Free Astronomy Magazine July-August 2023

21 JULY-AUGUST 2023 ASTRO PUBLISHING V enus is shining brightly over ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. The picture was taken just be- fore dawn, towards the East, and also features the diffuse zodiacal light –– sunlight scattered by dust particles in the Solar System. The three domes to the left of the road are the BlackGEM telescopes. [ESO] In addition to its search for the opti- cal counterparts to gravitational waves, BlackGEM will also perform surveys of the southern sky. Its operations are fully automated, meaning the array can quickly find and observe ‘transient’ astronomical events, which appear suddenly and quickly fade out of view. This will give astronomers deeper insight into ! explosions that mark the end of a massive star’s life. “Thanks to Black- GEM, La Silla now has the potential to become a major contributor to tran- sient research,” says Ivo Saviane, site manager at ESO’s La Silla Observa- tory. “We expect to see many outstand- ing results con- tributed by this project, which will expand the reach of the site for both the scientific com- munity and the public at large.” T his montage of drone and stationary footage shows the three telescopes of the BlackGEM array at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. This site lies at an altitude of 2400 meters in the Atacama Desert and gives as- tronomers pristine observing conditions. [ESO] short-lived astronomical phenom- ena such as supernovae, the huge