News

This section includes scientific and technological news from the IAC and its Observatories, as well as press releases on scientific and technological results, astronomical events, educational projects, outreach activities and institutional events.

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  • The Subcommission of Scientific and Technical Affairs of COPUOS visits the IAC
    Photomontage
    The Spanish Ambassador to the United Nations in Vienna, Esther Monterrubio, and the President of the COPUOS Subcommittee on Scientific and Technical Affairs, Juan Francisco Facetti, visit the IAC and the Canary Islands Observatories
    This week the Ambassadors, permanent representatives at the International Organizations with headquarters in Vienna, of Spain, Esther Monterrubio, and of Paraguay, Juan Francisco Facetti, were shown the installations of the IAC. During their stay they visited some of the scientific infrastructures of the Canary Islands Observatories (OCAN) and showed interest in the projects being developed there. Among the various duties of these two permanent Ambassadors is that of representing their countries in the United Nations Commission on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) and its two
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  • Eduardo L. Martín
    Press release
    The European Research Council has awarded one of its prestigious “ERC Advanced Grants” to IAC’s SUBSTELLAR project
    The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded an ERC Advanced Grant, funding for the development of research projects at the frontiers of knowledge, to the Professor of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) Eduardo L. Martín Guerrero de Escalante, who is an active researcher at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC). The project, entitled “Substellar Science with the Euclid Space Mission“ (SUBSTELLAR) has, as one of its main objectives, the use of data from the future space telescope Euclid to increase our knowledge of objects with substellar masses (brown dwarfs and
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  • Results of the recent 2D model of CBPs. Left: temperature. Right: Image showing how the simulation would look like if observed with the Solar Orbiter mission in the extreme ultraviolet from space. The CBP is distinguished by the hot magnetic loops that appear bright in the right panel.
    Research news
    Unravelling coronal bright points
    When the Sun is observed in X-ray or extreme ultraviolet wavelengths, hundreds of bright and compact structures with a rounded shape and sizes similar to that of our planet Earth can be easily distinguished in the solar corona. These structures are known as Coronal Bright Points or CBPs and they consist of sets of magnetic loops that connect areas of opposite magnetic polarity on the solar surface. These loops confine the solar plasma and in them, by mechanisms that have been debated for many years among solar physicists, the gas remains with temperatures of several million degrees, emitting
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  • Artist’s impression of an ultra-hot Jupiter transiting its star
    Press release
    Heaviest element yet detected in an exoplanet atmosphere
    An international team of astronomers, in which IAC researchers participate, have discovered barium, the heaviest element ever found in an exoplanet atmosphere. It has been discovered at high altitudes in the atmosphere of the exoplanets WASP-76 b and WASP-121 b, two ultra-hot gas giants. The unexpected discovery, made possible by the ESPRESSO instrument at the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT), raises questions about what these exotic atmospheres may look like. WASP-76 b and WASP-121 b are no ordinary exoplanets. Both are referred to as ultra-hot Jupiters as
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  • PANO
    Photomontage
    Segunda visita de los Amigos del IAC al Observatorio del Teide
    El pasado sábado 1 de octubre tuvo lugar la segunda visita al Observatorio del Teide organizada por el programa #AmigosdelIAC, en el que algunos de los miembros de este programa pudieron conocer las instalaciones y observar el cielo a través de telescopios divulgativos. Si tienes interés en la labor del Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias y aún no eres “Amigo del IAC”, puedes unirte a nuestro Programa respondiendo esta breve encuesta ( https://cutt.ly/gBlVUFF), sin necesidad de que realices ninguna aportación. #AmigosdelIAC #IACastrofísica #InstitutodeAstrofísicadeCanarias #IAC #Tenerife
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  • Stephan's Quintet
    Press release
    James Webb telescope studies organic molecules near black holes
    Research led by the University of Oxford and with the participation of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has succeeded in studying, for the first time, the tiny dust molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the nuclear region of luminous active galaxies. This work is one of the first studies to use spectroscopic data from the James Webb Space Telescope's (JWST) mid-infrared instrument (MIRI). Observing PAH molecules in the innermost regions of the galaxy is one of the best ways to study the influence of the central black hole in the evolution of the host
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