Press Releases - March 2007
Archive
30 March 2007 - ESO
New Adaptive Optics Technique Demonstrated
On the evening of 25 March 2007, the Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics Demonstrator (MAD) achieved First Light at the Visitor Focus of Melipal, the third Unit Telescope of the Very Large Telescope (VLT). MAD allowed the scientists to obtain images corrected for the blurring effect of atmospheric turbulence over the full 2x2 arcminute field of view. This world premiere shows the promises of a crucial technology for Extremely Large Telescopes.
29 March 2007 - ESO
The Impossible Siblings
Combining precise observations obtained by ESO's Very Large Telescope with those gathered by a network of smaller telescopes, astronomers have described in unprecedented detail the double asteroid Antiope, which is shown to be a pair of rubble-pile chunks of material, of about the same size, whirling around one another in a perpetual pas de deux. The two components are egg-shaped despite their very small sizes.
29 March 2007 - ESA
ESA signs arrangement with New Zealand on tracking station
Today ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain and Her Excellency Ms Sarah Dennis, New Zealand's Ambassador to France, signed an arrangement on the installation of a transportable telemetry station to track the Ariane 5 launcher that will carry into orbit ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) for its maiden flight in autumn this year.
28 March 2007 - ESO
Controlled by Distant Explosions
A time-series of high-resolution spectra in the optical and ultraviolet has twice been obtained just a few minutes after the detection of a gamma-ray bust explosion in a distant galaxy. The international team of astronomers responsible for these observations derived new conclusive evidence about the nature of the surroundings of these powerful explosions linked to the death of massive stars.
28 March 2007 - ESA
Small GEO Platform contract signed
On 28 March in Berlin, the European Space Agency officially announced the signing with OHB/Germany of a €100 million framework contract to develop a European Small Geostationary Satellite platform for telecommunication missions.
27 March 2007 - ESO
The Purple Rose of Virgo
Until now NGC 5584 was just one galaxy among many others, located to the West of the Virgo Cluster. Known only as a number in galaxy surveys, its sheer beauty is now revealed in all its glory in a new VLT image. Since 1 March, this purple cosmic rose also holds the brightest stellar explosion of the year, known as SN 2007af.
22 March 2007 - ESO
Fingerprinting the Milky Way
Using ESO's Very Large Telescope, an international team of astronomers has shown how to use the chemical composition of stars in clusters to shed light on the formation of our Milky Way. This discovery is a fundamental test for the development of a new chemical tagging technique uncovering the birth and growth of our Galactic cradle.
19 March 2007 - ESA
Take a closer look at our planet at the Palais de la Découverte in Paris
From Tuesday 3 April to Sunday 26 August, visitors to the 'City of Light' will have one more attraction to pack into their busy schedules. A stop at the Palais de la Découverte will allow them to take a closer look at our planet, as ESA and this renowned Parisian museum have teamed up to exhibit an amazing selection of views of our Earth, with a high science content, taken by ESA's environmental satellite Envisat.
16 March 2007 - ESA
European astronauts 'on stage' in Rome on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Rome Treaties
On 26 March, as part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Rome Treaties, an event with the European Space Agency's astronauts will take place at the University of Rome La Sapienza, with the participation of Italian Research Minister Fabio Mussi.
15 March 2007 - ESO
Waking up to science!
How is Europe to tackle its shortage of scientists? The EIROforum Science on Stage festival aims to give European teachers some of the answers they need to take up this urgent challenge. This unique event, showcasing the very best of today's science education, will feature science demonstrations, a science teaching fair with some 66 stands, and a Round Table discussion with the participation of the European Commissioner for Science and Research, Janez Potočnik.
14 March 2007 - EMBL
Researchers identify molecular basis of inflammatory bowel disease
Inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn's disease and Ulcerative Colitis, severely impair the lives of more than four million people worldwide. Researchers from the Universities of Cologne and Mainz in Germany, the Mouse Biology Unit of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory [EMBL] in Italy and their collaborators, have now deciphered a molecular signal that triggers chronic intestinal inflammation.
14 March 2007 - ESO
A Roof for ALMA
On 10 March, an official ceremony took place on the 2,900m high site of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Operations Support Facility, from where the ALMA antennas will be remotely controlled. The ceremony marked the completion of the structural works, while the building itself will be finished by the end of the year. This will become the operational centre of one of the most important ground-based astronomical facilities on Earth.
13 March 2007 - ESO
Star Family Seen Through Dusty Fog
Images made with ESO's New Technology Telescope at La Silla by a team of German astronomers reveal a rich circular cluster of stars in the inner parts of our Galaxy. Located 30,000 light-years away, this previously unknown closely-packed group of about 100,000 stars is most likely a new globular cluster.
13 March 2007 - ESO
Star Family Seen Through Dusty Fog
Images made with ESO's New Technology Telescope at La Silla by a team of German astronomers reveal a rich circular cluster of stars in the inner parts of our Galaxy. Located 30,000 light-years away, this previously unknown closely-packed group of about 100,000 stars is most likely a new globular cluster.
7 March 2007 - ESO
Solar Power at Play
For the very first time, astronomers have witnessed the speeding up of an asteroid's rotation, and have shown that it is due to a theoretical effect predicted but never seen before. The international team of scientists used an armada of telescopes to discover that the asteroid's rotation period currently decreases by 1 millisecond every year, as a consequence of the heating of the asteroid's surface by the Sun. Eventually it may spin faster than any known asteroid in the solar system and even break apart.
6 March 2007 - EMBL
An architectural plan of the cell
Like our body every cell has a skeleton that provides it with a shape, confers rigidity and protects its fragile inner workings. Researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the University of Colorado have now obtained the first 3D visualisation of a complete eukaryotic cell at a resolution high enough to resolve the cytoskeleton's precise architectural plan in fission yeast.
5 March 2007 - ESA
Huygens landing site to be named after Hubert Curien
As of 14 March, an epic space mission and one of the founding fathers of the European space endeavour will be forever linked. ESA, the international Committee for Space Research (COSPAR) and NASA have decided to honour Professor Hubert Curien's contribution to European space by naming the Huygens landing site on Saturn's largest moon, Titan, after him.
4 March 2007 - EMBL
A clearer view on biology
The European Molecular Biology Laboratory [EMBL] has developed a new computational tool that makes images obtained with cutting-edge microscopes even sharper. The technological advance and its applications are published in this week's online issue of the journal Nature Methods.
2 March 2007 - ESA
Agreement between ESA and the European Maritime Safety Agency signed today
Today, 2 March 2007, Mr Willem de Ruiter, Executive Director of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) and Mr Volker Liebig, Director of Earth Observation Programmes of the European Space Agency (ESA), signed an agreement between the two agencies, strengthening the framework for cooperation in the field of maritime monitoring and surveillance.
1 March 2007 - ESA
ESA contribution to International Polar Year 2007-2008
Today marks the official start of International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008, a large worldwide science programme focused on the Arctic and Antarctic. ESA is contributing to this important initiative, which will constitute the most intensive period of research on the polar regions in half a century.