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Highlights include:

Decin, L., Gottlieb, C. et al.: ATOMIUM: ALMA Tracing the Origins of Molecules In dUst forming oxygen-rich M-type stars
GRAVITY+ Collaboration, Abuter, R. et al.: The GRAVITY+ Project: Towards All-sky, Faint-Science, High-Contrast Near-Infrared Interferometry at the VLTI
Arnaboldi, M., De Breuck, C. et al.: Report on the EAS Symposium "ESO@60: A stairway to the Universe"

ADS BibCode: 2022Msngr.189....3D

Decin, L., Gottlieb, C., Richards, A., Baudry, A., Danilovich, T., Cannon, E., Ceulemans, T., De Ceuster, F., de Koter, A., El Mellah, I., Etoka, S., Gottlieb, E., Gray, M., Herpin, F., Homan, W., Jeste, M., Kervella, P., Maes, S., Malfait, J., Marinho, L., Menten, K., Millar, T., McDonald, I., Montargès, M., Müller, H., Pimpanuwat, B., Plane, J., Sahai, R., Van de Sande, M., Wallström, S., Wong, K., The ATOMIUM Consortium

The goals of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Large Programme ATOMIUM are to obtain a quantitative understanding of the chemical and physical processes that govern the phase transition from small gaseous molecules to dust grains in the inner wind of oxygen-rich evolved stars; and to study the interplay between dynamical and chemical phenomena in the outflow of 17 asymptotic giant branch (AGB) and red supergiant (RSG) stars which span a range in (circum)stellar and wind properties — such as mass-loss rate, pulsation behaviour, and spatial structure of the wind-dominated ambient medium. The observations were made with three configurations of the ALMA array that encompass a range in angular resolution of approximately 0.02–1 arcseconds. They consist of 27-GHz-wide homogeneous spectral-line and continuum surveys in the 214–270 GHz range in each source in the sample, and provide an unambiguous comparison among sources. Equipped with these tools, we then show how the stellar winds of all the ATOMIUM sources exhibit distinct non-spherical geometries that can be explained by binary interaction and — depending on the parameters of the binary system — can produce a wide variety of morphologies as illustrated by the example of the AGB star π¹ Gru. In parallel with ATOMIUM, contemporaneous observations of all but three of the 17 sources were made in the visible with the SPHERE/ZIMPOL instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). The VLT/SPHERE observations provided direct images of the dust at a spatial resolution comparable to that obtained with ALMA. Novel hydrodynamical simulations of binary systems were done so as to further the interpretation of the near simultaneous observations of the gas and dust. We also present a brief overview of the 24 molecules that were identified in the survey, followed by a discussion of how the molecules inform us about the inner wind and the (super)giant outflow, and of some future possible observations with ALMA, ESO instruments, and the JWST.

ADS BibCode: 2022Msngr.189....9S

Sarzi, M., Iodice, E., The Fornax3D collaboration

The Fornax galaxy cluster is an ideal nearby laboratory in which to study the impact of dense environments on the evolution of galaxies. The Fornax3D survey offers extended and deep integral-field spectroscopic observations for the brightest 33 galaxies within of virial radius of the Fornax cluster, obtained with the MUSE integral-field spectrograph, mounted on Unit Telescope 4 (Yepun) of ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile. The Fornax3D data allowed us to reconstruct the formation of early-type galaxies in the cluster and to explore the link with spiral galaxies. Results have been published in 19 refereed papers since 2018. In this paper we review the broad goals of this campaign, its main results and the potential for future studies combining the MUSE data with the abundant multi-wavelength data coverage for Fornax.

