Surprise: astronomers have found what look like three different generations of baby stars​ within the Orion Nebula Cluster.

The MASCARA (Multi-site All-Sky CAmeRA) station at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile has achieved first light. This new facility will seek out transiting exoplanets as they pass in front of their bright parent stars and create a catalogue of targets for future exoplanet characterisation observations.

ESOcast 116 explores how astronomers request time to use an ESO telescope, and how ESO’s Observing Programmes Committee, embarking on its one-hundredth meeting, examines and judges these proposals in order to ensure that ESO is making the best use of its telescopes to advance our knowledge and understanding of the Universe.

ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has captured a magnificent face-on view of the barred spiral galaxy Messier 77. But there is more to this galaxy than meets the eye. This ESOcast Light takes a closer look.

One of the world’s most sophisticated observatories has now been recreated as a mind-boggling LEGO® model.

In 2016 the Pale Red Dot team discovered a planet around Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our Sun. Using ESO’s exoplanet hunter, HARPS, they are about to continue the hunt for the nearest exoplanets. See more in this episode of ESOcast Light.

Capturing and recording the light from the heavens has always been an essential aspect of astronomy. In this episode, we’re going to delve into the history of the sensors that have been used to study the Universe over the centuries.

ALMA has observed stars like the Sun at a very early stage in their formation and found traces of methyl isocyanate — a chemical building block of life.