Spain to Join ESO (Forwarded)

ESO Education and Public Relations Dept.

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Contacts:

Claus Madsen
ESO Spokesman
Garching, Germany
Phone: +49 89 3200 6278

Henri Boffin
ESO Press Officer
Garching, Germany
Phone: +49 89 3200 6222

For immediate release: 13 February 2006

ESO 05/06

Spain to Join ESO

ESO Will Welcome its 12th Member State on 1 July 2006

Today, during a ceremony in Madrid, an agreement was signed
by the Spanish Minister of Education and Science, Mrs. María
Jesús San Segundo, and the ESO Director General, Dr. Catherine
Cesarsky, affirming their commitment to securing Spanish
membership of ESO.

Following approval by the Spanish Council of Ministers and the
ratification by the Spanish Parliament of the ESO Convention
and the associated protocols, Spain intends to become ESO's
12th member state on 1 July 2006.

"Since long Spain was aware that entering ESO was a logical
decision and it was even necessary for a country like Spain
because Spain is ranked 8th in astrophysical research",
said Mrs. María Jesús San Segundo. "The large scientific
installations are not only necessary for research in different
fields but are also partners and customers for hi-tech
companies, helping to increase the funding of R&D."

"Spanish Astronomy has made tremendous strides forward and we
are delighted to welcome Spain as a new member of ESO. We
very much look forward to working together with our excellent
Spanish colleagues," said Dr. Cesarsky. "For ESO, the Spanish
accession means that we can draw on the scientific and
technological competences, some of them unique in Europe, that
have been developed in Spain and, of course, for Europe the
Spanish membership of ESO is an important milestone in the
construction of the European Research Area."

Indeed, Spain is an important member of the European astronomical
community and has developed impressively over the last three
decades, reaching maturity with major contributions in virtually
all subjects of astronomy. In addition, Spain hosts, operates
or owns a number of competitive facilities dedicated to foster
astronomical research, among which the Observatorio del Roque de
los Muchachos at La Palma, certainly the premier optical/infrared
astronomical observing site in Europe and site of the Spanish
10m GranTeCan telescope now nearing completion.

With the high quality of Spanish astronomical research as well
as the technological competence of Spanish industry, it is only
fitting that Spain should join ESO, world-leader in ground-based
astronomy. Through ESO Spain will enjoy full access both to all
of ESO's current facilities and to unrestricted participation
in the great projects that ESO is planning for the future. Spain
is already an active partner of the Atacama Large Millimeter
Array (ALMA), whose construction and operations are led on
behalf of Europe by ESO.

ESO's Council approved the admission of Spain at its 107th
meeting held in Garching on 7 and 8 December 2005.

High resolution images and their captions are available at
http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-re...hot-05-06.html

Notes for Editors:

ESO is the intergovernmental European research organisation
for Astronomy in the Southern Hemisphere. It is supported by
Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the
Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and the United
Kingdom.

ESO operates the La Silla Paranal Observatory. At the Paranal
site it runs the world's prime optical/infrared astronomical
facility, the Very Large Telescope Array (VLT). Located 130 km
south of Antofagasta, this 2,600 m high mountain is in the
driest part of the Atacama desert. The VLT consists of four
8.2-metre and four 1.8-metre telescopes. Several of the
telescopes can be used in combination as a unique, giant
interferometer (Very Large Telescope Interferometer, VLTI).
In addition, ESO operates the La Silla site, 600 km north of
Santiago de Chile, at 2,400 m altitude where state-of-the-art
medium-sized telescopes are in operation. More than 1600
proposals are made each year for the use of the ESO telescopes.

The ESO Headquarters are located in Garching, near Munich,
Germany. This is the scientific, technical and administrative
centre of ESO where technical development programmes are
carried out to provide the Observatory with the most advanced
instruments. There are also extensive astronomical data
facilities. ESO is currently engaged in a major new project
for the construction of an array of telescopes for observation
in the mm/sub-mm wavelength domain. Known as the Atacama Large
Millimeter Array (ALMA), this is a joint European/North
American/Japanese project, due for completion in 2012.
Furthermore, studies for an extremely large optical telescope
are being undertaken by ESO and its collaborating institutes.

The ESO Convention was established in 1962 and specifies the
goals of ESO and the means to achieve these, e.g., "The
Governments of the States parties to this convention ...
desirous of jointly creating an observatory equipped with
powerful instruments in the Southern hemisphere and accordingly
promoting and organizing co-operation in astronomical
research ..." (from the Preamble to the ESO Convention).

National contacts for the media:

Belgium: Dr. Rodrigo Alvarez, +32-2-474 70 50
Finland: Ms. Riitta Tirronen, +358 9 7748 8369
Denmark: Dr. Michael Linden-Vørnle, +45-33-18 19 97
France: Dr. Daniel Kunth, +33-1-44 32 80 85
Germany: Dr. Jakob Staude, +49-6221-528229
Italy: Dr. Leopoldo Benacchio, benacchio @ inaf.it
The Netherlands: Ms. Marieke Baan, +31-20-525 74 80
Portugal: Prof. Teresa Lago, +351-22-089 833
Sweden: Dr. Jesper Sollerman, +46-8-55 37 85 54
Switzerland: Dr. Martin Steinacher, +41-31-324 23 82
United Kingdom: Mr. Peter Barratt, +44-1793-44 20 25

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