10 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE November | December 2017
PARTNERSHIP by Jonathan NallyA bigger league
Australian optical and infrared astronomy will be boosted with
access to some of the world’s biggest and best telescopes.THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
announced in its annual Budget
statement in July that it had signed
a ten-year, $129 million strategic
partnership agreement with the
European Southern Observatory (ESO)
to “provide Australian astronomers
with long-term access to the world’s
best optical telescopes and sustain
our place at the forefront of global
optical astronomy,” in the words of the
Minister for Industry, Innovation and
Science, Senator Arthur Sinodinos.The partnership, commencing next
year, will give Australian astronomers
access to the 8-metre-class telescopes at
the La Silla and Paranal Observatories.
Previously, those astronomers had
limited access to the 8-metre-class
telescopes of the Gemini consortium,
but that agreement expired in 2015.
“This historic partnership will
give our world-class astronomers
access to the tools and collaboration
opportunities they need to continue
leading-edge discoveries that advanceour understanding of the Universe,” the
Minister added.
ESO is a consortium that comprises
16 mainly European countries —
Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech
Republic, Denmark, France, Finland,
Germany, Italy, the Netherlands,
Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland and the UK — plus the host
nation, Chile.
ESO operates a wide variety of
telescopes and instruments of at
three main observing sites in Chile:The Extremely Large Telescope (seen here in an artist’s impression) will have a
39-metre-diameter primary mirror with 15 times the light collecting power of the
current largest ground-based telescopes. It is due for completion in 2024.ESO