Last year the European Southern Observatory (ESO) celebrated 60 years of existence, and the Czech Republic also celebrated 15 years since joining ESO. On this occasion, a conference was held in the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic on February 21, 2023, with the participation of ESO Director General Professor Xavier Barcons. The conference was organized by the 1st Vice-President of the Senate Prof. Jiří Drahoš, and the Vice-President of the Senate Committee on European Affairs Dr. Jiří Dušek.

On Wednesday, February 23, 2022, the SST-1M gamma-ray telescope started first observations from the Observatory of the Astronomical Institute CAS in Ondřejov. The telescope will detect gamma rays of very high energy originating from sources in our Galaxy or more distant locations of the Universe. The project is realized in teh international collaboration of reserachers from CAS, Palacký University in Olomouc, and teams from Switzerland, Poland, and Ukraine.

The Council of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) elected Dušan Mandát the member of the Scientific Technical Committee of ESO (STC). STC is the main advisory body of the Council and the Director General on scientific and technical matters. STC is composed of representatives of ESO member states and Dušan Mandát will replace at this position Dr.