This is a quick update from your Users Committee (UC) representative. My role is to represent Australian ESO users and act as the capillary link between ESO and the Australian community.

First, congratulations to all those who have been awarded ESO time for P103 and have completed their Phase 2s last week. Now let’s hope for lots of good quality photons!

The ESO Users Committee had its mid-term telecon last December with ESO to receive an update on the progress to date of the UC42 recommendations.  Some details and documents from the UC42 are now publicly accessible, including the recommendations.
 
ESO has been making progress on most fronts and the UC is following up on various recommendations that still need addressing. We will have a full update at the end of April during the next UC meeting.
 
In preparation for UC43, I will send around the annual ESO Users Poll in the coming weeks. Please keep an eye on it and be sure to fill it out promptly. It is the best source of feedback from the community that ESO and myself get. That said, I welcome email feedback from our community at any time.
 
If you experience technical issues using ESO data/facilities, the best place to get help is through the ESO User Support Department.

Many thanks to those who agreed to be nominated for the Observing Programmes Committee (ESO's TAC). ESO has now issued a new call for nominations (for P105); in particular they pointed out that they have an almost total absence of candidates (particularly female) under the D (stellar evolution) and C (interstellar medium, star formation, and planetary systems) scientific categories. If you know someone who would be able to serve on the OPC (ESO suggests those in their 2nd postdoc of beyond), please contact me directly. ESO has updated their nomination system and I now need to include the OPC subcategories in the nomination. In addition, I may also include the nominee’s experience on ESO telescopes and the year of their PhD. As usual, if you have been nominated in the past, but haven’t been contacted by ESO yet, your name will stay in the system for a total of 4 periods (2 years). 

A reminder too that the Large Programme call for proposals is moving to a yearly basis starting with P104. The call should come out early next month with a deadline around the end of March. I note that the frequency of the call for proposals for normal programs or Director’s Discretionary Time proposals remain unchanged.

Finally, if you haven’t already done so, don’t forget to sign up for the ESO science newsletter.

Clear skies!

Between June 17 and 21 this year, an exciting, rare and strategic meeting will take place in Garching on The VLT in 2030. The existing complement of VLT/I instrumentation was largely defined a decade or more ago, with no new instruments approved in the past 5 years. The long term future of the observatory is uncertain, with a range of possible changes to instrumentation and operations.

These could include:

• More emphasis on surveys and large programs once the ELT is constructed.
• A smaller complement of instruments, leaving room for visitor instruments.
• Instrument upgrades instead of new instruments, in order to not lose the capability of existing (ageing) instruments.
• Adding laser guide stars to all telescopes, enabling interferometry of much fainter stars on the UTs.
• Significantly modifying a UT so that the UTs can no longer be used for interferometry.
• Discussion of a conventional major new UT instrument, such as Blue-MUSE.
• High contrast interferometry with the VLTI, bringing extreme AO to finer spatial scales.

This meeting is likely to be the only opportunity for broad community input into the future of VLT/I during the current term of Australia’s strategic partnership with ESO. In order to summarise the current situation, here is some key background information:
 
Scientific Context
A significant part of this conference will be devoted to defining the scientific context of Paranal. Although split into scientific areas, this will be in the context of answerable questions with other facilities. Time domain astronomy is expected to substantially grow with LSST,  the rich data sets from space survey instruments (e.g. Gaia, WFIRST, PLATO) will significantly change the focus of many observational astronomers, and the premier follow-up instruments are likely to be the ELT and JWST.
 
Known Instrument Changes
 The following known changes to Paranal will occur well before the era being discussed at this meeting.

• Once MOONS and 4MOST are in operation, FLAMES will likely be decommissioned.
• SINFONI and NACO are to be replaced with ERIS.
• If MAVIS is approved and moves to the construction phase, it will replace HAWK-I.
  

 
Ageing Instrumentation
Towards the end of the next decade, instruments more than 15 years old are not expected to keep operating without upgrades. This includes FORS2 (already part of upgrade plans now), UVES, KMOS and X-SHOOTER, plus PIONIER on the VLTI.
 
Obsolete Instrumentation
In the ERA of JWST and ELT, some Paranal instrumentation will arguably become obsolete for many science cases. This will include: 

• KMOS, largely superseded with JWST-NIRSpec and ELT-HARMONI IFU and multi-object spectroscopy due to the greatly improved sensitivity.
• VISIR, largely superseded with JWST-MIRI.
• SPHERE’s infrared imaging science will largely be superseded by JWST imaging. Without a major upgrade and rebuild (replacing the Shack-Hartmann sensor), it will no longer be competitive.

