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
  • Opening STARMUS Festival 2011. Left to right: F. Sanchez, G. Israelian, Robert Williams, Juan Ruiz Arzola, Buzz Aldrin (invited), Alexei Leonov y Brian May.
    Press release
    STARMUS 2014 - NEW IN TENERIFE AND LA PALMA
    The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) is collaborating with this multidisciplinary festival for Astrophysics and Space SciencesThe second event, which has the slogan "Beginnings: the making of the modern cosmos" will take place in Tenerife and La Palma from 22 to 28 September 2014
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  • Figure caption: Left panels show the i − J vs. g − r diagrams for three different parameters: surface brightness in restframe J (μJ, blue), the logarithm of the stellar mass density (log (ρ), pink), and the radial distance to the most massive galaxies of
    Research news
    Intracluster Light at the Frontier: A2744.
    The ultra-deep multiwavelength Hubble Space Telescope Frontier Fields coverage of the Abell Cluster 2744 is used to derive the stellar population properties of its intracluster light (ICL). The restframe colors of the ICL of this intermediate redshift (z = 0.3064) massive cluster are bluer (g – r = 0.68 ± 0.04; i – J = 0.56 ± 0.01) than those found in the stellar populations of its main galaxy members (g – r = 0.83 ± 0.01; i – J = 0.75 ± 0.01). Based on these colors, we derive the following mean metallicity Z = 0.018 ± 0.007 for the ICL. The ICL age is 6 ± 3 Gyr younger than the average age
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  • Our visible and NIR spectropolarimetric measurements of the earthshine compared to literature data. A 10-pixel binning was applied to the NIR spectrum. The uncertainty per wavelength is plotted as vertical gray error bars. Wavelengths of strong telluric a
    Research news
    Simultaneous optical and near-infrared linear spectropolarimetry of the earthshine.
    Aims. We aim to extend our current observational understanding of the integrated planet Earth spectropolarimetry from the optical to the near-infrared wavelengths. Major biomarkers like O2 and water vapor are strong flux absorbents in the Earth’s atmosphere, and some linear polarization of the reflected stellar light is expected to occur at these wavelengths. Methods. Simultaneous optical (0.4−0.9 μm) and near-infrared (0.9−2.3 μm) linear spectropolarimetric data of the earthshine were acquired by observing the nightside of the waxing Moon. The data have sufficient spectral resolution (2.51
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  • Figure:  GTC/ORISIS Spectroscopy. Upper Panel: 2-D spectral image. Center Panel: Obj1. Lower Panel: Obj2. The Lyα lines, marked with a red line, are clearly seen in both spectra. The blue dashed line, at the bottom of each frame, shows an off-scale sky sp
    Research news
    Episodic star formation in a group of LAEs at z= 5.07
    We are undertaking a search for high-redshift low-luminosity Lyman Alpha sources in the SHARDS (Survey for High-z Absorption Red and Dead Sources) survey. Among the pre-selected Lyman Alpha sources two candidates were spotted, located 3.19 arcsec apart, and tentatively at the same redshift. Here, we report on the spectroscopic confirmation with Gran Telescopio Canarias of the Lyman Alpha emission from this pair of galaxies at a confirmed spectroscopic redshifts of z=5.07. Furthermore, one of the sources is interacting/merging with another close companion that looks distorted. Based on the
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