The astronomer is going to join the ESO advisory board and he is to ensure liaison between the astronomers in Portugal and the ESO regarding the evaluation by the Portuguese users of ESO’s infrastructures and to assist ESO by reporting their operational plans to the Portuguese community.
The La Silla observatory is located about 600 kilometres north of Santiago de Chile, at an altitude of 2,400 metres on the edge of the Atacama Desert, where two other well-known observatories, Paranal and ALMA (Atacama Large Millimetre Array)are also located.
Nuno Peixinho said that the appointment represents a big responsibility since the Portuguese astronomer community heavily depends on ESO’s Chile observatories.
ESO is an intergovernmental organisation of science and technology for the design and operation of leading terrestrial astronomical observatories through international cooperation.