About the logo

The new building’s unique design resembles the form of a binary star system transferring mass from one component to the other, which will lead to a supernova. This is also reflected in the name of the facility: ESO Supernova. Supernovae are exploding stars, and will eventually throw much of the material from their parent stars back out into the interstellar medium, enriching its chemical composition in the process. The multiple overlapping stars in the logo symbolise the energy of the supernova and the vibrant energy of the educational facility. Associations with a spirograph toy or the repetitive swinging of a pendulum are welcome. The underlying fundamental geometry in the logo comes from the star used in the ESO logo.

ESO Supernova logos in high resolution and various formats are available for download in the ESO logo archive.