Messenger No 108 - June 2002 - United Kingdom Becomes Tenth Member of ESO - Telescopes and Instrumentation

Oct 4, 2026

June 2002 issue No. 108 describes the ESO Council meeting in London as the United Kingdom became the tenth country to join the European Southern Observatory. It outlines the motivations behind the UK’s accession, negotiation timeline from 1999 to 2001, and contribution commitments including annual operational funding and in-kind support for major instruments. The issue then transitions to telescopes and instrumentation, presenting objectives and results for VLT second-generation instruments and the 2001 call for preliminary proposals.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages48

Reading Time2 h 1 min

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United Kingdom Becomes Tenth Member of ESO

ESO Council meeting and accession rationale

UK negotiation and accession terms

Telescopes and Instrumentation

Status of VLT Second Generation Instrumentation

The Call for Proposals

The Result

No. 108 – June 2002 United Kingdom Becomes Tenth Member of ESO CATHERINE CESARSKY, Director General of ESO On 8–9 July 2002 the ESO Council meets in London to mark the occasion of the United Kingdom becoming the tenth country to join the European Southern Observatory. Forty years ago, when ESO was created by the governments of Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands and Sweden, the United Kingdom opted not to become a member, but rather to centre its astronomical observations of the southern sky on anew telescope to be built in collaboration with Australia. The recent United Kingdom’s interest in joining ESO arose from ESO’s success in creating large optical telescopes, high-performance instrumentation and data handling methods, as well as the prospect of participating in key future projects such as the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) and the development of extremely large optical telescopes, where it was recognised that the scale of the projects were such that all European nations would be required to work together if these ambitious projects were to be realised in a timely fashion. The participation of such a highly developed astronomical community as the United Kingdom’s will strengthen ESO by its significant contribution of intellectual, technical, and financial resources. As part of its adherence to ESO, the United Kingdom will contribute more than 20 per cent of ESO’s annual operational budget, an amount based (as are the other countries’ contributions) on its gross domestic product. Given the mutual benefits of U. K. membership of ESO to both parties, it is not surprising that the negotiations over the details of U.K. entry were brief. In late 1999, I began informal meetings with Ian Halliday, Chief Executive of PPARC, the British institution responsible for funding astronomy, to discuss the U.K. joining ESO. At first, the U.K. expressed the desire to enter ESO progressively, by “ramping up” an initially small annual contribution to that called for by the ESO Convention, but it was soon recognised that this was unacceptable to ESO. Early in March 2000, when the British Parliament took up the question of the U.K.’s entry, Lord Tanlaw mentioned in a debate in the House of Lords the discoveries to be expected from astronomers using the VLT, and said,“Unfortunately, none of those astronomers will be British – that is, if this country fails to subscribe with our European partners in the setting-up costs of this incredible telescope. In effect, this will mean that astronomy will hardly be worth pursuing as a career in Britain in the new millennium.”An exploratory meeting between members of PPARC and U. K. astronomers with ESO Council members and executiveson May 24, 2000 led to an understanding that the U.K. would seek to join ESO as soon as possible, so that British astronomers could participate as fully and swiftly as possible in VLT, VLTI, ALMA, and future large telescope development projects. In addition, the special contribution to cover past investments by ESO would be provided partly in cash and partly in kind. By December 2000, John Taylor, the U.K.’s Director-General of Research Councils, sent me a letter formally requesting that the United Kingdom become a full member of ESO in mid-2002. A working group was then established to discuss possible in-kind contributions, and the detailed negotiations extended over most of the year 2001. On 15 November 2001, I received a letter from Lord Sainsbury of Turville, the U.K.’s Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for Science, confirming that “the United Kingdom wishes to accede to ESO membership on 1 July 2002, on the mutually agreed terms.” These terms include the normal annual subscription, the in-cash portion of the entrance fee, and the in-kind contribution (“which will include delivery of the VISTA [fourmetre] telescope, which will be [installed at Paranal and devoted to infrared surveys], ESO access to the Wide-Field Camera on the UK Infrared Telescope [o

FAQs

Why did the United Kingdom seek to join ESO in 2002?

The UK’s interest followed ESO’s success with large optical telescopes, instrumentation, and data-handling methods, plus opportunities in key future projects such as ALMA and extremely large optical telescopes that required European cooperation.

What was agreed about the UK’s contributions to ESO?

The UK would contribute over 20% of ESO’s annual operational budget, and it would also provide entrance-fee support partly in cash and partly in kind, including delivery and access arrangements for major instruments.

What scientific objectives were highlighted for future VLT/VLTI instrumentation?

Four objectives were emphasized: KMOS for near-infrared multi-object spectroscopy, a wide-field 3D optical spectrometer for early-universe exploration, a medium-resolution wide-band fast spectrometer for transient events, and a high-contrast adaptive-optics imager for nearby stellar environments.

Oct 4, 2026

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