Lines of research: Exoplanetary Systems & Solar System (SEYSS)

Exoplanetary Systems & Solar System (SEYSS)

The area of planetary and solar systems involves several research groups working on Exoplanets, Solar System and Cultural Astronomy. Our main objectives are:

  • The detection and characterization of giant and rocky planets around nearby stars using the most advanced instruments (CARMENES, ESPRESSO, HARPS Norte y Sur, SONG, LCO, MUSCAT2) and space missions (CoRoT, Kepler K2, CHEOPS, TESS and PLATO). The group is particularly interested in the study of terrestrial planets in the habitable zone of their host stars where water can be in liquid form.
  • The characterization of the atmospheres of planets to know their structure and composition, both by transits and direct imaging, using ground-based telescopes such as GTC and space missions such as CHEOPS.
  • Investigate the formation of exoplanet systems by studying the chemical composition of planet host stars, and the dynamical evolution of exoplanets at their early stages of formation.
  • Study the physical properties of different families of minor bodies of the Solar System (asteroids, comets, trans-neptunian objects, etc.) to understand the origin and evolution of Solar System with GTC and space missions such as OSIRIS-REx.
  • The study of ancient cosmologies through cultural astronomy and the defense of cultural heritage through the astronomy.
  • News
    Obra de referencia en Exoplanetología
    Investigadores del Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias coordinan la edición de “Handbook of Exoplanets”, cuatro volúmenes con 160 artículos de especialistas en...
  • Publication
    Observational results for eight long-period comets observed far from the Sun
    Context. With this work we start a systematic analysis of the distant activity of several long-period comets in order to investigate the evolution of activity...
  • Publication
    Observations of two superfast rotator NEAs: 2021 NY<SUB>1</SUB> and 2022 AB
    In the framework of the visible NEAs observations survey (ViNOS) that uses several telescopes at the Canary Islands observatories since 2018, we observed two...
  • Publication
    Observations, compositional, and physical characterization of near-Earth and Mars-crosser asteroids from a spectroscopic survey
    Aims: We analyse a significantly large sample of spectroscopic data to provide a compositional characterization of the near-Earth asteroid population. We...
  • News
    Observed: an exoplanet where it rains iron
    Nature magazine is publishing today a surprising study about the giant, ultra-hot planet WASP-76b in which researchers from the Instituto de Astrofísica de...
  • Publication
    Occulter to earth: prospects for studying earth-like planets with the E-ELT and a space-based occulter
    Direct detection and characterization of Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars is a core task for evaluating the prevalence of habitability and life in the...
  • Publication
    OGLE-2016-BLG-1093Lb: A Sub-Jupiter-mass Spitzer Planet Located in the Galactic Bulge
    OGLE-2016-BLG-1093 is a planetary microlensing event that is part of the statistical Spitzer microlens parallax sample. The precise measurement of the microlens...
  • Publication
    On the action of UV photons on hydrogenated fulleranes C60H36 and C60D36
    Fulleranes, the hydrogenated fullerenes C60H36 and C60D36 have been synthesized in n-hexane where they show an absorption maximum at 217 nm in their electronic...
  • Publication
    On the alumina dust production in the winds of O-rich asymptotic giant branch stars
    The O-rich asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars experience strong mass-loss with efficient dust condensation and they are major sources of dust in the...