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.

  • Fig. 1: Top panel: orbital phase shift at the time of the inferior conjunction (orbital phase 0), Tn , of the secondary star in the low-mass black hole X-ray binary XTE J1118+480 versus the orbital cycle number, n, folded on the best-fit parabolic fit. Gr
    We report the detection of an orbital period decay of (dP/dt)= -1.83+-0.66 ms yr–1  in the black hole X-ray binary XTE J1118+480. This corresponds to a period change of –0.85 ± 0.30 μs per orbital cycle, which is ~150 times larger than expected from the emission of gravitational waves. These observations cannot be reproduced by conventional models of magnetic braking even when including significant mass loss from the system. The spiral-in of the star is either driven by magnetic braking under extremely high magnetic fields in the secondary star or by a currently unknown process, which will
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  • False colour image (blue=J, green=H, red=KS) for the massive stellar cluster Masgomas-1. Massive stars with spectral classification are marked with red circles.//LIRIS/ Telescopio William Herschel.
    Recent near-infrared data have contributed to the discovery of new (obscured) massive stellar clusters and massive stellar populations in previously known clusters in our Galaxy. These discoveries lead us to view the Milky Way as an active star-forming machine. Aims: The main purpose of this work is to  determine physically the main parameters (distance, size, total mass and age) of Masgomas-1, the first massive cluster discovered by our systematic search programme. Methods: Using near-infrared ( J, H, and K S) photometry we selected 23 OB-type and five red supergiant candidates for multi
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  • Image of Fleming 1 obtained with the VLT.
    Stars are generally spherical, yet their gaseous envelopes oftenappear non-spherical when ejected near the end of their lives. Thisquirk is most notable during the planetary nebula phase when theseenvelopes become ionized. The most popular explanation is that theasymmetry, and in particular the formation of highly collimatedstructures such as the precessing jets observed in a number ofnebulae, is caused by interactions in a binary system. The study ofthe prototypical planetary nebula Fleming 1 with the VLT telescopedemonstrates for the first time that the hypothesis iscorrect. Indeed, it is
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  • Doppler shifts resulting from a two-components Gaussian fit of the He I 10830 triplet intensity profiles. The velocity is saturated at ± 6 km/s. Vertical lines delimit the prominence feet.
    We present observational evidence of apparent plasma rotational motions in the feet of a solar prominence. Our study is based on spectroscopic observations taken in the \ion{He}{1}~1083.0~nm multiplet with the Tenerife Infrared Polarimeter attached to the German Vacuum Tower Telescope. We recorded a time sequence of spectra with 34 s cadence placing the slit of the spectrograph almost parallel to the solar limb and crossing two feet of an intermediate size, quiescent {\it hedgerow} prominence. The data show opposite Doppler shifts, $\pm$~6\kms, at the edges of the prominence feet. We argue
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  • OCAM 2 cuadriplica la resolución y multiplica por tres la velocidad de instrumentos similares. Con este dispositivo, que se unirá al sistema óptico adaptativo del GTC, el mayor telescopio del mundo podrá vencer las turbulencias de la atmósfera terrestre y obtener imágenes con una nitidez similar a la del telescopio espacial Hubble.
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