Under the assumption that these instruments are decommissioned without additional funds, this would leave 4 empty instrument slots on the UTs.
 
New Instruments
In the current Paranal Instrumentation Plan, there are 2-4 new instruments or significant upgrades (in addition to MAVIS) to be delivered before 2030, with an anticipated timescale of 8 years for a new instrument between a call for Phase A studies and Preliminary Acceptance Chile.  In the existing Paranal Instrumentation Plan, a Cassegrain UV spectrograph, a UVES upgrade and a SPHERE upgrade all have some clear justification. This would leave room for only ~1 new instrument in the Paranal budget (on VLT or VLTI), plus 2 visitor instrument slots each on the VLT and VLTI. Are Australian astronomers content with this status quo? Leave us your comments below.

I was recently fortunate enough to visit the ESO Paranal observatory for two nights of observing with the XShooter spectrograph. As a member of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) I'm an avid consumer of observational data but, at least until recently, less of a producer, making the two nights in visitor mode at the VLT a first for my PhD. We were awarded the two nights for follow-up of galaxy-galaxy strong lenses we discovered in DES using machine learning, hoping to get redshifts for both lens and source and enable some interesting follow-up science. In September, thanks to Astro3D, the ASA and Swinburne,  I travelled to Paranal as CoI with my supervisor, Prof. Karl Glazebrook.

The experience was a real adventure from start to finish, but only in the good sense of the word. From the time I was greeted by the Chilean border agent - who responded to the word "Paranal" with the proud exclamation, "The most advanced telescope in the world!" - until I was delivered safe and sound to the airport for my trip home, the experience was smooth. ESO take very good care of visiting astronomers. There was no logistics to manage, since all transport inside Chile is organised by ESO's helpful staff, and all accommodation is at ESO facilities. I spent a week in Chile and never had a need to handle the local currency.

The Mountain
The logistics, and potential gotchas, of the trip to Paranal have been well covered elsewhere on this blog (which I strongly encourage anyone travelling to read), but I will add some of my impressions. Firstly as a tourist to the Atacama desert: The landscape was spectacular in many ways. I have never seen such a treeless country, with the Australian red centre seeming positively tropical in comparison. For some hours on the bus to the observatory, I don't believe I spied a single tree. The only ones visible from the mountain are a sorry handful imported and set up at the entrance to the Residencia, where they no doubt cling to life only with the constant care of ESO staff. The dryness is certainly palpable, in the eyes, skin and nose, and on the glasses which steam up when one enters the building housing the pool. An indicator on the wall read 2.7% humidity, which would be low even by the standards of the area. It's for good reason that the Wikipedia entry on the Atacama has a section "Comparison to Mars"!

What lives up there? Apart from some tiny bits of scrub there was little to be seen, but on one occasion I did see a soaring vulture. It must eat something, so I enquired about potential prey. Nobody was quite sure but there have been sightings of foxes around the telescope at night, so it just goes to show that even in the world's driest desert, life finds a way.

The view from the mountain leaves a strong impression. The unique landscape, an ocean of cloud below in the distance, and the view over to Cerro Armazones where the groundwork is being laid for the E-ELT all make for some thought-provoking viewing. I regret not making time for the "star walk" from the Residencia up to the telescope. It would be good exercise as well as a chance to explore the landscape and, if you like, some true solitude.

The Observing
As a prelude to gathering our data, we were fortunate enough to be treated to a tour of the VLT. There are also opportunities to tag along at the beginning and end of the night when the checks are made inside the dome; I made sure to stick my nose in there whenever the opportunity presented itself. There's no substitute for seeing the telescope up close; the scale is hard to appreciate from a picture. We were able to walk around inside the dome, and while there I was able to see both XShooter and MUSE on their respective Unit Telescopes. Seeing each UT the weight of a jumbo jet yet so finely balanced it could be moved with the push of a human hand and steered with the precision required for cutting-edge astronomy, inspired thoughts of gratitude. Thank you to the people of the world who funded instruments like this, so we handful of astronomers could gather data from a patch of sky a few arc seconds across!

