A scientific team led by the University of Alicante, with participation by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has produced a detailed study of the most massive young star cluster in the Milky Way. This cloud of stars contains different types of giant stars in diverse phases of evolution, and can be used as an excellent laboratory for the study of the formation and evolution of massive stars. Stars tend to form in clusters, containing from just a few to several thousand stars, which share the same age and composition, although they show evolutionary differences. Among the clusters

Astronomers have found a black hole which challenges current theoretical models for the formation of these compact objects, using telescopes at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, (Garafía, La Palma, Canary Islands). The results are published today in the journal Science.

A team of researchers from the cosmology group at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias has obtained one of the most accurate measurements of the masses of clusters of galaxies, and of their relation with the amount of hot gas in these clusters. To do this they have studied the dynamics of the galaxies in 570 clusters selected from the catalogue produced by the Planck satellite (ESA). This study has been produced during four years of work, in which over 10,000 spectra have been obtained with the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG) and the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) at the Roque de los