ESO expands

Three countries are at various stages of joining the European Southern Observatory. Spain will become a member on 1 July, and the Czech Republic and Austria hope to follow suit soon. With all three, ESO’s ranks would grow to 14 countries.

Member countries pay an annual fee and an entry fee based on gross domestic product. Spain’s fees total around €10 million ($12.8 million) annually plus more than €60 million to join. A quarter of the entry fee will be paid in software development and in use of the country’s 10.4-m segmented Gran Telescopio Canarias—which will see first light later this year—both for science and for testing technologies for a future 30- to 100-m Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). The Czech Republic will pay around €1.2 million a year plus about €10 million, and Austria’s dues will be about €2.5 million a year plus €20 million, according to sources in those countries. Astronomers in Austria recently won their government’s support after trying for many years to join ESO.

For astronomers in all three countries, joining ESO means gaining access to the Very Large Telescope in Chile and to the planning process for the ELT and other future facilities. Says the University of Innsbruck’s Sabine Schindler, president of Austria’s society for astronomy and astrophysics, “It’s not just about access to telescopes. It’s also about politics and being part of the international community.”