Related papers: The ESO Large Programme First Stars
Dedicated to spectroscopic and imaging observations of the ultraviolet sky, the World Space Observatory for Ultraviolet Project is a Russia led international collaboration presently involving also China, Germany, Italy, Spain and Ukraine.…
Measuring the orbits of directly-imaged exoplanets requires precise astrometry at the milliarcsec level over long periods of time due to their wide separation to the stars ($\gtrsim$10 au) and long orbital period ($\gtrsim$20 yr). To reach…
Binary stars are crucial laboratories for stellar physics, so have been photometric targets for space missions beginning with the very first orbiting telescope (OAO-2) launched in 1968. This review traces the binary stars observed and the…
We present the complete results of the planet search program carried out at the ESO Coude Echelle Spectrometer (CES) on La Silla, using the Long Camera from Nov. 1992 to April 1998. The CES survey has monitored 37 late-type (F8V - M5V)…
1ES 0414+009 (z = 0.287) is a distant high-frequency-peaked BL Lac object, and has long been considered a likely emitter of very-high energy (VHE, E>100 GeV) gamma-rays due to its high X-ray and radio flux. Observations in the VHE gamma-ray…
ESO is in the process of upgrading one of the two FORS (FOcal Reducer/low dispersion Spectrograph) instruments - a multi-mode (imaging, polarimetry, long-slit, and multi-object spectroscopy) optical instrument mounted on the Cassegrain…
New space missions (e.g., NASA-TESS and ESA-PLATO) will perform an analysis of bright stars in large fields of the celestial sphere searching for extraterrestrial planets. Asteroseismic observations will search for exoplanet-hosting stars…
A 10-night asteroseismic observation programme has been conducted in January 2004 with the spectrometer Harps at the ES0 3.6-m telescope. The selected target, the 6th magnitude F5V star HD 49933, was chosen among the prime candidates of…
The blazar 1ES 1101-232 was observed with the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) of Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (ACT) in 2004 and 2005, for a live time of 43 hours. VHE (E > 10^11 eV) gamma-rays were detected for the first time…
A near-IR low-resolution spectroscopic follow-up of a complete sample of K<18.5 EROs has started at the 3.5 m Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG, La Palma, Canary Islands) by using a prism disperser AMICI. The sample has been selected from…
The structure and properties of the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) on small scales, sub-au to 1 pc, are poorly understood. We compare interstellar absorption-lines, observed towards a selection of O- and B-type stars at two or more…
In October 1997, the Italian and Dutch GRB teams started a collaboration on ESO optical follow-up of rapidly and accurately localized GRBs. Subsequently, starting April 1, 2000, this collaboration was extended to astronomers from other…
The high-frequency peaked BL Lac object 1ES 0229+200 (z = 0.14) was first detected in very high energy (VHE, E > 100 GeV) $\gamma$-rays by the H.E.S.S. (High Energy Stereoscopic System) collaboration in 2006. No flux variability was…
This paper presents a search for high redshift galaxies from the Euclid Early Release Observations program "Magnifying Lens." The 1.5 deg$^2$ area covered by the twin Abell lensing cluster fields is comparable in size to the few other deep…
As the Universe emerged from its initial hot and dense phase, its chemical composition was extremely simple, being limited to stable H and He isotopes, and traces of Li. The first stars that formed had such initial composition. However,…
An echelle spectrogram (R = 30,000) of the 2300-3100 A region in the ultraviolet spectrum of the F8V star 9 Comae is presented. The observation is used to calibrate features in the mid-ultraviolet spectra of similar stars according to age…
The Gaia-ESO Survey is obtaining high-quality spectroscopic data for about 10^5 stars using FLAMES at the VLT. UVES high-resolution spectra are being collected for about 5000 FGK-type stars. These UVES spectra are analyzed in parallel by…
The fast-switching DAO spectropolarimeter mounted on the 1.8-m Plaskett telescope started operation in 2007. Almost 14,000 medium-resolution (R=15,000) polarimetric spectra of 65 O - F type stars have been obtained since then in the course…
This paper reports a 9-night asteroseismic observation program conducted in January 2007 with the new spectrometer Sophie at the OHP 193-cm telescope, on the F5 IV-V target Procyon A. This first asteroseismic program with Sophie was…
During the 1960s, a small but vibrant community of cosmic ray physicists, pioneered novel optical methods of detecting extensive air showers (EAS) in the Earth's atmosphere with the prime objective of searching for point sources of…