy whose light is clearing the opaque hydrogen fog that filled the cosmos at this early time. Credits and more information at: http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1041a/

This ESOcast is about the discovery of the most distant quasar found to date. This brilliant beacon is powered by a black hole with a mass two billion times that of the Sun. It is by far the brightest object yet discovered in the early Universe. More information: http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1122a/

An exoplanet orbiting a star that entered our galaxy, the Milky Way, from another galaxy has been detected by a European team of astronomers using the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. The Jupiter-like planet is particularly unusual, as it is orbiting a star nearing the end of its life and could be about to be engulfed by it, giving clues about the fate of our own planetary system in the distant future. More information: http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1045a/

The Sun sets behind Cerro Paranal in the Chilean Atacama desert. While astronomers get ready to observe with ESO's Very Large Telescope, Nature prepares for her own grand display. As night falls over the desert, the southern sky reveals its nocturnal beauty, leaving the spectator in silent amazement. Some people, however, don’t just stare at the spectacle. With great skill, they record these unique moments for everyone to see - they are the photographers of the night. Credits and more information at: http://www.eso.org/public/videos/esocast19/

This video podcast explains the ESO Very Large Telescope’s Rapid Response Mode, which makes it possible to observe gamma-ray bursts only a few minutes after they are first spotted. As the optical afterglow of a gamma-ray burst fades extremely rapidly, observations must start as quickly as possible. And the Very Large Telescope has the capability to master this time critical issue better than any other telescope. More information: http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1049a/

ESO's La Silla Observatory, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, became the largest astronomical observatory of its time. It led Europe to the frontline of astronomical research, and is still one of the most scientifically productive in ground-based astronomy. Credit: Visual design and editing: Martin Kornmesser and Luis Calçada. Cinematography: Peter Rixner. Editing: Herbert Zodet. Web and technical support: Lars Holm Nielsen and Raquel Yumi Shida. Written by: Henri Boffin. Host: Dr. J. Narration: Gaitee Hussain. Music: movetwo. Footage and photos: ESO Directed by: Lars Lindberg Christensen

For the first time, astronomers have been able to directly follow the motion of an exoplanet as it moves to the other side of its host star. The planet has the smallest orbit so far of all directly imaged exoplanets, lying as close to its host star as Saturn is to the Sun. Scientists believe that it may have formed in a similar way to the giant planets in the Solar System. This discovery proves that gas giant planets can form within discs in only a few million years, a short time in cosmic terms. Credits and more information at: http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1024a/

ESO has just released a stunning new image of a field of stars towards the constellation of Carina. This striking view is ablaze with a flurry of stars of all colours and brightnesses, some of which glow against a backdrop of gas and dust clouds. A complex nebula created by previous, violent ejections surrounds an unusual star in the middle of this field. Astronomers have discovered that this star has a companion. Interactions in this double star system, surrounded by a dusty disc, may be the engine fuelling the star’s remarkable nebula. More info and credits at http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso0928b/

For our newest ESOcast, we pose this puzzle: how do you move a 100-tonne giant ALMA antenna 30 kilometres up onto the oxygen-starved Chajnantor Plateau, 5000 metres above sea level and finish the job with millimetre precision? More information: http://www.eso.org/public/videos/esocast56a/ Credit: ESO

The barren landscape surrounding the Paranal Observatory in Chile is stunning, but for the ESO staff who work there, on-site recreational activities are important for entertainment and general wellbeing. In this episode of the ESOcast, we follow three staff members in a unique behind-the-scenes look at the Paranal Residencia at the observatory's base camp -- a remarkable hotel that has won architectural design awards -- to see some of their leisure activities. More information at: http://www.eso.org/public/videos/esocast26a/

This joint episode of the Hubblecast and ESOcast presents Abell 2744, an unusual cluster of galaxies nicknamed "Pandora's Cluster" by the astronomers who have studied it. Looking at the galaxies, gas and dark matter in the cluster, scientists have reconstructed the series of huge collisions that created it, and have uncovered some strange phenomena never seen together before. More information: http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1120a/

On 19 October 2009, at an international exoplanet conference, the team who built the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher, better known as HARPS, the spectrograph for ESO’s 3.6-metre telescope, reports on the incredible discovery of more than 30 new exoplanets, cementing HARPS’s position as the world’s foremost exoplanet hunter. Credit: ESO More info at: http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso0939a/

At observatories worldwide most of the glory goes to the astronomers who provide us with new vistas of the heavens, but this is only possible thanks to the many experienced technicians and engineers who accomplish amazing work behind the scenes. They work against the clock to ensure that the telescopes function optimally to deliver outstanding results. But what does an engineer at ESO’s Very Large Telescope actually do? More info and credits at: http://www.eso.org/public/videos/esocast8/

Astronomers using ESO instruments have discovered a remarkable extrasolar planetary system that has some striking similarities to our own Solar System. At least five planets are orbiting the Sun-like star HD 10180, and the regular pattern of their orbits is similar to that observed for our neighbouring planets. One of the new extrasolar worlds could be only 1.4 times the mass of the Earth, making it the least massive exoplanet ever found. This video podcast explains how these faraway planets were detected and exactly what we know about them. Credits and more information at: http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1035a/

In this episode of the ESOcast, we travel to the inhospitable but dramatic landscape of the Atacama Desert. Beneath the ground there, a new high-speed data cable is helping connect Paranal, the world’s most advanced astronomical observatory, with scientists and engineers based at ESO headquarters in Germany. Dr J presents this new project and explains its impact on scientific research at ESO. Credits and more information at: http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1043a/

Astronomers using ESO’s leading exoplanet hunter HARPS have today announced more than fifty newly discovered planets around other stars. Among these are many rocky planets not much heavier than the Earth. One of them in particular seems to orbit in the habitable zone around its star. This ESOcast we look at how astronomers discover these distant worlds and what the future may hold for finding rocky worlds like the Earth that may support life. More information: http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1134a/

On 26 April 2010, the ESO Council selected Cerro Armazones as the site for the planned 42-metre European Extremely Large Telescope. Cerro Armazones is an isolated mountain at 3060 metres altitude in the central part of Chile's Atacama Desert, some 130 kilometres south of the town of Antofagasta and about 20 kilometres away from Cerro Paranal, home of ESO’s Very Large Telescope. Credits and more information at: http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1018a/

The ALMA inauguration ESOcast. Share the excitement of the inauguration ceremony and contemplate the breathtaking images from ALMA itself and views of its unique environment in the Atacama Desert. This event marks the completion of all the major systems of the giant telescope and the formal transition from a construction project to a fully fledged observatory. ALMA is a partnership between Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. Credits and download options are available on: http://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1312b/