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Research facility · Garching bei München · Germany

European Southern Observatory

In research, European Southern Observatory stands highest in Physical Sciences (#2,115 of 12,888 worldwide), Astronomy and Astrophysics (#102 of 443 worldwide) and Physics and Astronomy (#595 of 1,646 worldwide), 2022–2025. Relative to its size it is most specialised in Instrumentation, Astronomy and Astrophysics and Physics and Astronomy — Instrumentation is 231.6× its share of world research.

eso.org/publicROR OpenAlex
World rank, 2022–2025
#3,787
of 28,054 · #1,405 all time
Rank in Germany
#178
of 1,178
Research works
3.5k
▼ 10% vs 2013–17
Citations
107k
30.0 per fractional work
Top-10% rate
33.9%
record average 16.5%
Open access
52%
world 28%

What is European Southern Observatory known for in research?

The fields where it stands highest, 2022–2025, ranked among every institution above the floor in each field.

FieldWorld rankWhere that sitsTop-10% rateWorksAll time
Physical SciencesDomain #2,115 of 12,888 34.3%180 #944
Astronomy and AstrophysicsSubfield #102 of 443 36.5%110 #62
Physics and AstronomyField #595 of 1,646 35.7%151 #361

Each strip is that field’s whole ranked pool, with the notch where European Southern Observatory sits in it, in the colour of the band that rank falls in. The track under the rate is the rate itself: it carries no world mark, because the world rate differs by field (from about 6% to 21% in this record).

Which of those standings moved

The same fields on both windows: where it stood over the whole record, and where it stands in 2022–2025. The distance is the story, and it is the one thing the two rank columns above cannot show.

  1. Physical Sciences#944 #2,115
  2. Astronomy and Astrophysics#62 #102
  3. Physics and Astronomy#361 #595
all time2022–2025, better2022–2025, worse

A dot further right is a better standing. Fields it was not ranked in over the whole record are left out.

What does European Southern Observatory specialise in?

Where its research is concentrated relative to its size: Instrumentation takes 231.6× the share of its output that it takes of world research.

  1. InstrumentationSubfield · 21.4 works232×
  2. Astronomy and AstrophysicsSubfield · 110.2 works114×
  3. Physics and AstronomyField · 151.5 works37×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient, a volume reading rather than an impact one. It surfaces small, lopsided specialities.

Field profile

Location quotient across every field it publishes in: outside the ring is more than an institution of this size would be expected to publish, inside it is less.

Agricultural and Biological Sciences: 0.10× its world share, 1 worksAgricultural and Bio…Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology: 0.07× its world share, 1 worksBiochemistry, Geneti…Neuroscience: 0.12× its world share, 0 worksNeuroscienceChemical Engineering: 0.36× its world share, 0 worksChemical EngineeringChemistry: 1.73× its world share, 5 worksChemistryComputer Science: 0.12× its world share, 2 worksComputer ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences: 1.31× its world share, 4 worksEarth and Planetary …Energy: 0.07× its world share, 0 worksEnergyEngineering: 0.54× its world share, 15 worksEngineeringEnvironmental Science: 0.20× its world share, 2 worksEnvironmental ScienceMaterials Science: 0.06× its world share, 0 worksMaterials ScienceMathematics: 0.24× its world share, 0 worksMathematicsPhysics and Astronomy: 36.72× its world share, 152 worksPhysics and AstronomyMedicine: 0.05× its world share, 2 worksMedicineArts and Humanities: 0.04× its world share, 0 worksArts and HumanitiesDecision Sciences: 0.21× its world share, 0 worksDecision SciencesEconomics, Econometrics and Finance: 0.01× its world share, 0 worksEconomics, Econometr…Psychology: 0.07× its world share, 0 worksPsychologySocial Sciences: 0.01× its world share, 0 worksSocial Sciences1×world share
more than its size predictsabout as predictedless

Rings at 0.5×, 1× and 2×. Widest outward: Physics and Astronomy, 36.7×. Every wedge is a field page.

Who are the top researchers at European Southern Observatory?

Ranked on the composite score, H. Kuntschner, J. Spyromilio and Bernard Délabre lead among researchers whose main affiliation is European Southern Observatory.

  1. 1 H. Kuntschner Germany · #22,871 worldwide 906 citations · 83 works
  2. 2 J. Spyromilio Germany · #29,396 worldwide 755 citations · 58 works
  3. 3 Bernard Délabre Germany · #56,614 worldwide 397 citations · 43 works
  4. 4 Remco C. E. van den Bosch Germany · #56,710 worldwide 535 citations · 30 works
  5. 5 B. Leibundgut Germany · #66,338 worldwide 945 citations · 109 works
  6. 6 F. Patat Germany · #68,439 worldwide 666 citations · 84 works
  7. 7 M. Schöller Germany · #74,640 worldwide 308 citations · 43 works
  8. 8 E. van Kampen Germany · #88,492 worldwide 473 citations · 66 works
  9. 9 Gert Finger Germany · #92,153 worldwide 287 citations · 44 works
  10. 10 H. Dekker Germany · #92,185 worldwide 366 citations · 43 works
All ranked researchers at European Southern Observatory

Which keywords describe research at European Southern Observatory?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Star Formation, Accretion Disks, Magnetic Fields, Exoplanets, Stellar Astrophysics, Black Holes, Molecular Clouds and Protoplanetary Disks.