ADS BibCode: 2022Msngr.189...17A

GRAVITY+ Collaboration, Abuter, R., Alarcon, P., Allouche, F., Amorim, A., Bailet, C., Bedigan, H., Berdeu, A., Berger, J., Berio, P., Bigioli, A., Blaho, R., Boebion, O., Bolzer, M., Bonnet, H., Bourdarot, G., Bourget, P., Brandner, W., Cardenas, C., Conzelmann, R., Comin, M., Clénet, Y., Courtney-Barrer, B., Dallilar, Y., Davies, R., Defrère, D., Delboulbé, A., Delplancke-Ströbele, F., Dembet, R., de Zeeuw, T., Drescher, A., Eckart, A., Édouard, C., Eisenhauer, F., Fabricius, M., Feuchtgruber, H., Finger, G., Förster Schreiber, N., Fuenteseca, E., Garcia, E., Garcia, P., Gao, F., Gendron, E., Genzel, R., Gil, J., Gillessen, S., Gomes, T., Gonté, F., Gouvret, C., Guajardo, P., Guidolin, I., Guieu, S., Guzmann, R., Hackenberg, W., Haddad, N., Hartl, M., Haubois, X., Haußmann, F., Heißel, G., Henning, T., Hippler, S., Hönig, S., Horrobin, M., Hubin, N., Jacqmart, E., Jocou, L., Kaufer, A., Kervella, P., Kirchbauer, J., Kolb, J., Korhonen, H., Kreidberg, L., Krempl, P., Lacour, S., Lagarde, S., Lai, O., Lapeyrère, V., Laugier, R., Le Bouquin, J., Leftley, J., Léna, P., Lewis, S., Lutz, D., Magnard, Y., Mang, F., Marcotto, A., Maurel, D., Mérand, A., Millour, F., More, N., Nowacki, H., Nowak, M., Oberti, S., Olivares, F., Ott, T., Pallanca, L., Paumard, T., Perraut, K., Perrin, G., Petrov, R., Pfuhl, O., Pourré, N., Rabien, S., Rau, C., Riquelme, M., Robbe-Dubois, S., Rochat, S., Salman, M., Scherbarth, M., Schöller, M., Schubert, J., Schuhler, N., Shangguan, J., Shchekaturov, P., Shimizu, T., Scheithauer, S., Sevin, A., Soenke, C., Soulez, F., Spang, A., Stadler, E., Straubmeier, C., Sturm, E., Sykes, C., Tacconi, L., Tischer, H., Tristram, K., Vincent, F., von Fellenberg, S., Uysal, S., Widmann, F., Wieprecht, E., Wiezorrek, E., Woillez, J., Yazıcı, Ş., Zins, G.

The GRAVITY instrument has been revolutionary for near-infrared interferometry by pushing sensitivity and precision to previously unknown limits. With the upgrade of GRAVITY and the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) in GRAVITY+, these limits will be pushed even further, with vastly improved sky coverage, as well as faint-science and high-contrast capabilities. This upgrade includes the implementation of wide-field off-axis fringe-tracking, new adaptive optics systems on all Unit Telescopes, and laser guide stars in an upgraded facility. GRAVITY+ will open up the sky to the measurement of black hole masses across cosmic time in hundreds of active galactic nuclei, use the faint stars in the Galactic centre to probe General Relativity, and enable the characterisation of dozens of young exoplanets to study their formation, bearing the promise of another scientific revolution to come at the VLTI.

ADS BibCode: 2022Msngr.189...23P

Padovani, P., Cirasuolo, M., van der Burg, R., Cantalloube, F., George, E., Kasper, M., Leschinski, K., Martins, C., Milli, J., Möhler, S., Neeser, M., Neichel, B., Otarola, A., Sánchez-Janssen, R., Serra, B., Smette, A., Valenti, E., Verinaud, C., Vernet, J., Absil, O., Agapito, G., Andersen, M., Arcidiacono, C., Arko, M., Baudoz, P., Beltramo-Martin, O., Biancalani, E., Bierwirth, T., Burtscher, L., Carlà, G., Castro-Almazán, J., Cheffot, A., Coccato, L., Correia, C., Fetick, R., Fiorentino, G., Fusco, T., García-Lorenzo, B., Gentile Fusillo, N., Gonzalez, O., Grazian, A., Gullieuszik, M., Hainaut, O., Ivanov, V., Kaasinen, M., Kaddad, D., Kamiński, T., Kausch, W., Kerber, F., Kimeswenger, S., Kokotanekova, R., Kuznetsov, A., Lau, A., Le Louarn, M., Lemmel, F., Liske, J., Lo Curto, G., Lucsanyi, D., Lundin, L., Noll, S., Oberti, S., Osborn, J., Masciadri, E., Milaković, D., Murphy, M., Pedichini, F., Pereira Santaella, M., Piazzesi, R., Piqueras López, J., Plantet, C., Prod'homme, T., Przybilla, N., Puech, M., Reid, D., Reiners, A., Rijnenberg, R., Rodrigues, M., Rossi, F., Routledge, L., Smit, H., Tecza, M., Thatte, N., van Boekel, R., Verma, A., Vigan, A.

