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.

List view
  • 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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  • Sesión Erasmus Plus
    Photomontage
    Summer School on "Eclipsing binaries and asteroseismology" held in La Palma
    Fifteen students from nine different countries attended a meeting from September 26th to 30th to learn about the measurement of the fundamental properties of stars, how to access the publicly available data used to make these measurements as well as the tools and software involved. The Erasmus+ school "Eclipsing binaries and asteroseismology: Precise fundamental stellar parameters in the golden age of time-domain astronomy" was held in a hybrid format with fifteen students attending in-person and a further fifty via video conference. The latest advances in multi-epoch photometry and
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  • Background is a Hubble Space Telescope image of the relic galaxy, NGC 1277 (Credits: NASA, ESA, M. Beasley, and P. Kehusmaa). Bottom-left shows the H-band spectrum of the relic galaxy, NGC 1277, obtained with the EMIR spectrograph (middle) at Gran Telescopio Canarias (left) (Credits: pictures of GTC and EMIR are from GTC website).
    Research news
    New insights into the puzzle of strong CO absorptions in massive early-type galaxies
    Puzzling properties of massive early-type galaxies (ETGs) emerge when studying their spectra at near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths. Massive ETGs show strong CO absorption features in their H and K band spectra that cannot be explained by state-of-the-art stellar population models. For many years, the disagreement has been attributed to the presence of intermediate-age (0.1-2 Gyr) stellar populations in these galaxies, as the NIR light of intermediate-age stellar populations is dominated by cool stars (e.g. asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars) that show strong CO absorptions in their spectrum
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