First zoomed-in picture of an extragalactic star | ESO News - YouTube - astrophysics

WOH64 is a star on its way to becoming a supernova.It is more than 160,000 light years from Earth.The star is surrounded by a giant cocoon of gas and dust,showing that its end is near.The photo was taken with the ESO Very Large Telescope Interferometer.The star is 200 times as large as the Sun.

Io-like volcanic moon may have been discovered orbiting exoplanet WASP-4b - YouTube - Space.com - planetary science

Scientists believe they may have discovered a volcanic exomoon orbiting the exoplanet WASP-4b 635 light years from Earth (right next door).The discovery was made at the European Southern Observatory's 3.6 m/11.81 ft telescope at La Silla,Chile.A large cloud of sodium gas,typical of volcanic eruptions,was observed near the exoplanet.Although we lack the technology to observe exomoons directly,their existance can be ascertained by deduction.*Credits:NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory-California Institute of Technology

New exoplanet discovered orbiting closest single star to our Sun -YouTube - ESO - planetary science

Using ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT),astronomers have discovered an exoplanet orbiting the closest single star to our Sun,Barnard's star,a red dwarf variable star,at about 6 light years from Earth.The exoplanet,which has a mass at least half that of Venus,has a surface temperature of 125 C/257 F,which is too hot to sustain liquid water.It was discovered by the gravitational pull it has on Barnard's star.*The VLT is part of the Paranal Observatory on Cerro Paranal,Mt.Paranal,with an altitude of 2635 m/8645 ft.It is in the Atatcama Desert of Northern Chile.The VLT is capable of both visible and infrared observation.The VLT consists of four individual telescopes,each with a primary mirror of 8.2 m/26.9 ft in diameter.They are generally operated separately,but can also be combined.*Barnard's star has the designation V2500 Ophiuchi.It is named for the American astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard,who measured its motion in 1916.Barnard's star is not visible to the naked eye.At 7-12 billion years of age,it may be one of the most ancient stars in the Milky Way.Note:Alpha Centauri is a star system,not an individual star.*Material by ESO and edited and augmented by Andrew Taylor

Shielding the Extremely Large Telescope from the Atacama Desert | ELT Updates - YouTube - astrophysics

The Extremely Large Telescope will be located in Amazones,Chile in the Atacama Desert,requiring a lot of shielding from the harsh environmental conditions.It's a major engineering project to construct the dome and shielding.

Virtual guided tour ESO's Paranal Observatory. Saturday, July 30th, 15:00h CST. - YouTube - astrophysics

All the ESO observatories are located in the Atacama desert of Chile.Mt.Paranal is the main optical facility.ESO is sponsored by a consortium of 16 EU member states plus partner Australia.It's one of the main centers of astrophysics research in the world.Others include Mt.Mauna Kea Observatories in Hawaii and Kitt Peak National Observatory in Tucson,Arizona.Caltech operates the Palomar Mountain Observatory in San Diego County,California.Scientists from all over the world can book time at these observatories.

Record-breaking quasar's growth is equivalent to 'one Sun per day' -YouTube - Space.com - astrophysics

Astronomers at the European Southern Observatory in Atacama,Chile have discovered the brightest object in the universe with the Very Large Telescope.A quasar,short for "quasi-stellar",is an Active Galactic Nucleus powered by gases streaming into a supermassive black hole.

See the Milky Way's Sagittarius A* black hole in an amazing polarized Event Horizon Telescope image - Space.com - astrophysics

A view of Sagittarius A*,the supermassive black hole at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy,is presented by the European Southern Observatory (ESO).It was taken by the Event Horizon Telescope,a global network of radio telescopes including one operated by ESO at Atacama,Chile.The new polarised image of Sgt A* is similar to the image of the supermassive black hole at the centre of the M87 galaxy because they both have strong magnetic fields.Despite what the video says,Sagittarius A* is in a quiescent mode now,not eating much of anything.Credits:ESO,University of Arizona

New type of star has been discovered! 'Likely to become a magnetar' - astrophysics

Fly 5000 light-years to a young star system that could be forming planets - European Southern Observatory (ESO),Chile - Astrophysics