Press Releases

June 2010

Archive

30 June 2010 - ESO
R Coronae Australis: A Cosmic Watercolour
This magnificent view of the region around the star R Coronae Australis was created from images taken with the Wide Field Imager (WFI) at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. R Coronae Australis lies at the heart of a nearby star-forming region and is surrounded by a delicate bluish reflection nebula embedded in a huge dust cloud. The image reveals surprising new details in this dramatic area of sky.

24 June 2010 - EIROforum
Furthering European research
In a Statement of Intent signed today, the European Commission (EC) and the members of EIROforum formalise their desire to maintain and further develop their cooperation, for the benefit of European science.

24 June 2010 - EMBL
A life-changing partnership
Researchers at EMBL Heidelberg identified a novel regulatory protein complex in Drosophila that explains another protein’s double life, and which likely plays an important role in mammals, too.

23 June 2010 - ESO
VLT Detects First Superstorm on Exoplanet
Astronomers have measured a superstorm for the first time in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, the well-studied “hot Jupiter” HD209458b. The very high-precision observations of carbon monoxide gas show that it is streaming at enormous speed from the extremely hot day side to the cooler night side of the planet. The observations also allow another exciting “first” — measuring the orbital speed of the exoplanet itself, providing a direct determination of its mass.

18 June 2010 - CERN
CERN Council opens the door to greater integration
At its 155th session today, the CERN Council strongly congratulated the Laboratory on the excellent performance of the LHC since its start-up for physics on 30 March this year.

16 June 2010 - ESO
VISTA Views the Sculptor Galaxy
A spectacular new image of the Sculptor Galaxy (NGC 253) has been taken with the ESO VISTA telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile as part of one of its first major observational campaigns. By observing in infrared light VISTA’s view is less affected by dust and reveals a myriad of cooler stars as well as a prominent bar of stars across the central region. The VISTA image provides much new information on the history and development of the galaxy.

15 June 2010 - EMBL
Patchwork-like image of developing zebrafish sensory organ
This image may bring to mind a patchwork quilt, or a picture taken from a gallery of abstract paintings, but the artisan behind it is actually Mother Nature, with a little help from scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany.

15 June 2010 - CERN
CERN inaugurates its new permanent "Universe of Particles" exhibition
To share the exciting adventure of the LHC, one of the most sophisticated scientific tools ever built to explore new territories of knowledge, with the general public, CERN is opening a visitor centre that is as high-tech and futuristic as its accelerator.

15 June 2010 - EMBL
Picture Release - Patchwork-like image of developing zebrafish sensory organ
This image may bring to mind a patchwork quilt, or a picture taken from a gallery of abstract paintings, but the artisan behind it is actually Mother Nature, with a little help from scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany

10 June 2010 - ESO
Exoplanet Caught on the Move
For the first time, astronomers have been able to directly follow the motion of an exoplanet as it moves from one side of its host star to the other. The planet has the smallest orbit so far of all directly imaged exoplanets, lying almost as close to its parent 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. Because the star is so young, this discovery proves that gas giant planets can form within discs in only a few million years, a short time in cosmic terms.

8 June 2010 - ESO
TRAPPIST to Scout the Sky and Uncover Exoplanets and Comets
A new robotic telescope has had first light at ESO’s La Silla Observatory, in Chile. TRAPPIST (TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope) is devoted to the study of planetary systems through two approaches: the detection and characterisation of planets located outside the Solar System (exoplanets) and the study of comets orbiting around the Sun. The 60-cm telescope is operated from a control room in Liège, Belgium, 12 000 km away.

4 June 2010 - ESO
ESO Telescope Designer Raymond Wilson Wins Prestigious Kavli Award for Astrophysics
Raymond Wilson, whose pioneering optics research at ESO made today’s giant telescopes possible thanks to "active optics" technology, has been awarded the 2010 Kavli Prize in astrophysics. The founder and original leader of the Optics and Telescopes Group at ESO, Wilson shares the million-dollar prize with two American scientists, Jerry Nelson and Roger Angel.

3 June 2010 - CERN
Physicists and medics set out strategy on physics for health
Following a workshop hosted by the CERN European particle physics laboratory in February, doctors and physicists today published a strategy for harnessing physics for health. Techniques developed for physics research have a long history of application in medicine. Today’s news recognises that synergy, and sets out a programme of strengthened collaboration.

1 June 2010 - ESO
A Cosmic Zoo in the Large Magellanic Cloud
Astronomers often turn their telescopes to the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), one of the closest galaxies to our own Milky Way, in their quest to understand the Universe. In this spectacular new image from the Wide Field Imager (WFI) at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile, a celestial menagerie of different objects and phenomena in part of the LMC is on display, ranging from vast globular clusters to the remains left by brilliant supernovae explosions. This fascinating observation provides data for a wide variety of research projects unravelling the life and death of stars and the evolution of galaxies.