This was stated by the acting Minister for Science, Innovation, and the Universities, Pedro Duque who chaired the annual meeting of the Governing Council of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), held today at its La Laguna headquarters. Among the other matters dealt with was the state of the negotiations about large telescopes, and the draft budget for 2020 was approved which, if implemented, will be larger for the first time than the budget of the Institute prior to the economic crisis in 2018.

The Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) is celebrating the tenth anniversary of its inauguration in the Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory. During the past decade the largest optical and infrared telescope in the world has carried out over 14,000 hours of observation and has produced scientific data in some 450 articles in the leading journals. Some of the key scientific highlights have been included in a special outreach leaflet recently published by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias and the GTC.

La muestra de nueve imágenes astronómicas obtenidas desde el Observatorio del Teide continúa su recorrido por Japón durante la ceremonia de fundación del Consorcio de Ciudades de la Ciencia nipón. Esta exposición educativa del Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias también puede visitarse hasta el próximo 31 de julio en la sucursal 1 de Correos de Tenerife.

This meeting of researchers linked to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and its Observatories opened yesterday with a lectura by Francisco Sanchez, the founding Director, and the first full professor of astrophysics in Spain, in which he told us about how this scientific speciality was born and consolidated in Spain, a history which is related in his book “Dreaming of the Stars” (Soñando Estrellas). His talk was preceded by a formal act of inauguration, with authorities and organizers, and a talk by the present Director of the IAC, Rafael Rebolo, about the present and the future