Astronomers are still discovering new natural satellites of Saturn and Jupiter, with the latest update seeing Saturn claim the crown for the solar system's most moons

Join us on 12 May, from 16:00 CEST, for a live streaming on Facebook and YouTube on two of the instruments of ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT): the Mid-infrared ELT Imager and Spectrograph (METIS) and Multi-AO Imaging Camera for Deep Observations (MICADO).

During the event, we will premiere two mini-documentaries on the instruments, followed by a Q&A session with the experts behind them. Participants can ask questions on Twitter using #askESO, as well as live on Facebook and YouTube. Click Going/Interested on Facebook and Notify me on YouTube, respectively, to be prompted when the live show starts.

ESO’s ELT is a revolutionary ground-based telescope that will have a 39-metre main mirror, making it the largest visible and infrared light telescope in the world. The ELT will tackle some of the biggest scientific challenges of our time. To achieve that, the ELT will be equipped with a lineup of cutting-edge instruments.

The first generation of instruments will include HARMONI, METIS, MICADO and MORFEO. Two additional instruments will be added at a later stage: ANDES and MOSAIC.

METIS will cover the infrared wavelength range. It will study a wide range of scientific topics, from objects in our Solar System to distant active galaxies.

MICADO will take high-resolution images at near-infrared wavelengths. This makes the instrument ideal for identifying exoplanets, but also for resolving individual stars in other galaxies and investigating the mysterious centre of the Milky Way.

Edit 15 May 2023: we have updated this announcement to include a link to the replay of the event and the individual mini-documentaries screened on 12 May 2023.

Portal origin URL: Webb Looks for Fomalhaut’s Asteroid Belt and Finds Much MorePortal origin nid: 487081Published: Monday, May 8, 2023 - 11:00Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: Astronomers used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to image the warm dust around a nearby young star, Fomalhaut, in order to study the first asteroid belt ever seen outside of our solar system in infrared light.Portal image: An orange oval extends from the 7 o’clock to 1 o’clock positions. It features a prominent outer ring, a darker gap, an intermediate ring, a narrower dark gap, and a bright inner disk. At the center is a ragged black spot indicating a lack of data.

Astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to spot strange asteroid belts around the nearby star Fomalhaut, along with evidence for at least three planets

When looking up at the night sky, light from stars draws attention. But the darkness between the light can reveal even more about the universe, says Nobel prize-winning astrophysicist Adam Riess

Portal origin URL: 'H' is for Hot and Huge in Chandra ImagePortal origin nid: 487019Published: Thursday, May 4, 2023 - 10:06Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: There is an “H”-shaped structure outlined in the hot gas in the galaxy Messier 84 (M84). Jets from the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy have created cavities in the hot in opposite directions. X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (pink) have been combined with radio data from the VLA (blue) to show this.Portal image: Galaxy Messier 84 (M84)..

Portal origin URL: New Study of Uranus’ Large Moons Shows 4 May Hold Water Portal origin nid: 487020Published: Thursday, May 4, 2023 - 11:42Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: The work is based on new modeling and explores how oceans could exist in unlikely places in our solar system.Portal image: Uranus with a color-added view that uses data taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1998

Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), researchers have found for the first time the fingerprints left by the explosion of the first stars in the Universe. They detected three distant gas clouds whose chemical composition matches what we expect from the first stellar explosions. These findings bring us one step closer to understanding the nature of the first stars that formed after the Big Bang.

A new report by an international consortium of leading astronomers, including ESO staff, sets out recommendations to transform our understanding of the Universe in the next decade.

The ASTRONET Science Vision and Infrastructure Roadmap 2022-2035 is the latest comprehensive roadmap produced by the ASTRONET network of European funding agencies, communities and research organisations.

The roadmap establishes key priorities, such as understanding the origin of the Universe and the evolution of planets in our Solar System, as well as making recommendations on the facilities and resources needed to meet these priorities. A continued supply of highly trained and motivated researchers will also be fundamental to progress and societal engagement.

Among the major proposed European investments, which include the Einstein Telescope (a gravitational-wave observatory) and the European Solar Telescope, the new report mentions that “completion of the construction and commissioning of the ESO Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) and its first generation instruments (…) are of key strategic importance”. It also highlights the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) as a strategic priority in ground-based astronomy. ESO is part of the CTA Observatory, the organisation running CTA, and will host its southern-hemisphere array at the ESO Paranal Observatory in Chile.