Along with other visitoring astronomers I commend the suggestion of going outside during observations for the spectacular night view. The four LGS lasers on UT4 are clearly visible and make for an awe-inspiring sight. While I was there one of the targets was Io, so the four laser beams appeared to converge right on Jupiter in the sky. Several jokes were made about how the Jovians might interpret such a signal from their notoriously warlike Terran neighbours.

I understand that visitor mode may become less common at the VLT, and I don't imagine it will be a common experience for the next generation of astronomers gathering data on thirty-meter class telescopes. In our case it was still a valuable exercise. It is true that the ESO staff, including some very helpful support astronomers, leave little room for error by a visiting astronomer. The ESO phase 2 tool is very good, and we were able to quite easily generate scripts to generate observing block files and import them into the tool where we, and the ESO astronomers, could see our targets were VLT-ready. Making on the fly changes was not difficult, and sending a target over to the queue for observation was a click of a button. On the night we were able to tell in almost real time that we could get clear redshifts for our targets and so reduce integration times. Our observing strategies on the night changed significantly; in some cases we switched between two prepared plans of a single slit across lens and source versus two slit positions. In the end we were able to observe more targets than originally expected due to the quality of the data and the ease of adjusting our plans. Future observations have now been finely calibrated and we can submit service mode proposals with greater confidence that the integration times will be adequate.

Visitor mode, of course, also has its risks. We lost a few hours on the first night due to cloud. The second night, a crash of the Telescope Control System required a bit of a scramble and the rousing of a few engineers, but without a clear indication from the logs of the cause of the issue, a restart was attempted. From then on we had no problems, with the loss of only an hour.

Tips
In addition to the other tips and tidbits I've seen, I'd add:

• The ESO bus at Antofagasta airport is slightly out of view of the terminal, but asking anyone for ESO will get you a point in right direction.
• ESO invoiced us for the costs of my travel in Chile two months after the trip.
• It may be the driest place on earth but don't forget to bring swimming gear as it's a great way to relax and absorb some moisture - see below.
• Try and learn enough Spanish to order your eggs just the way you like it at the cafeteria in the mornings (also known as after-work dinner for observers)
  

For 5 weeks in September-October 2018, I was at ESO Santiago hosted by the Visiting Scientist program.  For this "paper-writing retreat," I worked with Matias Jones, an ESO Fellow with whom I have collaborated for several years on the search for planets orbiting evolved stars.

The Visiting Scientist process was remarkably simple, with a one page application submitted whenever you please i.e., rolling admissions. You can specify any dates and duration for visits to either Garching or Santiago, and ESO will cover flights if you stay at least four weeks. ESO organises all travel and local accommodation; I stayed in the Providencia area which is extremely convenient for transport, shops, restaurants, etc. I speak Spanish, so it was easy to adjust to living like a local: I had my usual coffee shop and joined a nearby gym. You can take the bus to ESO Vitacura (the Beverly Hills of Chile), but I found that it takes the same time to just walk, and is far more salubrious than the near electron degeneracy-level of density found on the bus (if it turns up at all).
 
The scientific environment at ESO is of course very rich, with near-daily TMTs ("thirty minute talks") and weekly colloquia. Free and good coffee is abundant, and in the spring, pleasant lunchtimes are had on the porch. This being the longest and most flexible of my five visits to Chile, I made a day trip to Cajon del Maipo, and a long weekend in Patagonia to finally see the Torres del Paine. Sadly, after a 20 km hike, the Torres were obscured by blowing snow – so I suggest visiting closer to summer for those interested in mountain adventures!

Dear fellow Australian astronomers,

This is an update from your Users Committee (UC) representative. My role is to represent Australian ESO users and act as the capillary link between ESO and the Australian community. 

The ESO Users Committee met in April (UC42) to receive an update from ESO on various issues and to discuss a new set of recommendations.

In particular, the Users Committee Report, which includes the Australian fact sheet I prepared based on your feedback, highlights the overall satisfaction of the ESO users community, but also some points for improvement. Most of the feedback has been received through the annual UC poll, which was circulated earlier this year. I would like to thank those who took the time to fill out the UC poll (34/146 Australian ESO PIs, Phase 2 delegates and archive users). This is a crucial aspect of communicating issues to your ESO UC representative and ESO itself.

