European Southern Observatory

The European Southern Observatory, formally the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, is an intergovernmental research organization of sixteen member states created on 28 May 1962 to give European astronomers access to advanced ground based telescopes and observation of the southern sky. Headquartered in Garching, Germany, ESO operates its observing facilities in Chile, including the Very Large Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, and its work has contributed to discoveries about extrasolar planets, black holes, gamma ray bursts and the broader nature of the universe. The organization is funded by its member states at an annual budget of roughly 162 million euros. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/