The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, located in Chile, today released its first images of the universe, known in astronomy as an instrument's “first light”. This event marks the beginning of a project that will revolutionise our understanding of the universe over the next decade. Jointly funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and the US Department of Energy (DOE), the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) is participating, as part of a consortium of Spanish institutions, in its scientific exploitation and contributing observation time from the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC or
La presidenta del Cabildo de Tenerife, Rosa Dávila, ha anunciado esta mañana la aprobación de una subvención de 2,2 millones de euros al Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) para la fabricación de DRAGO-3, una cámara de última generación que se integrará en una constelación global de satélites en órbita baja. Esta red de satélites interconectados está concebida para ofrecer servicios globales o regionales para Tenerife. El importe exacto de la subvención asciende a 2.208.120 euros. El anuncio se ha realizado durante una visita a las instalaciones de IACTEC, la división tecnológica del
ESA’s Hera mission for planetary defense performed a flyby of Mars, as part of its gravitational assistance manoeuvre to shorten its journey to the binary asteroid system Didymos. During the flyby, the spacecraft came around 5000 km from the surface of Mars, having also the opportunity to obtain images of its two moons, Deimos (during the approach) and Phobos (when departing Mars). Julia de León, Javier Licandro, and George Prodan, researchers at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, participate in this mission, successfully launched from Cape Cañaveral, Florida (USA) on October 7, 2024