Australian users showed a high level of satisfaction with their ESO experience so far. Our community made a few suggestions to improve the OPC feedback (ESO’s TAC), as well as some specific phase 2 preparation and data reduction issues. All comments have been forwarded to ESO, although ESO has noted that some comments were too vague to be addressed.  ESO reminds users that the ESO helpdesk is the best avenue to report and resolve specific issues. You can view the minutes of the Users Committee meeting , as well as the recommendations resulting from UC42. ESO usually provides a preliminary response to the recommendations in November via teleconference, while the final responses will be presented at the next UC meeting in April next year.

Many thanks to those who agreed to be nominated for the OPC. I was assured that the Australian list of nominations is well populated. Another call for nominations has now started in time for the next OPC meeting. If you know someone who would be able to serve on the OPC (ESO requests they be 2nd postdoc or beyond), please contact me directly. If you have been nominated, but haven’t been contacted by ESO yet, your name will stay in the system for a total of 4 periods (2 years). 

I would like to make you aware that the Large Programme Call for Proposals will move to a yearly basis starting with P104. I note that this does not affect the frequency of the Call for Proposals for normal programs or Director’s Discretionary Time proposals. For more, see the full Time Allocation Working Group report.

The ESO Fellowship (deadline 15 Oct 2018) & ESO Studentship (deadline 15 Nov 2018) applications are currently open. The ESO Fellowships were featured in the latest ESO Blog. As a previous ESO Fellow, I can recommend these fellowships. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to know more about what it is like to be an ESO Fellow or about the application process.

Finally, don’t forget to sign up for the ESO science newsletter.
 
Clear skies!
 
Caroline Foster
ESO UC representative for Australia

I am a member of the Observing Programmes Committee (OPC) Panel A for Periods 102 and 103. My experience as an ESO user centers around my time spent working on a five year guaranteed time KMOS survey. During this time I observed at Paranal 3 times for a total of 11.5 nights and have been involved in follow-up proposals with MUSE, X-Shooter, and SINFONI. I have had successful PI proposals focused on galaxy evolution with KMOS, FLAMES, and X-shooter.

A summary of the ESO OPC process
The ESO time allocation committee is called the Observing Programmes Committee or the OPC for short. It consists of 4 science categories: A) Cosmology and Intergalactic Medium; B) Galaxies; C) ISM, star formation and planetary systems; and D) Stellar evolution. When you submit a proposal you will specify which science category you are applying in. Each category has 2-4 panels consisting of 6 people each. Of the 6 people, one is the panel chair. While the panels are designed to provide an expert opinion on your science, the overarching categories are broad so proposals should still be written for a general astronomical audience. For example, the A scientific category encompasses studies focused on dark matter, gravitational lensing, Lyman alpha clouds, redshift surveys, and reionisation, among other topics. A good test is to have a PhD student read your proposal and identify any aspects of the science rationale that they don't understand.
 
Before the OPC panels meet, panel members are given between 40-100 proposals to read. Each proposal will be read by 3-6 panel members with one panel member being assigned as a primary reader responsible for leading discussions at the meeting and aggregating the feedback of other panel members to send back to the proposer. The panel members are required to read, grade, and provide comments for each proposal. ESO normalises each panel member's grades to account for differences between grade distributions. An initial average grade is then given to each proposal and the proposals are ranked in order. The cumulative requested time per telescope is calculated, and a triage line is drawn when this exceeds 70% of the total requested time on that telescope.
 
At the 2 day OPC panel meetings in Munich we discuss each non-triaged proposal and confidentially re-grade the proposal. Immediately after the meeting the primary readers provide ESO with feedback on each proposal to be sent to the PI. At this stage we do not know what proposals will be allocated time as we do not see the final ranking of proposals across all science categories. We also do not see the results of feasibility and scheduling constraints. The comments are based purely on how we graded the science of our subset of proposals. 
 
ESO then makes a final ranking from combining the grades from all the panels. Feasibility and scheduling is checked to calculate which proposals will likely be able to be completed within the Period. Finally the proposers are notified and sent comments on their proposals.
 
A "To Do" list for ESO proposals

Do ask a colleague to read your proposal! All feedback is helpful.

Do be clear. Outline your idea, what you are asking for, why you are asking for it, and what will result from these observations. Although space is limited, be repetitive! When reading many proposals it is helpful to not have to spend time thinking "what instrument are they proposing for again?"
 
Do use structure to organise your ideas and improve readability. This includes using LaTeX tricks (e.g. \smallskip) to add space between paragraphs, using bold, italic, or underlining to highlight one or two key statements, or to create additional section headings (e.g. "Sample and feasibility").
 
