The Messenger has a new digital home

After nearly half a century in publication, ESO’s journal of science and technology, The Messenger, is making a jump into the digital world by becoming an online-only publication. The move coincides with the publication of the new issue of the journal, its 190th. 

First launched in May 1974, The Messenger serves as a key link between ESO and its broad astronomical community, providing updates about scientific, technical and other developments from the organisation. Beyond the confines of the ESO community, the journal shares exciting astronomy news and updates on related technologies to a broader public, including policy-makers, journalists, teachers, and amateur astronomers, as well as to interested scientists from other fields.

As the scope and content of The Messenger has evolved over the years, so too has the way it reaches its readers. Digital issues were first introduced in the early 2000s and since then the complete archive has been uploaded to The Messenger database — all the way back to 1974. As a result, published articles in The Messenger are now more accessible, usable and traceable than ever before. 

Now, as reader habits have continued to shift online along with journal publication practices, and with sustainability an ever greater focus at ESO, the time is right for The Messenger to become an online-only publication. Readers will now be able to find both new and old issues of the historic journal at The Messenger webpage.

The move coincides with the publication of The Messenger’s latest issue. The new issue 190 features a special collection of articles describing the various community surveys that will be conducted with 4MOST — the 4-metre Multi-Object Spectroscopic Telescope, which is a new high-multiplex, wide-field spectroscopic survey facility under construction for the four-metre-class Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) at ESO’s Paranal Observatory. Further, the readers can get familiar with the first outcomes of the Distributed Peer Review process for observing proposals introduced at ESO last year, as well as the ongoing effects that the eruption of the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha‘apai volcano had on observations at Paranal Observatory.

Don’t want to miss an issue? Head to https://messenger.eso.org and click Subscribe to get each digital copy delivered directly to your email inbox. 

Courtesy of European Southern Observatory