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

An international team, in which the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias participates, has succeeded in mapping for the first time the three-dimensional structure of the atmosphere of an exoplanet, that is a planet beyond the Solar System. This research, published today in Nature , has been able to discover very strong winds that carry chemical elements such as iron and titanium, which create certain weather patterns through the planet's atmosphere. This mapping opens the door to more comprehensive and detailed studies of the chemical composition and climate of other planets. Enric Pallé

The distribution of planets in the over five thousand distant solar systems discovered to date forms a complex puzzle. There is a region in the planetary orbit graph, known as the " Neptunian desert", where very few Neptune-like planets with orbits of between two and four days period around their star have been recorded to date. Now, a scientific team led by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IAA-CSIC) , using a novel technique, new planets around red dwarf stars located precisely in