The last 7-metre antenna forming the Atacama Compact Array (ACA) has been delivered to the ALMA high site. The ACA is a subset of 16 closely separated antennas, four 12-metre and twelve 7-metre antennas, produced in and delivered by Japan. The ACA is crucial for filling in the short spacings in the uv-plane coverage of ALMA and for total power measurements. The ACA has been named the Morita Array after Professor Koh-ichiro Morita, who died in 2012 and was closely associated with the development of ALMA. Read more.

A new email address for all questions related to the ESO use of the APEX telescope has been set up: apex-help@eso.org. All questions regarding APEX Phases 1 and 2 and the content of data deliveries should be directed to this new address. Technical questions regarding the downloading of APEX data from the ESO archive should be directed to archive@eso.org.

A revised version of the Phase 3 policies has been published, and this now includes specific information on VST, spectroscopic surveys and catalogue information, and VISTA public survey policies. The list of frequently asked questions has also been updated.

The research studentship programme provides an outstanding opportunity for Ph.D. students to experience the exciting scientific environment, at one of the world's leading observatories, for a period of up to two years.

ESO's studentship positions are open to students enrolled in a university Ph.D. programme in astronomy or related fields. Students accepted into the programme work on their doctoral project under the formal supervision of their home university but, for a period of between one and two years, they come to ESO to work and study under the co-supervision of an ESO staff astronomer.

The European Astronomical Society has awarded the 2013 Tycho Brahe Prize to Massimo Tarenghi, in recognition of his central role in the development of ESO facilities, most notably the NTT, VLT and ALMA. More details.

A succinct description of the ESO end-to-end science operations process, Operating the Very Large Telescope, has recently been released. The six-page PDF summarises observing time allocation, observations, data taking and archiving. More details.

Representatives of the United Kingdom and Denmark have confirmed that their countries will participate in the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) programme. Twelve ESO Member States have now joined the E-ELT programme.

Construction of the E-ELT is expected to start later in 2013, with first light to come early in the next decade.

MIDI has recently been commissioned with the PRIMA Fringe Sensor Unit FSU-A as an external fringe tracker, enabling improved sensitivities. This mode has been offered from Period 91 for use with the Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs) in Visitor Mode. PRIMA+FSU-A enables increased visibilities, for feeble disc emission from young stars for example, with factors 5òÀÓ10 times in sensitivity improvement (down to 50 mJy limit) over classical MIDI stand-alone operation modes.

The application deadline for Period 92 (October 2013òÀÓMarch 2014) closed on 27 March and a total of 892 proposals were received. There were 869 proposals for Normal Programmes, 21 for Large Programmes and two for Calibration Programmes. Of the proposals for Large Programmes, nine were for Paranal, eight were for La Silla telescopes and five were for APEX.

The KMOS near-infrared multi-object integral field spectrometer underwent commissioning runs in November/December 2012 and in January and March 2013. It is being prepared for service and visitor mode observations in Period 92 (October 2013òÀÓMarch 2014). A brief description of first light and commissioning can be found here, and some of the commissioning raw data can be accessed, although no reduction pipeline is yet available.