Download Document

www.fbbva.es
DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION AND
INSTITUTIONAL RELATIONS
PRESS RELEASE
Continuing the sixth edition of the Astrophysics and Cosmology lecture series
“Science of the Cosmos, Science in the Cosmos”
The head of the European Southern
Observatory presents the latest
discoveries of extrasolar planets with
the potential to harbor life

Tim de Zeeuw, Director General of the European Southern Observatory
(ESO) in Garching (Germany), will participate in the BBVA Foundation
astrophysics and cosmology lecture series on Tuesday April 4 to explain
how the organization’s facilities are transforming our view of the cosmos

ESO was an actor in two of the most impactful astronomical discoveries
of recent times: Proxima b, our nearest neighboring planet in the
habitable zone, and the seven Earth-like planets of the TRAPPIST-1
system, which could in theory sustain life

Its telescopes have also helped confirm that the Universe’s expansion is
accelerating not slowing, and that a massive black hole occupies the
center of the Milky Way

From its beginnings in 2011, the BBVA Foundation lecture series Science
of the Cosmos, Science in the Cosmos has welcomed world authorities in
the most active areas of astrophysics and cosmology
Madrid, April 3, 2017.- “The European Southern Observatory (ESO) now leads
the strongest ground-based astronomy program in the world, which I am
honored to have contributed to over the last decade,” affirms Tim de Zeeuw,
the organization’s Director General. Among the milestones reached under his
leadership, we can cite the launch of the Atacama Large
Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the biggest radio telescope currently in
operation, and the start of construction work on the Extremely Large Telescope
(ELT), both in Chile. His tenure, furthermore, has coincided with two of the most
exciting astronomical discoveries of recent times: Proxima b, the potentially
habitable planet closest to Earth; and TRAPPIST-1, a system of seven Earth-size
planets not far from our own Solar System which may have the right conditions
for life. De Zeeuw, who in September this year will be succeeded in the post by
Spain’s Xavier Barcons, will describe his experience of these events on Tuesday
March 4 at a talk in the BBVA Foundation Madrid titled “In Search of Our
Cosmic Origins with the World’s Most Advanced Telescopes at the European
Southern Observatory.”
De Zeeuw will start by explaining the technological advances that have
shaped the course of astronomy from the days of Galileo, when the telescope
replaced the naked eye as man’s instrument for studying the skies. Subsequent
refinement of this instrument has involved such major innovations as the switch
from lenses to mirrors; the substitution of direct observation by detectors able to
capture light over long periods of time; the invention of spectroscopy, enabling
scientists to deduce the physical properties of celestial objects; and the study of
wavelengths beyond the visible spectrum – radio waves from Earth, and
gamma, X- and infrared rays – by means of increasingly sophisticated
generations of space telescopes.
He will next describe the main scientific projects ongoing at ESO, which includes
Spain among its member states – the Very Large Telescope (VLT), ALMA and
the future ELT – before going on to detail the discoveries of Proxima b and
TRAPPIST-1.
“ESO is the world’s leading astronomical organization. Its observatories in Chile,
along with the La Palma facility run by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
(IAC), operate the most powerful telescopes in existence. There can be no
doubt that ESO’s latest projects, thinking especially of the ELT, will continue to
revolutionize worldwide research in astrophysics,” according to Rafael Bachiller,
head of the Spanish National Observatory, who will introduce Professor de
Zeeuw’s lecture.
Spain joined the ESO consortium in 2006. Just ten years later, 6% of its workforce
is Spanish, and more than 200 scientific papers a year based on data obtained
in its laboratories have Spaniards among their co-authors (as lead authors in 50
cases). Spain contributes 7.5% of ESO’s 11 million euro annual budget, ensuring
it a percentage share of observation time at the organization’s La Silla, Paranal
and ALMA facilities (data for July 2016).
The light of a new universe
In recent years, ESO’s instruments have participated in vastly ambitious
astronomical projects like the study that proved a link between large gammaray bursts and the explosion of massive stars, or the observations that confirmed
that the universe’s expansion was accelerating rather than slowing – Science
magazine’s discovery of the year in 1998, and a feat that won its authors – Saul
Perlmutter, Brian Schmidt and Adam Riess – the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics.
“Another is the study of the center of our galaxy, where a black hole with four
million times the mass of the Sun resides,” De Zeeuw relates. “Observations of
this region with the new GRAVITY instrument on the VLT are starting to test
Einstein’s general theory of relativity in much stronger gravity than ever before.”
The VLT is one of the jewels in ESO’s crown. As well as obtaining the first direct
image of an exoplanet, it has taken the first ever measurements of another’s
atmosphere and calculated the age of the oldest known star in the Milky Way.
It has also detected carbon monoxide molecules in a galaxy at a distance of
11 billion light years, allowing astronomers to measure the cosmic temperature
prevailing in that remote epoch.
Great things are expected too of the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), currently