▲ more of its work than of the world’s◆ about the world’s share▼ less than the world’s

Size is fractional works in 2022–2025 in the topics tagged with each word; colour is the word's share of this institution's work against its share of the world's. The 40 words are chosen for being large and distinctive. Each links to the topic it comes from most.

All 40 words, with their numbers
  1. Star Formation42▲ 436×2 topics
  2. Accretion Disks34▲ 387×2 topics
  3. Magnetic Fields34▲ 280×2 topics
  4. Exoplanets33▲ 452×1 topic
  5. Stellar Astrophysics33▲ 452×1 topic
  6. Black Holes26▲ 145×3 topics
  7. Molecular Clouds26▲ 549×1 topic
  8. Protoplanetary Disks26▲ 549×1 topic
  9. Astronomical Instrumentation21▲ 448×1 topic
  10. Spectrograph21▲ 448×1 topic
  11. Cosmology17▲ 141×2 topics
  12. Dark Matter17▲ 82×3 topics
  13. Galaxies17▲ 333×1 topic
  14. Stellar Populations17▲ 333×1 topic
  15. Solar System Abundances9▲ 103×1 topic
  16. Terrestrial Planets9▲ 103×1 topic
  17. Gravitational Waves9▲ 87×2 topics
  18. Supernovae9▲ 56×2 topics
  19. Galactic Center8▲ 101×2 topics
  20. X-Ray Spectroscopy8▲ 101×2 topics
  21. Event Horizon Telescope8▲ 200×1 topic
  22. X-Ray Astronomy8▲ 200×1 topic
  23. Nucleosynthesis8▲ 86×3 topics
  24. Gamma-Ray Bursts8▲ 154×1 topic
  25. Neutron Stars8▲ 154×1 topic
  26. Adaptive Optics7▲ 285×1 topic
  27. Wavefront Sensing7▲ 285×1 topic
  28. Cosmic Rays6▲ 64×2 topics
  29. Neutrinos6▲ 64×2 topics
  30. High-Energy Astrophysics6▲ 112×1 topic
  31. Particle Acceleration6▲ 112×1 topic
  32. Radio Astronomy4▲ 97×2 topics
  33. Structural Health Monitoring4▲ 26×2 topics
  34. Optical 3D Laser Measurement4▲ 175×1 topic
  35. Position-Sensitive Detector4▲ 175×1 topic
  36. Molecular Structure3▲ 16×1 topic
  37. Rotational Spectroscopy3▲ 238×1 topic
  38. Epoch of Reionization2▲ 102×1 topic
  39. Low-Frequency Telescopes2▲ 102×1 topic
  40. Ozone Depletion2▲ 40×1 topic

Which research topics does European Southern Observatory publish most on?

By volume in 2022–2025: Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies, Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies, Astronomy and Astrophysical Research and Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena.

Stellar, planetary, and …33Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies: 33 fractional worksAstrophysics and Star Formation Studies: 26 fractional worksAstronomy and Astrophysical Research: 21 fractional worksGalaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena: 17 fractional worksAstro and Planetary Science: 9 fractional worksAstrophysical Phenomena …8Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations: 8 fractional worksGamma-ray bursts and supernovae: 8 fractional worksAdaptive optics and wavefront sensing: 7 fractional worksAstrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena: 6 fractional worksAstronomical Observations and Instrumentation: 4 fractional works
Astronomy and AstrophysicsInstrumentationAtomic and Molecular Physics, and OpticsNuclear and High Energy Physics1 others

Area is fractional works; colour is the subfield each topic belongs to.

  1. 1 Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies Astronomy and Astrophysics 33 works
  2. 2 Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies Astronomy and Astrophysics 26 works
  3. 3 Astronomy and Astrophysical Research Instrumentation 21 works
  4. 4 Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena Astronomy and Astrophysics 17 works
  5. 5 Astro and Planetary Science Astronomy and Astrophysics 9 works
  6. 6 Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations Astronomy and Astrophysics 8 works
  7. 7 Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae Astronomy and Astrophysics 8 works
  8. 8 Adaptive optics and wavefront sensing Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics 7 works
  9. 9 Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena Nuclear and High Energy Physics 6 works
  10. 10 Astronomical Observations and Instrumentation Computational Mechanics 4 works

How open and international is its research?

Against the world’s own shares — the tick on each track. Both are shares of its output, so they sit on one scale and can be read against each other as well as against the world.

openly available52.0%not open48.0%

World: 28% of research is openly available.

with international co-authors54.7%domestic only45.3%

World: 19% is written across borders.

How has European Southern Observatory's research output changed?

Output in 2018–2022 was 10% lower than in 2013–2017.

1990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Other research institutions in Garching bei München

All research institutions in Garching bei München

Research measures only: rankings here say nothing about teaching, admissions or student experience. Comparable institutions and collaboration partners are in the interactive view on the map.