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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  • Scientists confirm the lunar origin of Near-Earth asteroid 2024 PT5
    Press release
    Scientists confirm the lunar origin of Near-Earth asteroid 2024 PT5
    This is the third “mini-Moon” with lunar-like material identified as part of the Arjuna asteroid belt, where objects follow similar orbits around the Sun to that of the Earth-Moon system. IAC, February 6, 2025. – Near-Earth asteroid 2024 PT5 orbits around the Sun following a trajectory very similar to that of the Earth-Moon system, and during two months of 2024, it accompained our Earth on its journey. This asteroid has material on its surface that was originated in the Moon, as it has been proved by a research led by the Insituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and the Universidad
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  • The Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC)/ Pablo Bonet
    Press release
    The IAC is actively tracking the asteroid that the UN has qualified as potentially dangerous
    The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) is one of the international researches centres which is following actively the asteroid 2024 YR4 which has been qualified by the United Nations (UN) as potentially dangerous, because it has a 1.5% probability of impacting the Earth during 2032.The asteroid was discovered in 2024 and has an estimated size of between 40 and 90 metres. Given these figures, the UN has activated the protocols of planetary defence to obtain more accurate estimates of the orbit, the size and the threat which might be presented by 2024 YR4. The protocols of the UN are
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  • El programa Investigadores Visitantes Fundación Occident/ Inés Bonet (IAC)
    Press release
    El IAC y la Fundación Occident apuestan por el fomento del intercambio de talento científico
    El Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) sigue afianzando su liderazgo investigador y de atracción de talento científico con el programa “ Investigadores Visitantes” de Fundación Occident. En este recién terminado año 2024, el programa cumple una década ininterrumpida de trabajo atrayendo a decenas de personas investigadoras cada año que han realizado estancias, de mínimo un mes y hasta tres meses, en el IAC. El programa permite que el personal investigador invitado comparta espacio y trabajo con miembros de los distintos grupos de investigación establecidos en el IAC, de forma que el
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  • iacobxii
    Research news
    The helium enrichment in massive stars during the main sequence could be the result of mass accretion
    There is increasing evidence that single-star evolutionary models are unable to reproduce all of the observational properties of massive stars. Binary interaction has emerged as a key factor in the evolution of a significant fraction of massive stars. In this study, we investigate the helium (Y(He)) and nitrogen surface abundances in a comprehensive sample of 180 Galactic O-type stars with projected rotational velocities of ≤150 km/s. We found a subsample (~20% of the total, and ~80% of the stars with Y(He) ≥ 0.12) with a Y(He) and nitrogen abundance combined pattern that is unexplainable by
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  • Super-earth in the habitable zone of a Sun-like Star/Gabriel Pérez (IAC)
    Press release
    The IAC confirms the existence of a Super-earth in the habitable zone of a Sun-like Star
    The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and the Universidad de La Laguna (ULL) has confirmed the discovery of a super-Earth orbiting in the habitable zone of HD 20794, a nearby Sun-like star. This discovery, the result of over two decades of observations, opens a window to future studies of Earth-like planetary atmospheres. The search for planets in the habitable zone of Sun-like stars is crucial for understanding the possibility of life beyond Earth and for studying conditions similar to those that enabled the development of life on our own planet. In this context, HD 20794, a star
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  • MIT Astronomy Field Camp students share their scientific results at the IAC/ Inés Bonet (IAC)
    Press release
    MIT Astronomy Field Camp students share their scientific results at the IAC
    This January, the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias is hosting, for the third time, the ‘ MIT Astronomy Field Camp’, the historic scientific camp that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) offers to its students of planetary sciences and astronomy with the aim of providing them with the real experience of working in a professional observatory. On this occasion, nine students have been at the Teide Observatory, in Tenerife, since 7th January, where they have carried out various astronomical observations. Dr. Michael Person has been the coordinator of this activity that began in
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