ESOcast SD

Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope, astronomers have found a metal ‘scar’ imprinted on the surface of a dead star. This video summarises the discovery.

Astronomers have characterised the most luminous quasar observed to date, which is powered by the fastest-growing black hole. This black hole is growing in mass by the equivalent of one Sun per day. The matter being pulled in toward this black hole forms a disc that measures seven light-years in diameter — about 15 000 times the distance from the Sun to the orbit of Neptune.

Astronomers have found a direct link between the explosive deaths of massive stars and the formation of the most compact and enigmatic objects in the Universe — black holes and neutron stars. This video summarises the discovery.

Using ALMA, astronomers have detected the magnetic field of a galaxy so far away that its light has taken more than 11 billion years to reach us. Never before had we detected a galaxy’s magnetic field this far away. This video summarises the discovery.

Using multiple telescopes around the world, including European Southern Observatory (ESO) facilities, researchers have uncovered a living star that is likely to become a magnetar, an ultra-magnetic dead star. This video summarises the discovery.

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have found the possible ‘sibling’ of a planet orbiting a distant star. This video summarises the discovery.

Using ESO's VISTA telescope, astronomers have created a vast infrared atlas of five nearby stellar nurseries by piecing together more than one million images.

Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope, astronomers have found the fingerprints left by the explosions of the first stars.

With the help of ALMA, astronomers have obtained a new image of the supermassive black hole at the
centre of the M87 galaxy.

Using ALMA, astronomers have detected a large reservoir of hot gas in the still-forming galaxy cluster around the Spiderweb galaxy –– the most distant detection of such hot gas yet. This further reveals just how early these structures begin to form.

Using ALMA, astronomers have detected the chemical signature of gaseous water in the planet-forming disc V883 Orionis. This acts as a timestamp for the water’s formation, allowing us to trace its journey.

Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope, barium has been detected in the atmosphere of two exoplanets.

Using ALMA, astronomers have found a hot bubble of gas that swirls around Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the centre of our galaxy, at 30% of the speed of light.

The black hole police, a team of astronomers known for debunking black hole discoveries, reported finding a "needle in a haystack". After searching nearly 1000 stars outside our galaxy, they found that one of them has a stellar-mass black hole as a companion. This short video summarises the discovery.

What does it take to capture an image of the black hole at the centre of our galaxy? This video explains how the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) works, and how astronomers managed to create one massive Earth-sized telescope big enough to “see” at the edge of black holes.

Astronomers have discovered a new type of explosion occurring on white dwarf stars in two-star systems. This video summarises the discovery.