Do avoid vague statements. Reread your proposal to check you haven't used the word "properties" too many times. For example, instead of saying "with this data we will measure the physical properties of Lyman alpha emitters" say "with this data we will measure the metallicity, size, and rotational velocity of Lyman alpha emitters." Other vague statements to avoid include "can be studied", "to understand better", "provides information".
 
Do make informative figures. If your figure is an image include a compass, scale bar, and field-of-view of the instrument you are proposing for. If you have difficulties formatting your figures, put them all together in Powerpoint or Keynote with captions and export it as a pdf that can then be imported into LaTeX.
 
Do use all the boxes provided, especially:

• Box 5, "Special remarks": This curious box can be used for anything! Some good examples are mentioning if this is a resubmission of a previous proposal, or providing additional information on schedulability, e.g. full nights vs. half nights, or why you haven't included target positions.
• Box 8a, "Telescope Justification": Use this box to reassure the argumentative astronomer that this is the right telescope/instrument for your science. For example if you are observing a cluster of galaxies to determine redshifts justify why you need MUSE vs. FLAMES.
• Boxes 9 and 10, "Use of ESO facilities during the last 2 years" & "Publications related to the subject during the last 2 years": These apply to both the PI and Co-Is. If you have relevant experience from 3 or even 4 years ago it is worth including. If you think it may be relevant then include it!
  
• Boxes 9a and 9b, "ESO Archive" & "GTO/Survey duplications": It will only take a few minutes to check these and it is a sign of respect to do so.
  
• Box 11, "List of targets": You can use this section to justify your targets, especially if you ran out of space in the main text of the proposal. You can even include a table with additional relevant information if needed. But at the very least include your targets and provide specific details on how you have filled in the 'ToT', 'Diam', and 'Mag' columns. For instance does the time on target include overheads? What band is the diameter measured from? Is it in arcsec or arcmin? What band is the magnitude measured in? Is it in AB or Vega mag?
• Boxes 12 and 13, "Scheduling requirements" & "Instrument configuration": Unlike with Keck, a successful ESO proposal is binding. You are not readily allowed to change targets, observing time, or instrument set-up. To do so you will need to apply to ESO with good reason well in advance of your observations. This is to avoid duplications and ensure that the telescopes are being used to complete the programs that were peer reviewed and accepted. So do plan ahead and check your targets and feasibility before you submit a proposal.

 
Do ask for help! This month there are ESO staff who are dedicating their time to answering users' questions. You should expect a response within 2 days. But check the Call for Proposals first. It has a lot of valuable information!
 
Final advice
Don't be too discouraged if you don't get time for your proposals. ESO time is highly competitive with some instruments having oversubscription rates comparable to HST. The best action is to try again! I have had the same proposal ranked A, B, and C (top, middle, and bottom rank) in three different Periods. And remember the peer-review process is imperfect but it is currently what we have. The head of the ESO Observing Programmes Office has even written a paper on the topic!

Where it all began
When Australia became a strategic partner of the European Southern Observatory my PhD supervisor encouraged our group to actively think about proposal ideas. New telescopes and new instruments implied opportunities for new science. Within my team we came up with a few proposals, ranging from observing galaxy kinematics to investigating odd objects. The thought of submitting a proposal to ESO was quite intimidating as a student, not to mention that we decided to ambitiously ask for about 50 hours in grey/dark time on the VLT. Thanks to team effort, we were granted all the time requested in visitor mode, albeit broken into two runs - 3 nights in June, and 3 nights in August 2018.

How I got the golden ticket
ESO policy states "As a rule only one observer per observing run is accepted in Paranal and La Silla. Requests for additional observer(s) must include a scientific justification for the presence of multiple observers and the names of the proposed observers". As a Co-I, there was a chance for me to make my case to be a second observer. I wrote to VAtravel (vatravel@eso.org), which is the office that takes care of the logistics. I explained to VAtravel that I am aware that I'm not supported by default; however, given that the science is crucial to my PhD thesis, I requested that they provide me with any kind of support for at least one of the runs. I was not sure whether I was asking too much, but I also knew I did not have anything to lose, because the observation would still be carried out by the PI. Within a few days I received an email from VAtravel that ESO had approved my request to be the second observer for both runs, and that they would cover my accommodation. It remained for me to cover the transportation myself.
 
