Numerous astronomical results have been obtained thanks to AMBER, the instrument which equips the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) at the European Southern Observatory (ESO). AMBER (Astronomical Multi-BEam Recombiner) makes it possible to combine the beams of three of the four 8-metre VLT telescopes.

Just days before nations around the world were set to begin a coordinated global research campaign called the International Polar Year (IPY); scientists at the South Pole aimed a massive new telescope at Jupiter and successfully collected the instrument's first test observations.

The ESO Very Large Telescope Interferometer, which allows astronomers to scrutinise objects with a precision equivalent to that of a 130-m telescope, is proving itself an unequalled success every day. One of the latest instruments installed, AMBER, has led to a flurry of scientific results, an anthology of which is being published this week as special features in the research journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

The AMBER instrument installed at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) combines the light from three 8.2 meter telescopes, making the VLT the world's largest optical telescope, with a total mirror surface larger than 150 m2 and a maximum telescope separation greater than 130 m. Two years after installation, the first astrophysical results are blossoming. They are being published this week as a special feature in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

NARVAL, a stellar spectropolarimeter, has recently been installed on the 2 meter diameter Bernard Lyot Telescope (INSU-CNRS) at the summit of the Pic du Midi in the French Pyrenees.

The world's biggest infrared camera for Europe's newest telescope left the UK on 17th January 2007 for its flight to Santiago in Chile.

Comet McNaught, the Great Comet of 2007, is no more visible for observers in the Northern Hemisphere. It does put an impressive show in the South, however, and observers in Chile, in particular at the Paranal Observatory, were able to capture amazing images, including a display reminiscent of an aurora!

IBM today announced the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is using IBM software to develop the software and systems that will operate the James Webb Space Telescope.

Scientific goals and design of Hubble's successor now available online via SpringerLink

Large telescopes team up to help astronomers discover a trio of quasars

Scientists have discovered what appears to be a new kind of cosmic explosion - a "hybrid gamma-ray burst" - which will be the subject of four articles to be published in the journal Nature on 21 December 2006.