The Solar System research group at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) is participating in the international programme to keep a closet track of asteroid 2024 YR4. The aim is to determine its orbit with the highest possible precision before it stops being observable by ground based and satellite telescopes in April, and so improving our value of the probability that it will impact the Earth in 2032. In this context several telescopes of the Canary Observatories of the IAC are playing an outstanding role in this observing campaign: The Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) at the Roque de

Cristina Ramos Almeida, investigadora del Instituto Astrofísico de Canarias (IAC) y coautora de más de un centenar de artículos sobre galaxias y agujeros negros, ha sido una de las homenajeadas en la primera edición de los premios "Mujeres tenían que SER" de Radio Club Tenerife, Cadena SER. El evento, celebrado en la noche del miércoles 29 de octubre, en la sala Adán Martín del edificio de Presidencia del Gobierno en Santa Cruz de Tenerife, ha teñido el espacio de reconocimiento al talento femenino en diversos ámbitos. La distinción resalta la crucial contribución de Ramos Almeida a la

A study published today in Nature Astronomy , in which a researcher from the IAC has participated, outlines the discovery of an extremely rare type of binary system composed of two high mass white dwarfs. The two stars are so close together that they will eventually collide resulting in a supernova explosion which, due to its proximity to the Earth, will appear ten times brighter than the Moon. Type 1a supernovae are a class of cosmic explosion often used as "standard candles" to measure the expansion of the Universe. They occur when a white dwarf exceeds the Chandrasekhar mass - the limit