ENGRAVE: Electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave sources at the Very Large Telescope

Abstract

The “Electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave sources at the Very Large Telescope" (ENGRAVE) project is a 200+ person consortium seeking to efficiently utilise the facilities of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and others to perform in depth observations of electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave sources identified in the third observing run (O3) and beyond. In this proceedings we provide a brief overview of the motivation for the formation of such a consortium, a review of the contributions that ESO facilities made to observations of the first event, GW170817, and an outline of the prime scientific goals which we will expect to occupy the consortium, and the community at large, in the coming years.