ESO astronomer Joe Liske (a.k.a. Dr J, star of the Hubblecast and ESOcast video podcasts) will be visiting the Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto (CAUP) in Portugal, on the 15th of October, to give a talk "Reaching for the stars: the European Extremely Large Telescope". Joining Dr J at the end of the talk, for a Q&A session, will be Carlos Martins (CAUP, E-ELT Project Science Team), Jason Spyromilio (ESO, E-ELT Programme Scientist) and Suzanne Ramsay (ESO, E-ELT Instrument Scientist).

The talk will also be webcast live via streaming at www.astro.up.pt/e_elt, so those unable to attend can still catch up on the latest news from the project. There will be facilities for live web chat on the website which will allow audience members at home to participate in the Q&A.

Reaching for the stars: the European Extremely Large Telescope
404 years after Galileo Galilei first pointed a telescope at the night sky European astronomers are set to build the largest optical telescope ever in the Chilean Atacama desert: with a diameter of nearly 40 meters the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) is one of the most ambitious science projects on (and off) the planet - our biggest "eye on the sky".

ESO astronomer Joe Liske (a.k.a. Dr J, star of the Hubblecast and ESOcast video podcasts) will provide a preview of the largest optical telescope ever, and will discuss the science and technology of this megaproject. Does life exist beyond planet Earth? What did the first galaxies look like? And what exactly is this mysterious "Dark Energy" that's been in the news so much lately? These are the fascinating questions Dr J will address.

Joining Dr. J at the end of the talk, for a Q&A session, will be Carlos Martins (CAUP, E-ELT Project Science Team), Jason Spyromilio (ESO, E-ELT Programme Scientist) and Suzanne Ramsay (ESO, E-ELT Instrument Scientist).

The talk will also be webcast live, so those unable to attend can still catch up on the latest news from the project. There will be facilities for live web chat on the web site which will allow audience members at home to participate in the Q&A.

Programme:

21:15 Public Lecture "Reaching for the stars: the European Extremely Large Telescope" - Joe Liske (Dr J), ESO

22:15 Q&A session with Carlos Martins (CAUP, E-ELT Project Science Team), Jason Spyromilio (ESO, E-ELT Programme Scientist) and Suzanne Ramsay (ESO, E-ELT Instrument Scientist)

22:30 Telescope observation (weather permitting).

For more information contact Ricardo Reis.

CAUP thanks FCCN for the streaming servers and TVU for the recording equipment.