With the promise of free accomodation, I submitted a travel support request to ASTRO3D. Two observing trips to Chile from Australia were not going to be cheap. However, I made the case that I was able to obtain free accommodation, and simply needed ASTRO3D to cover my transport, for at least one run. ASTRO3D was very generous, and granted approval for both trips. Due to other commitments on my part, I had to skip the first run, and book the trip for the August run. But still, Chile, here I come!
 
Arranging the transport
Arranging the transport to Chile was actually pretty simple. First, TWO MONTHS before the run, we had to submit a travel form on the ESO website, providing our passport numbers, etc. I did it a little bit late, but VAtravel gracefully accepted my form. From there ESO will book essentially everything for you if you are the lead observer, from door to door. For me, I had to book the international flight from Canberra to Santiago first, input that flight information in the travel form, and have VAtravel take over from there, booking the taxi, ESO guest house accommodation, domestic flight to Antofagasta, and the bus trip to Paranal observatory. During the process VAtravel prepared a very detailed email with instructions of all the procedures.
 
The promised land
The ESO hotel, aka La Residencia at Paranal Observatory, is like no other. It's underground, with desert on the outside, and a tropical forest on the inside. The food at the hotel is also pretty amazing. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served in a buffet-style food court. Everything has both Spanish and English descriptions, and samples in the front. You can either learn the names of the dishes in Spanish, or just use English, as the workers there know some basic English. We stayed at the hotel during the day, and our support astronomer met us there during/after dinner, and drove us up to the telescopes.
 
Being a tourist at Paranal
The telescopes are situated up the 'hill' from the hotel, and there is a 'star-track' going from the back of the hotel to the top. I attempted this walk with my co-observer. In total we ascended 500m or so, but it was stretched over a very long distance, and it took us about 1.5 hours. I foolishly decided to carry 3+ kg of camera gear instead of water. It is not a treacherous hike, but it is rather deceptive, because the desert gave no reference for distance scale, and our choices were only eventual summiting or giving up.
 
Typically, visiting astronomers arrive one day before their run to acclimate. During this first day one can request a telescope tour to visit the summit during afternoon/sunset. It is during this tour that one can walk amongst the great engineering marvels, into the dome(s), and see the legendary instruments in person. As a long term user of IFU data, seeing MUSE was both exciting and terrifying -- hats off to whoever had to do cable management there. While the VLTs are 8 m class telescopes, being on an ALT-AZ mount, the dome was very compact in comparison to the AAT, which is on an equatorial mount, so the internal space of the VLT (UT4) dome felt pretty cosy. On the telescope platform one can look west, see the sunset between the clouds over the South Pacific Ocean, and look east, and see the flat top of Cerro Armazones, where the E-ELT is being built.
 
Being an astronomer at Paranal
The instrument we used was FLAMES, with the Argus Integral Field Unit on UT2. We proposed to observe a few dozen dwarf galaxies. Constructing the observing list for UT2 was pretty straightforward, performed within one's own ESO portal account, where one can construct observing blocks using their web API. The only decision needed to be made by us was the scheduling of targets. WARNING, if all your targets are in the north, prepare some back-up targets in the south. This is because high wind speeds can limit VLT pointing directions, since the wind at the summit typically comes from the northern direction. The staff at the observatory made everything very simple for visiting astronomers. Our instrument was tested and some calibration frames were taken for us during day time, and at night time we were able to go straight to our science targets.
 
Most importantly, do make sure to go outside during the night, and have a look at the Milky Way. You might also catch UT4 shooting lasers up into the sky, and they are very visible to the naked eye.

A few things one might want to bring:

• Chocolates to share; it is well known they have the power to guarantee a clear night. Better chocolate means a clearer night!
  
• Warm clothes -- it's cold and windy outside at the summit. 
  
• Sunscreen and sunglasses, it's pretty sunny there. 
  
• Moisturiser, since it is one of the driest places on Earth. 
  
• Good headphones; there are a lot of alarm sounds throughout the night claiming 'there is no cause for alarm', followed by 'but there probably will be'. 
  
• Make sure there is at least USD$117 on your bank card, as Australian citizens entering Chile get charged a reciprocity fee on arrival in Santiago airport, and you must pay this before proceeding to Immigration.
  
• A pair of binoculars, you might be able to see the Andromeda galaxy. 
  