Since 2005 ESO has been working with its community and industry to develop an extremely large optical/infrared telescope. ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope, or ELT for short, is a revolutionary ground-based telescope that will have a 39-metre main mirror and will be the largest visible and infrared light telescope in the world. To address specific topics that are needed for the science operations and calibrations of the telescope, thirteen specific working groups were created to coordinate the effort between ESO, the instrument consortia, and the wider community. We describe here the goals of these working groups as well as their achievements so far.

ADS BibCode: 2022Msngr.189...33M

Guzmán Mesa, A., Lyubenova, M., Williams, A.

ADS BibCode: 2022Msngr.189...37A

Arnaboldi, M., De Breuck, C., Leibundgut, B.

The symposium ESO@60: a stairway to the Universe was held during the European Astronomical Society (EAS) annual meeting in Valencia, Spain, in June 2022. The focus of the symposium was on the scientific achievements with ESO facilities over the last 60 years. The programme consisted of six sessions of 1.5 hours each. Each session covered a broad theme: Extrasolar Planets, Astrochemistry and Nucleosynthesis, Stellar Populations and Star Formation, Black Holes, Cosmology and Galaxy Evolution, and a Look Ahead to ESO’s Extremeley Large Telescope and the next decade. Eight keynote speakers introduced their topics by highlighting how the ESO facilities and their operations, including the end-to-end dataflow system and the ESO Science Archive Facility, contributed to the scientific advancements in their specific areas. The current and two former ESO Director Generals, namely Xavier Barcons, Catherine Cesarsky and Harry van der Laan, attended the symposium and participated in the lively discussions.

ADS BibCode: 2022Msngr.189...42H

Hibon, P., Corral-Santana, J., de Gregorio-Monsalvo, I., Infante, L., Humphreys, E., Blakeslee, J.

The Joint Observatories Kavli Science Forum in Chile was organised in hybrid mode with the aim of encouraging collaborations, not only with the Chilean institutions, but also between the different observing facilities based in Chile. The meeting featured scientific talks showing results obtained with the astronomical facilities based in Chile, but significant time was also dedicated to round-table discussions on Life Balance, Diversity-Equity-Inclusion, and the Road Ahead (i.e., the future of those Chile-based facilities).

ADS BibCode: 2022Msngr.189...44G

de Gregorio-Monsalvo, I., Hibon, P., Alcalde Pampliega, B.

ADS BibCode: 2022Msngr.189...46P

Alcalde Pampliega, B., Hibon, P., de Gregorio-Monsalvo, I.

ADS BibCode: 2022Msngr.189...48K

Kokotanekova, R., Hainaut, O., Cirasuolo, M., Padovani, P.

Solar System Science with the ELTs was a two-part workshop, Part I of which took place virtually on 28 April 2022, followed by Part II as a hybrid meeting at ESO headquarters on 13–15 June 2022. The main motivation for the meeting was to engage the community of Solar System observers in preparation for the forthcoming extremely large telescopes. A special emphasis was placed on exploring how ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (ESO’s ELT), alongside the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) and the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), will fit into the expanding landscape of ground- and space-based facilities and transform Solar System research. The meeting brought together instrument experts and observers at all career stages, working on six continents, and representing the different sub-fields of planetary science. A Zenodo collection of the workshop presentations and discussions was publicly released to the community as a valuable resource to inspire and facilitate the development of the first extremely large telescope observing programmes. Solar System Science with the ELTs was envisaged as the first of the three-part conference series Extremely Big Eyes on the Solar System and set the stage for two further workshops in North America and Asia.

ADS BibCode: 2022Msngr.189...51E

Koumpia, E., Harrington, K.

ADS BibCode: 2022Msngr.189...53E

ADS BibCode: 2022Msngr.189...55L

The Messenger Issue 189