Happy Holidays from ESO (2024)

As 2024 comes to an end, we want to send you astronomically good wishes for the holidays and the best for the upcoming new year!

Spectacular images of stars inside and outside our galaxy, new insights into black holes, new exoplanets… 2024 was full of amazing discoveries. In the past year, ESO’s largest project, the Extremely Large Telescope, surpassed 60% of its total completion. Many of its components have been finished this year, including the M5 mirror cell and the blanks for the main mirror’s segments, sensors, actuators and laser sources, among other important developments in its instrumentation.  

A new year also means new resolutions. We are opening the door to innovative ideas for ESO’s next ground-based project through our Expanding Horizons program. These ideas will shape the future of ESO and astronomy in the upcoming decades.

We wish you happy holidays and a great start of 2025!