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.

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  • Sistema planetario
    Press release
    CARMENES project boosts the number of known planets in the solar neighbourhood
    20,000 observations from the Calar Alto telescope in Spain are made public, and have led to the discovery of 59 planets, some of them potentially habitable. The study, led by a consortium of Spanish and German institutions, has the prominent participation of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and it is is published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. The CARMENES project has just pub lished data from about 20,000 observations taken between 2016 and 2020 for a sample of 362 nearby cool stars. The project, which is financed with Spanish and German funds, uses the CARMENES
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  • MIT Astronomy Field Camp
    Photomontage
    First MIT Astronomy Field Camp at the Teide Observatory
    In January the Teide Observatory was host, for the first time, to the “MIT Astronomy Field Camp”. This is a historic camp which the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) offers to its students of planetary sciences and observational astronomy with the aim of giving them real life experience of working in a professional observatory. For three weeks the students of this prestigious institution had access to several telescopes at the Teide Observatory, with which they could take astronomical data for their research projects. At the end of their stay, in the Headquarters of the IAC in La
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  • ORM al amanecer
    Photomontage
    The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias formalizes the contract to strengthen submarine digital connectivity
    The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has formalized with Telefónica de España the contract to carry out the project “ Redundancy of the Optical Maritime Network of the Iris Network” , financed with the investment “Despliegue de infraestructuras digitales transfronterizas” (C15.I5) del Plan de Recuperación ”. The project is planned to last for two years. The IAC manages the Canary Observatories, which comprise the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (ORM) on La Palma, and the Teide Observatory (OT) on Tenerife, which house telescopes and instruments from some 60 institutions
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  • Quaoar and its ring
    Press release
    The Gran Telescopio Canarias plays a key role in the discovery of the ring of the dwarf planet Quaoar
    Scientists have discovered a new ring system around a dwarf planet on the edge of the Solar System. The ring system orbits much further out than is typical for other ring systems, calling into question current theories of how ring systems are formed. The discovery, published in Nature, was made possible thanks to the HiPERCAM instrument on the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in La Palma. A system of rings has been discovered around the dwarf planet Quaoar which is approximately half the size of Pluto and orbits the Sun beyond Neptune. The discovery
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  • Mujeres de IACTEC
    News report
    Con todas las letras de la ciencia
    La ciencia se escribe con muchas letras. Se escribe con f de física, con e de electrónica, con i de ingeniería. La ciencia se escribe también con m de mujer. En las jóvenes mentes de las investigadoras del Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) habitaba una pequeña chispa científica que daría inicio a sus carreras. Niñas que contaban estrellas para dejarse dormir y que lucharían años más tarde por llegar al día en que sus sueños se hicieran realidad. Para poder observar y entender los secretos que esconde el Universo se necesita tecnología. De esto se encarga el IACTEC, un espacio de
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  • Imagen del proyecto "Habla con Ellas: Mujeres en Astronomía"
    Press release
    Education and social awareness activities to promote the participation of women and girls in Science
    Some 40 women astronomers, engineers and technologists from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), from IACTEC and from other collaborating institutions are taking part in around ten initiatives to raise awareness of the important contribution of women in Science and to stimulate the interest of girls in scientific and technological careers. The activities are part of the celebrations of 11F, the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, and they will extend from February till June. Even though the percentage of women in scientific and technical careers has grown in recent
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