Dr. Rubén Sánchez-Janssen has been announced as the new Director of the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes (ING). Dr. Rubén Sánchez-Janssen will follow in the footsteps of Dr. Marc Balcells. Dr Sánchez-Janssen is an Astronomer and Project Scientist at STFC’s UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UKATC), where he leads the development of scientific instrumentation and facilities for ground- and space-based astronomy from the ultraviolet to the near-infrared, with a particular emphasis on future missions. He specializes in galaxy evolution, with particular focus on low-mass galaxies and star cluster

An international piece of research, led by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has found clues to the nature of some of the brightest and hottest stars in our Universe, called blue supergiants. Although these stars are commonly observed, their origin has been an old puzzle that has been debated for several decades. By simulating novel stellar models and analysing a large data sample in the Large Magellanic Cloud, IAC researchers have found strong evidence that most blue supergiants may have formed from the merger of two stars bound in a binary system. The study is published in the

An international team of researchers, including staff from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has discovered a planetary nebula that destroyed its own planetary system, conserving the remaining fragments in the form of dust orbiting its central star. To date, more than 5000 exoplanets have been discovered orbiting stars of all kinds and almost every stage of stellar evolution. However, while exoplanets have been discovered around white dwarfs – the final stage in the evolution of low- and intermediate-mass stars like the Sun, no exoplanets have been detected in the previous