• Gym clothes/shoes, there is a gymnasium, with basketball court, indoor soccer goals, mini bouldering wall, and squash court.

In July 2018 I traveled to Cerro Paranal in Chile for half a night in Visitor Mode (VM) with X-Shooter on UT2 of the Very Large Telescope. Usually ESO does not permit VM runs of less than 1 night due to the overheads involved, and we were originally allocated the time in Designated Visitor Mode (dVM). However we were able to make the case for why an observer needed to be present on-site for these observations, so if you feel you have a case then you should contact the Observing Programmes Office. Here are a few more things I learned that you may find helpful when going to Chile to observe:

• You have the option of having ESO book all your travel for you, or you can purchase your own international flights and have ESO reimburse you (from Sydney ESO will reimburse up to 1580 Euros). If going straight to/from Paranal or La Silla through Santiago it would be best to have ESO book the international and domestic flights all on the one booking in case of a delay.
  
• ESO's policy is to pay the costs for only one observer per run at Paranal. Students accompanying their supervisor to La Silla may also have their costs met. I am aware of at least one student accompanying their supervisor to Paranal where ESO agreed to cover the cost of the student's accommodation in the Guesthouse and on Paranal, so it may be worth asking.
• It used to be that a driver carrying an ESO sign would meet you on arrival and take you to the ESO Guesthouse without you having to pay anything. However taxi touts have begun praying on jet-lagged astronomers by holding up fake ESO signs, taking them to the Guesthouse, then demanding payment far above the usual fare. You should make your way to the TransVIP counter next to Door 4 on the arrivals level (regardless of whether you arrive on an international or domestic flight), collect the receipt for your pre-paid ESO booking, proceed out Door 4 to the first road, and look for the TransVIP sedans to the right (usually dark-blue Hyundais with a "TransVIP" stencil on the quarter light) or a TransVIP rep wearing a blue and yellow jacket.
• The ESO Guesthouse in Las Condes is a peaceful haven in the hustle and bustle of Santiago. Some may prefer a hotel downtown closer to the action and restaurants, but then you'll miss out on the Pisco Sour aperitifs, and the chance to strike up conversation (and perhaps launch a new collaboration?) over dinner with colleagues passing through Santiago on their way to/from the observatories or ESO headquarters in Vitacura.
• ESO encourages all visitors to give a talk at ESO headquarters, which is a 10 minute taxi ride or 50 minute walk from the Guesthouse. Keep in mind though that due to the large number of visitors and talks each week, you will probably end up giving a TMT (Thirty Minute Talk). ESO will pay for an additional night in the Guesthouse for all speakers.
• Travel to Paranal usually involves an early (~6am) pickup from the Guesthouse, a 2 hour flight to Antofagasta, then a 2.5-3 hour bus trip to the observatory arriving ~1:30pm. A continental breakfast is available before you go, and lunch is served until 2:30pm, but you may wish to pack or purchase snacks for the journey. The return trip is similarly long, with a ~4:20pm departure from Paranal, arrival back in to Santiago at 10pm, and (depending on the wait for TransVIP - avoid Thursdays when all the mine workers are ending their shifts) arrival at the Guesthouse after 11pm. There will however be a sandwich and glass of wine ready for you!
• A walk on the "Star Track" from the Residencia to the telescopes, especially around sunset, can be rewarding. But beware, it's further and steeper than it looks! Before venturing out at any time always take water and a torch with you, and let someone know where you're going.
• The ESO-branded crockery is another quaint tradition, but please don't try to take some home as a souvenir! ESO carries out random screening of bags on departure, and we don't want to put Australia's long-term goal of full ESO membership at risk. Due to tax issues ESO no longer sells souvenirs at the observatories, but you can buy merchandise on-line at the ESO Shop. If you ask at the reception nicely they may give you a free ESO travel mug.
• Surprisingly for such a well-appointed building, the rooms in the Residencia are not particularly light-tight, so you may want to hang on to those eye-shades from the flight over.
• Staff seem to trust the weather forecasts for Paranal available from Meteoblue. Supposedly the chances of good weather and seeing correlate with the amount of chocolate brought by the observer to share with others in the control room...
• By the end of the night you will be sick to death (or have learned to tune out) the "There is no cause for alarm" voice emanating from each telescope console whenever a UT starts slewing to a new position, followed by "but there probably will be" when it arrives. In case you were wondering these come from the animated children's TV series Pinky and the Brain.
• To provide some relief from the barren surrounds, there is a small garden at the entrance to the Residencia with a few trees, including eucalypts. Watch out for the boulders though; they're fakes left behind after the filming of Quantum of Solace there in 2008.

