Tomorrow, 2 August, the Board of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC)  will hold a meeting  that will mark an historical moment for the Institute with the appointment of its new Director from a shortlist of candidates chosen by an international Selection Committee of astrophysicists, an unusual and novel procedure for Spain. Further information: Spanish press release

The international SDSS-III collaboration, in which the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) is a participant, publishes observations of 60 000 stars in our Galaxy. Further information: Spanish press release

The popular children’s entertainer stars in an outreach programme this summer and will show the youngest viewers how to work on a telescope. Further information: Spanish press release

Natalia Ruiz Zelmanovitch

The GLORIA project provides public access to the first of its 17 robotic telescopes: The Open Outreach Solar Telescope (with the Spanish acronynm TADS), located at the Teide Observatory and owned by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC). Further information: IAC Spanish press release

A study, in which the IAC is collaborating, obtains the most detailed observation yet of a black hole at the centre of a supermassive galaxy. The results suggest that, apart from ravenously engulfing the cosmic dust in its surroundings, the black hole also expels some of the dust from the galaxy in the form of cold winds. The study, which has been published in The Astrophysical Journal, poses a challenge to present theories concerning black holes. Further information: IAC Spanish press release