Furthermore, the report highlights the importance of continued investment in upgrades and extensions of multiple projects connected to ESO, namely the upgrade of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the development of new instruments for ESO’s Very Large Telescope and ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer.

Finally, the report highlights sustainability and accessibility as strong priorities for the European astronomy community and showcases the importance of fostering a positive impact of astronomy on society, in line with ESO’s efforts in these areas.

The aim of the ASTRONET report is to create an openly accessible resource for policy makers and science leaders to support informed decisions that more effectively and efficiently direct scientific discovery.

ASTRONET is an independent consortium whose aim is to create a common science vision for all European astronomy by convening diverse groups to describe the challenges facing some of the biggest questions in science.

Panels including over 100 scientists from across Europe fed into the report and a series of public consultations were also held to ensure that it reflected the breadth of views within astronomy.

The previous ASTRONET Science Vision and Infrastructure Roadmap (published in 2007 and revised in 2015) included recommendations which fed into proposals for world famous scientific infrastructure such as the ELT and the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO).

You can read the full report on the Astronet website.

More Information

ASTRONET was formed in 2005 as a consortium of European funding agencies and research organisations (ESO, ESA and the SKAO are all engaged with its work). One of its key goals is to deliver a strategic plan and an infrastructure roadmap and to promote the adoption of the roadmap recommendations.

ASTRONET was an EU-funded ERA-NET up to 2015, in the context of HORIZON 2020 and with the support of the European Commission. It is now a self-sustained group of funding agencies and associated bodies. ASTRONET seeks to include the whole astronomical domain: from the Sun and our Solar System to the limits of the Universe. Research is advanced using studies from facilities on the ground as well as in space observations alongside theory, laboratory astrophysics and computing.

Nature, Published online: 04 May 2023; doi:10.1038/d41586-023-01530-y

US space agency plans to shift the New Horizons planetary probe to studying heliophysics, and some scientists don’t agree.

Portal origin URL: Hubble Follows Shadow Play Around Planet-Forming DiskPortal origin nid: 486981Published: Thursday, May 4, 2023 - 10:00Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: The young star TW Hydrae is playing "shadow puppets" with scientists observing it with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.Portal image: Artist's concept: 3 concentric rings of dust and gas. At center: a glowing sphere. Reddish-colored rings inclined to each other due to gravity of unseen planets warping the disk, casting shadows across the outermost ring at 11 o'clock and 12 o'clock.

Radio signals sent to NASA spacecraft could have already reached four neighbouring star systems, and if any aliens tried to respond, we might hear from them within a few years from now

Nature, Published online: 03 May 2023; doi:10.1038/d41586-023-01385-3

An outburst of radiation offers direct evidence that a star has consumed a giant planet. But not every planet ends up as a stellar host’s snack — the star’s properties, and its interactions with the planet, have to be just right.

Nature, Published online: 03 May 2023; doi:10.1038/d41586-023-01524-w

A massive gravitational-wave detector and the new solar telescope are among the priorities on funders’ latest roadmap.

Nature, Published online: 03 May 2023; doi:10.1038/d41586-023-01461-8

Two extremely cool examples of ‘failed stars’ called brown dwarfs are found orbiting each other.

The first stars in our universe may have blown up in relatively weak supernovae, and astronomers believe they have found three clouds of ash remaining from those cosmic explosions

In a preview of what’s to come for Earth in about 5 billion years, astronomers have spotted a sun-like star gobbling up a planet and belching out a blast of light and energy

Portal origin URL: Hubble Gazes at the Home of an Enormous Black HolePortal origin nid: 486921Published: Tuesday, May 2, 2023 - 07:00Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of the spiral galaxy NGC 4395 looks at a small section of the larger galaxy.Portal image: Bright white, pink, and blue stars and gas, concentrated in the lower left of the frame. They spiral outward from the lower-left corner. Black background

Portal origin URL: A Stormy, Active Sun May Have Kickstarted Life on EarthPortal origin nid: 486966Published: Tuesday, May 2, 2023 - 10:17Featured (stick to top of list): noPortal text teaser: The first building blocks of life on Earth may have formed thanks to eruptions from our Sun, a new study finds.Portal image: A solar eruption on Sept. 26, 2014

Radio signals sent to NASA spacecraft could have already reached four neighbouring star systems, and if any aliens tried to respond, we might hear from them within a few years from now