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

El Cabildo y el IAC fabricarán la primera constelación de satélites canaria para observar y proteger el Archipiélago desde el espacio

The international CTAO LST Collaboration , in which the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) plays a prominent role, released remarkable findings from observations of GRB 221009A—the brightest gamma-ray burst (GRB) ever recorded. The results were published by the renowned journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters (ApJ Letters) . The publication presents in-depth observations conducted in 2022 with the Large-Sized Telescope (LST ) prototype, the LST-1, during its commissioning phase at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (ORM) on the CTAO-North site in La Palma, Spain. The