The Messenger Astronomical News

La Silla Observing School 2026Report on the

Authors
  • Sedaghati, Elyar [European Southern Observatory (ESO)]
  • Boffin, Henri [European Southern Observatory (ESO)]
  • de Burgos Sierra, Abel [European Southern Observatory (ESO)]
  • de Sá-Freitas, Camila [European Southern Observatory (ESO)]
  • Pala, Anna Francesca [European Southern Observatory (ESO)]
  • Pessi, Thallis [European Southern Observatory (ESO)]
  • Rain, Maria Jose [European Southern Observatory (ESO)]
  • Schmidtobreick, Linda [European Southern Observatory (ESO)]

Section
Astronomical News
Abstract

The La Silla Observing School, currently being held annually, comprises lectures and observations aiming at teaching students and early-career researchers various aspects of observational astronomy. Additionally, for this year’s school, a group of public school teachers from communities near the ESO sites in Chile were also included with the aim of strengthening the bond between ESO and the local communities, as well as promoting astronomy to the younger generations. This year’s school took place during the first two weeks of February 2026, starting with talks and lectures at ESO’s Vitacura offices in Santiago, then continuing with four nights of observations at the observatory, using the ESO Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera 2 at the New Technology Telescope, the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher and the Near Infra Red Planet Searcher at the 3.6-metre telescope and the PLATOSpec instrument at the 1.52-metre telescope, culminating in three final days in Vitacura where the various groups analysed the data obtained and presented the results of their projects.


Dates
Created: 2026-03-01/2026-03-31
Length
5 pages

Cite this article:

Sedaghati, E., Boffin, H., de Burgos Sierra, A., de Sá-Freitas, C., Pala, A., Pessi, T., Rain, M., Schmidtobreick, L.; La Silla Observing School 2026Report on the. The Messenger 196 (March 2026): 54–58. https://doi.org/10.18727/0722-6691/5428