European Southern Observatory

A SpaceX rocket's upper stage crashed into the moon as predicted, creating a debris plume observed by a Chilean telescope. The collision, caused by solar activity and gravity, highlights growing concerns about lunar litter as the U.S. and China race to expand lunar exploration. SpaceX and NASA are collaborating to prevent future incidents.

Astronomers have found clear evidence of a faint companion star, Betelgeuse B, orbiting the red supergiant Betelgeuse in Orion. Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, researchers detected the companion, which is more massive than previously predicted, potentially explaining Betelgeuse’s unusual behavior and offering insights into its eventual supernova.

Astronomers discovered a faint, cold gas giant planet orbiting the young star Beta Pictoris after more than a decade of observation. Two independent teams using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope and NASA’s Webb Space Telescope confirmed the planet, the dimmest ever directly imaged from Earth, which had previously been obscured by the star’s brightness and other planets.

Astronomers discovered the dimmest directly imaged planet around Beta Pictoris using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope and NASA’s Webb Space Telescope. The cold gas giant, 100 times fainter than known planets, orbits a 20-million-year-old star system 63 light-years from Earth.

Astronomers discovered a faint, cold gas giant planet orbiting the young star Beta Pictoris after 11 years of observation. Two independent teams using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope and NASA's Webb Space Telescope confirmed the dimmest directly imaged exoplanet, which is 100 times fainter than previously known planets and offers insights into planetary system formation.

Astronomers discovered the dimmest directly imaged exoplanet, a cold gas giant orbiting Beta Pictoris, after two independent teams used different telescopes to detect it. The planet, 100 times fainter than previously identified companions, takes 91 years to orbit a young star system 63 light-years from Earth.

The FCC approved Reflect Orbital's launch of the mirror satellite Eärendil-1, which aims to reflect sunlight to illuminate Earth at night. The European Southern Observatory warned this poses an existential threat to optical astronomy.

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) recommends that no more than 100,000 faint satellites should orbit Earth. This guideline is outlined in an article published by ESO.

A study by the European Southern Observatory warns that 1.7 million planned satellites will have 'devastating consequences' for astronomy by brightening the night sky and disrupting telescopic observations. Researchers recommend limiting satellites to 100,000 to preserve ground-based astronomy, citing threats from projects like SpaceX's Starlink and Reflect Orbital's 50,000-mirror satellites.