SO Webloquia: ESO: supporting European leadership in ground-based astronomy

ESO is de facto the lead world-wide organisation in building and operating most powerful ground-based astronomical observatories. The success of the organisation relies on the support of its member states and the cooperation with the community, among other key factors. Over 1000 refereed papers are published every year using data from ESO facilities, with an increasingly larger fraction of these data coming from the archive. Among these scientific outcomes, there are several directly linked to Nobel Prize awards, that ESO has supported.

ESO facilities are structured in terms of Programmes, currently: La Silla Paranal and ALMA (both in operation), ELT (in construction) and CTA-S (under design by CTAO). I will review the current status and future prospects of these programmes, underlining science and instrument development opportunities in the coming years as well as societal benefits of ESO's activities