The creation of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in 1962 was the culmination of the dream of leading astronomers from five European countries. Over the years, as more member states joined, ESO constructed the La Silla and Paranal observatories, as well as the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) together with partners. ESO is now starting to build the world's biggest eye on the sky, the European Extremely Large Telescope.

At the dawn of 2012, its 50th anniversary year, ESO is ready to enter a new era. One that not even its founding members could have anticipated in their boldest dreams.

Constantly at the technological forefront, ESO is ready to tackle new and as yet unimaginable territories of high-precision technology and scientific discovery.

Produced especially for ESO's 50th anniversary, this sumptuously illustrated book takes the reader behind the scenes of the most productive ground-based observatory in the world. It contains the best 300 of ESO's images, hand-picked from a large collection of more than 100 000 images.