ESOcast SD

What are you made of? You’re made of matter, which is made of molecules, which are made of atoms. But where did those atoms come from? The ones in you! How were they formed? Well, they were created inside of stars! Really, you’re made of star stuff!

Astronomers found the molecule Freon-40, which is made by biological processes on Earth, in places which predate life... Watch this episode to find out more!

ESOcast 130 describes why astronomers are so keen to exploit ALMA’s enormous size and power, and how its state of the art technology is leading to observations of groundbreaking precision and quality.

The spectacular planetary nebula NGC 7009, or the Saturn Nebula, emerges from the darkness like a series of oddly-shaped bubbles, lit up in glorious pinks and blues.

ESOcast 128 describes how astronomers look at the Universe and why astronomers need ALMA, the largest ground-based facility for observing radio waves, in order to understand phenomena in some of the dustiest and most distant regions of our Universe.

ESO’s new Director General, Xavier Barcons, gives his perspective on ESO, astronomy, and his new position.

In ESOcast 124 ESO’s outgoing Director General, Tim de Zeeuw, gives us his thoughts and reflections on a decade at ESO.

Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer astronomers have constructed the most detailed image ever of a star — the red supergiant star Antares. They have also made the first map of the velocities of material the atmosphere of a star other than the Sun, revealing unexpected turbulence in Antares’s huge extended atmosphere.

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have detected titanium oxide in an exoplanet atmosphere for the first time. This discovery around the hot-Jupiter planet WASP-19b exploited the power of the FORS2 instrument. It provides unique information about the chemical composition and the temperature and pressure structure of the atmosphere of this unusual and very hot world.