These eleven images are of the asteroid Kleopatra, viewed at different angles as it rotates. The images were taken at different times between 2017 and 2019 with the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch (SPHERE) instrument on ESO’s VLT.  Kleopatra orbits the Sun in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter. Astronomers have called it a “dog-bone asteroid” ever since radar observations around 20 years ago revealed it has two lobes connected by a thick “neck”.

The Milky Way glitters above the ALMA array in this image taken from a time lapse sequence during the ESO Ultra HD Expedition.

The Orion Nebula (M42/M43, NGC1976/1982) This picture shows the great nebula in the constellation of Orion the Hunter. On a good clear night, from a dark site well away from the lights of modern civilization, this glowing cloud of gas and dust can be seen with the naked eye as a fuzzy patch surrounding the star Theta Orionis in the Hunter's Sword, below Orion's belt. It is probably the most spectacular of all the objects cataloged by Charles Messier and now called by their `M' numbers. M42 had been known since the beginnings of recorded astronomy as a star, but it is so outstanding that it was first noted as an extended nebula in 1610, only a year after Galileo's first use of the telescope. Detailed descriptions started appearing later in the seventeenth century, and it has been a popular target for anyone with a telescope ever since. So many details are visible in even a small telescope that M42 will more than repay the observer who makes it a frequent target, and who will find that it is hard to make a realistic sketch that can capture all of the finer features. So outstanding is this nebula that it has two numbers. M43/NGC1982 is the separated portion to the north-east (top left), surrounding an irregular variable star. Although Messier stopped at only two, other parts of the nebula in this region have received further NGC numbers. M42 is our closest example of an HII region, being composed mainly of ionized hydrogen which gives off the red glow so dominant in every picture of the nebula. Deep photographs such as this one show that it is nearly a degree across, larger than the full Moon (although the Moon is so bright that it looks much larger). The energy to keep the nebula glowing comes from the very hot young stars in a formation called the Trapezium, embedded in the brightest part of the nebula and not visible in this photograph. The nebula and the brighter stars are very young indeed by astronomical standards, at about 30000 years. Compare this to our own Su

The CaNaPy laser — based on ESO patented technology — undergoes its first tests mounted on a 0.6-metre telescope, at the Allgäuer VolksSternwarte Ottobeuren observatory in Germany.  Its eventual home will be at the European Space Agency’s Optical Ground Station in Tenerife, Spain, where it will form part of the CaNaPy adaptive optics system, helping to correct for the blurring effect brought about by turbulence in the Earth’s atmosphere.

This photo, taken in 2018, shows the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope building set against the backdrop of the Milky Way and a meteor (or shooting star) streaking across the sky. The McMath-Pierce facility is now embarking on a new mission to become the home of the NOIRLab Windows on the Universe Center for Astronomy Outreach, expected to open by early 2023.