Ultra diffuse galaxies (UDGs) have the sizes of giants but the luminosities of dwarfs. A key to understanding their origins comes from their total masses, but their low surface brightnesses (mu > 25.0) generally prohibit dynamical studies. Here we report the first such measurements for a UDG (VCC 1287 in the Virgo cluster), based on its globular cluster system dynamics and size. From 7 GCs we measure a mean systemic velocity Vsys = 1071(-15+14) km/s, thereby confirming a Virgo-cluster association. We measure a velocity dispersion of 33(-10+16) km/s within 8.1 kpc, corresponding to an

For more than 70 years we have known that the weak recombination lines of the ions of elements, such as oxygen and carbon, give us values for their abundances that are much larger than those obtained using collisional lines, even though the collisional lines are 1,000 to 100,000 times brighter than the recombination lines. This discrepancy has cast constant doubt about one of the methods that has been mostly used to measure chemical abundances in the Universe. During the past few years the planetary nebulae group at the IAC have discovered that the planetary nebulae with the largest

The polarization of the Mg II k line at 279.5 nm encodes valuable information on the magnetic field of the upper solar chromosphere, where this strong resonance line originates. We have developed a novel radiative transfer code which allows us to account for scattering polarization and the Hanle and Zeeman effects, as well as partial frequency redistribution (PRD) phenomena (i.e., correlation effects between the incoming and outgoing photons in the scattering events). This non-LTE code, which treats the atomic system and the polarized radiation field quantum-mechanically, has been applied to

Several telescopes at the Teide Observatory (IAC) followed comet Catalina with the aim of characterizing its orbit dynamically. It should be possible to see the central zone of the comet with the naked eye, but to see details you would need binoculars.

The contrats, which last for two years, are young people, less than 30 years old, that will carry out different tasks according their specalized abilities.

CARMENES, an outstanding novel astronomical instrument, which has been designed to look for Earth-like planets, has successfully passed first “on-sky” tests at the telescope. Scientists and engineers of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) have participated in the design and construction of the new “planet hunter”.