This isn't a scene from #StarWars. What you're looking at is the Tarantula Nebula. While those beams come from the lasers installed on the telescopes that comprise our VLTI. But why are we sending lasers into the sky? Find out: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2616a/ 🔭 🧪 📷 A. Berdeu/ESO

#ARTEMIS II point of view for the next few hours as they go on their close by of the moon. Time in CEST (Europe/Berlin). Earth set at 00:40 and earth rise at 01:20 Sun eclipse at 02:30 (07.04.26) 🔭🧪

#artemis II nearly there, slower now as the earth’s gravity keeps stubbornly holding them back. 🔭🚀🧪

There is a full universe behind that wonderful new Artemis II "Night Marble" view of Earth. Here's a breakdown of the stars (and one planet) in the field of view. Look at us! Just a planet hanging out in space. Annotation by Rodrigo González Peinado. 🧪🔭

Great 3D realtime simulation of the Artemis II mission sankara.net/astro/lunar-... by Sankaranarayanan Viswanathan 🔭🚀

Our European Service Module solar arrays in orbit🌞 With these solar wings extended, Europe is now powering Artemis II ⚡

The stunning progress on @eso.org ELT youtu.be/4IUeLqC-xpo?... Our latest Chasing Starlight production 🔭🧪

Without them, the ELT simply would not function! We are talking about the ELT's giant Pre-Focal Stations. Currently undergoing final tests, they will guide the light collected by the telescope to the scientific instruments that will analyse it. More: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWCB... 🔭 🧪

By pure chance, Stefan observed the Sun last Friday with a custom-made telescope. The active region seen here close to the edge of the Sun's disc have now rotated more towards us. A so-called coronal mass ejection coming from this region has caused the ongoing geomagnetic storm. 📹 S. Ströbele/ESO

#Aurora over Europe! We're currently experiencing a strong geomagnetic storm, which caused a stunning auroral display all over Europe last night. This time-lapse was captured by our colleague Stefan Ströbele over our headquarters in Garching near Munich. 🔭 🧪 📹 S. Ströbele/ESO

RXJ0528+2838, a dead star creates a bow shock as it moves through space. Captured with MUSE on @eso.org VLT and alternates with an image from the DSS taken about 30 years ago. Credit: ESO/K. Iłkiewicz and S. Scaringi et al./DSS2. www.eso.org/public/news/... 🔭🧪

In a few hours in some areas of the world, interstellar visitor 3I/Atlas is going to be occluded by the moon. Interesting unique (and challenging) shooting opportunity, astrophotographers out there? 🔭🧪

I produced with my colleagues at @eso.org a new episode of our Chasing Starlight series about 3I/Atlas, where we interviewed comet specialist Cyrielle Opitom #astronomy 🔭 🧪

Assistant for the day. Working on the ELT model in Unreal Engine @eso.org 🧪🔭

Unique shape of star’s explosion revealed just a day after detection @eso.org. Some background info on how I produced the image and illustration using @jangafx.bsky.social Embergen luiscalcada.com/supernova-ex... 🔭🧪

Whooooaaaa, this is extremely neat! And spectropolarimetry (which is the best, and what we used in my first paper too!) is at its core 💙 In a nutshell: astronomers used the polarization of light to study the shape of a supernova explosion before it interacted with surrounding material. 🔭🧪

For the first time ever, astronomers have unveiled the shape of a supernova explosion just a day after detection, as the blast was breaking through the star’s surface. Achieved by our VLT, this feat will help us understand how massive stars die: https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2520/ 🔭 🧪 ☄️

Groundbreaking new image! The EHT reveals the dynamic environment around black hole M87*. The 2021 image shows a distinct shift in polarization patterns, tracing changes in magnetic fields near the event horizon. eventhorizontelescope.org/new-eht-imag...

Forged in fire. My cover for the latest @nature.com issue. www.eso.org/public/news/... ALMA(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/M. McClure et al. 🔭 🧪 ☄️

Double detonation: Zooming into Supernova remnant SNR 0509-67.5. New observations with @eso.org shows remains of star destroyed by pair of explosions. #astronomy 🔭 (ESO/L. Calçada/N. Risinger/VMC Survey/DSS2/P. Das et al. Background stars (Hubble): K. Noll et al.)