under construction and scheduled to come on stream in 2024. The telescope’s
design incorporates adaptive optics to correct the distortion due to
atmospheric turbulence that frequently impairs the quality of ground-based
observations. Its diameter of 39 meters will be almost five times larger than that
of individual VLTs (8.2 meters). As a result, says De Zeeuw, “it will collect nearly
25 times as much light, and allow much fainter objects to be studied. Its very
large aperture also means that it will be able to create much sharper images.
Put together this means a huge step in observational power.”
In search of other “Earths” with water and life
Another ESO powerhouse is ALMA, designed to detect the radiation given off
by clouds of gas and interstellar dust – where galaxies, stars and planetary
systems are born – with wavelengths of a millimeter or less. “Astronomers can
use it to study the chemical and physical conditions of these clouds. Often such
regions are dark and obscured in visible light, but they shine brightly in the
millimeter and submillimeter part of the spectrum.”
ALMA began operation in 2013 and, just a year later, contributed to one of the
findings that ESO ranks among its top ten astronomical discoveries: the image
of HL Tauri, a solar system in formation just one million years old, which promises
a giant leap in our understanding of how planetary systems are formed “ALMA
has revolutionized this field of research,” De Zeeuw enthuses. “Ten years ago
such science was simply not possible.”
Of course, not long ago, there was skepticism about whether worlds even
existed beyond the reaches of our Solar System. Now, with a continually
expanding catalogue of exoplanets – more than 2,500 to date – our
expectations have grown in ambition and we are seeking out candidates for
habitability. ESO was part of two recent discoveries that amount to gamechangers in this respect: the extrasolar planet Proxima b and the seven planets
of the TRAPPIST-1 system.
Proxima b stands a mere 4 light years away, making it our nearest neighboring
planet in a habitable zone. Its discoverer, Spaniard Guillem Anglada-Escudé,
was voted one of the journal Nature’s top ten scientists of 2016. The TRAPPIST-1
system is also relatively close, at 40 light years from our Solar System. The seven
planets orbiting its star have a size similar to Earth’s and could harbor oceans of
water on their surfaces, increasing the possibility that the star system might play
host to life.
“These are highly significant discoveries as the stars are both close, cool and
faint, making them easier to study, and because they orbit their star at
distances allowing for the existence of liquid water. I am very much looking
forward to seeing what further investigations reveal.” The ELT, he adds, “will be
a powerful tool for studying nearby planets – particularly the analysis of their
atmospheres – and should also be able to detect any bio-signatures indicating
the presence of life.”
Tim de Zeeuw sees this as one of ESO’s research priorities for the future. “Such
investigations can be carried to the next level with the new instrumentation at
the VLT, and later of course also for the ELT. I already mentioned the GRAVITY
instrument, currently making strides in probing the center of the Milky Way. And
MUSE [an integral-field spectograph that creates 3D images] is a unique
instrument enabling unprecedented studies of the ultra-deep universe.”
Bio notes: Tim de Zeeuw
Tim de Zeeuw received his PhD from Leiden University in 1984. He subsequently
worked at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and at the California
Institute of Technology (Caltech), before returning to Leiden in 1990 as Professor
of Theoretical Astronomy. His research focuses on the formation, structure and
dynamics of galaxies including our own Milky Way. He was Co-Principal
Investigator on the SAURON project, which combined groundbreaking integralfield spectroscopy and theoretical modeling to revolutionize our understanding
of the nature and formation of early-type galaxies. He has supervised 25 PhD
theses, was co-founder of the Lorentz Center in Leiden, and directed the
Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA) and Leiden Observatory.
He has served on oversight committees for AURA (Association of Universities for
Research in Astronomy), ESA (European Space Agency), ESO and NASA. He
also led the development of the European Science Vision for Astronomy in
2007. Awarded the 2001 Prix Descartes-Huygens and the 2010 Brouwer Award,
he holds honorary doctorates from the universities of Lyon, Chicago and
Padova.
Director General at ESO since September 2007, he currently chairs the
EIROforum, a partnership between eight of Europe’s largest intergovernmental
scientific organizations (including CERN, ESO and ESA).
About Science of the Cosmos, Science in the Cosmos
Since it began in March 2011, the lecture series Science of the Cosmos, Science
in the Cosmos has explored some of the main open questions in modern
astrophysics. Experts from the top ranks of the world scientific community have
shared their vision of the origins of the universe, the search for life on other
planets, how chemical elements are forged in the heart of stars, or the nature
of dark matter and energy. The whole of the current series will be available for
viewing, along with videos of past editions, on www.fbbva.es and our YouTube
channel https://www.youtube.com/user/BBVAFoundation/playlists
For more information, contact the BBVA Foundation Department of Communication and
Institutional Relations (+34 91 374 5210; 91 374 3139/[email protected]) or visit
www.fbbva.es