If you'd like to share your own experiences, tips, and photos with others, please feel free to e-mail me and we'll post these as a guest blog on your behalf.

I’ve seen that the results from the ESO time allocations for P102 are now out. Congratulations to all who successfully secured time on the ESO facilities!

It was a pleasure to see so many members of our community last week at the ASA. During my update, I mentioned that the latest recommendations from the ESO Users Committee meeting (26-27 April 2018) were nearly ready but still confidential. Well, you can now stop holding your breath as they are finally public. You may also read the Users Committee 2018 report - this includes the factsheet for Australia.

I’d like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that as your representative on the Users Committee, you may contact me at any time with any comments, concerns or issues with your experience using ESO facilities (other than technical). I note that ESO has an extensive website and provides quality technical support through its helpdesk, so if you have any technical issues, these are the best forums to get a quick resolution.

Finally, the ESO Science Newsletter is just out:
http://www.eso.org/sci/publications/announcements.html 
Remember to sign up as this is the best way to stay up to date on important ESO announcements.

Clear skies! 

I’m Caroline Foster, the ESO Users Committee (UC) representative for Australia. This is a 3 year appointment (starting from the end of 2017) during which I will act as the capillary link between ESO and Australian users of ESO facilities.

For those who don’t know me just yet, I am an ASTRO3D Fellow at the University of Sydney working on the SAMI Galaxy Survey. Before that, I was the International Telescopes Support Office (ITSO) Research Fellow for 4 years and an ESO Fellow between 2011-2013 after completing my PhD from Swinburne University in 2007-2011. I have experience observing with many of the major optical facilities around the world (ESO VLT, AAT, Keck, Subaru, Gemini and Magellan). I have had the privilege to interact with a large cross-section of the Australian astronomer community during my role as an ITSO fellow and my PhD years, and have a very good understanding of the diversity of scientific interests and expertise within the community. If I haven’t had the opportunity to meet you yet, please feel free to introduce yourselves also.

You can find more information about the role of the ESO UC and other ESO governing bodies at the following website: http://www.eso.org/public/about-eso/committees.html. In short, the ESO UC acts as the link between ESO and its users. In other words, for the next 3 years, if you have any comments, feedback or questions about ESO, I am here to help and/or forward those concerns to ESO. My role is not to provide technical support, as ESO has very extensive and efficient user support channels for that already.

The ESO UC meets yearly around April at the ESO headquarters in Garching, Germany. Prior to the April meeting, I will circulate the ESO UC Poll. This is the best forum to send your comments and is the only representative way through which the UC can do its advisory role for ESO. The poll is organised by the community and for the community. Responses and other feedback sent to me throughout the year will be collated in a report to ESO, which will then be presented at the meeting in April. You will find more information about the upcoming ESO UC meetings as well as a link to last year’s minutes at the following URL: https://www.eso.org/public/about-eso/committees/uc/uc-42nd.html.

The ESO UC is also tasked with providing nominations for the ESO Observing Programmes Committee (OPC), which is responsible for telescope time allocation (more commonly known as a TAC here in Oz). A call for new OPC members will go out twice yearly, so stay tuned. The OPC is divided into “13 panels, each composed of 6 panel members. Each panel is chaired by an OPC member. Because of the different subscription rates of the four scientific categories (A: cosmology, B: galaxy structure and evolution, C: planets and star formation, D: stellar evolution), there are an unequal number of panels per category. Specifically, 3 panels in A, 2 in B, and 4 in C and D. This also implies that the amount of Panel members for each category is different (A: 18, B: 12, C: 24, D: 24). In total, 78 referees are needed in the OPC/Panel composition.” Furthermore, the “OPC Chair and the Panel members are required to serve for two semesters, while OPC members serve for four semesters” and “every semester there is a turnover of 25 to 35 OPC/Panel members”. More information on the OPC nomination procedure and requirements can be found here: http://auditore.cab.inta-csic.es/eso-uc/files/2015/07/OPC-Nomination-Guidelines.pdf

I note that theorists and “non-optical” astronomers are also welcome on the OPC.

Clear Skies!