ICYMI, our VLT has imaged the remains of a star destroyed by a pair of explosive blasts! 😲 Learn all about this ‘double-detonation’ mechanism in our video summary 📽️ Full story: https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2511/ 🔭 🧪

How massive can black holes get? Our latest Chasing Starlight episode is out: youtu.be/_HSHxxOIZCE #astronomy @eso.org 🔭

@eso.org's Extremely Large Telescope Video game? Sneak peek of a prototype we're currently developing in @unrealengine.bsky.social #astronomy Interested in running this in your science centers? Reach out.

Our VLT has found a planet that orbits at an angle of 90 degrees around a rare pair of peculiar stars. This is the first time we have strong evidence for one of these ‘polar planets’ orbiting a stellar pair 😲 Discover more: www.eso.org/public/news/... 🔭 🧪 ☄️ Illustration by ESO/L. Calçada

Wow, now that's a killer image!

Incredible moon rise behind the Extremely Large Telescope @eso.org A stunning video taken on 13 March by our colleague Juan Beltrán, who works at ESO’s Paranal Observatory, not far from the ELT. #astronomy

Oxygen found in most distant galaxy! Here's our Chasing Starlight episode about this @eso.org ALMA discovery. #astronomy

@bot.astronomy.blue signup

An enormous 6,000 kilometer (3,730 mile) wide storm in Jupiter’s north polar region. Seen by Juno as it descended into Perijove 70 two days ago. flic.kr/p/2qQkPsJ

Apart from actually going to space, you probably won’t feel closer to the stars than at the top of the staircase at our Paranal Observatory shown in this image, at 2635 metres (plus some twenty steps) above sea level! 🪜✨ More: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2509a/ 📷 F. Millour/ES

Sorry, folks! Background: www.eso.org/public/news/... 🔭🧪

3D scanning the mountain where @eso.org is building the biggest telescope in the world, the ELT, to import in UE5 @unrealengine.bsky.social game engine, for an interactive virtual tour—an exciting project I'm currently working on. #astronomy

Bathed in the sunset light, this image shows steady progress in the construction of ESO’s ELT! At first glance, the steel structure might look modest in size, but it's already more than 50 metres high and 41 metres wide 🤯 More: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2506a🔭 🧪 📷 ESO

If you're mad and find yourself yelling that you want someone launched into the Sun, take a moment, calm yourself, and remember that it takes a lot less Delta v to launch them out of the Solar System instead. You can be mad, but that's no excuse to be inefficient with propellant.

Shooting day. Chasing Starlight, with Suzanna Randall at the European Southern Observatory @eso.org Have you watched the show, #astronomy? youtu.be/BodtjPYFaP8

Simulations for @eso.org WASP-127b giant Exoplanet created using #EmberGen @jasonkeyvfx.bsky.social #astronomy www.eso.org/public/news/...

Extreme supersonic winds measured on planet outside our Solar System @eso.org Astronomers have discovered extremely powerful winds pummeling the equator of WASP-127b. Reaching speeds up to 33 000 km/h, the winds make up the fastest jetstream of its kind ever measured on a planet. #astronomy

As astronomers, we're always looking for clear blue skies! Hello, world! Hello, @bsky.app ! ✨ This drone picture shows the construction site of ESO's Extremely Large Telescope's (ELT), the world's biggest eye on the sky. 📷 ESO/G. Vecchia

Webcams have been installed inside the dome of the #elt We can now follow the day to day construction of the world's biggest optical telescope #astronomy www.eso.org/public/outre...

Post a film gif from the year you were born.

First close-up picture of a star outside our galaxy (left). The new observations reveal a star puffing out gas and dust, in the last stages before it becomes a supernova. #astronomy #astro Right side, my reconstruction of the system. www.eso.org/public/news/...

me getting 12 likes on bluesky

There's some weird stars out there! Chasing Starlight is a video series we produce at the European Southern Observatory about astronomy. This episode is about some strange stellar characters. 🔭 #astronomy #astro

"Webb Study Reveals Rocky Planets Can Form in Extreme Environments" www.nasa.gov/missions/web... Happy to see one of my old illustrations for ESO being used for the latest NASA/ESA JWST press release. #astro #astronomy

A disc around a young massive star has been observed in another galaxy for the first time (using VLT and ALMA). #astro #astronomy

A couple of shots I took of (one of the 4 unit telescopes of) ESO's VLT firing its 4 lasers into the atmosphere. Such an incredible machine in a magical place. #astronomy #astro #astrophotography

This is Valle de la Luna, in the Chilean Atacama Desert, close to where the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is located. Photo by Petr Horálek #astronomy #astro