The EU is proud of its excellent research centres and infrastructures where European and international scientists gather together to breach new boundaries. But who would have guessed that one of Europe’s top scientific installations is to be found in the middle of the desert in Chile! This is exactly what I had the good fortune to discover during my visit last week to ESO, the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, located in Paranal in the Chilean Atacama desert. Two hours bus ride from the nearest town, Antofagasta, in the middle of nowhere and at 2.600 m altitude, rises a state of the art astronomical observatory at which scientists from across Europe venture to exploit some of the most advanced technologies and sophisticated techniques available within astronomy. Twelve EU Member States, plus Switzerland, support ESO. One of the facilities is the VLT, the Very Large Telescope, with which, together with the other telescopes, scientists can study objects at the far edge of Universe. I myself was able to identify and name my very own galaxy! And who knows when, with today’s top scientists and infrastructures, we will be able to discover whether we are alone in the Universe or whether my galaxy holds secrets yet unknown…

The spiral barred galaxy NGC 134 ( picture © ESO/VLT)

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