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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  • MIT Astronomy Field Camp 2026
    Photomontage
    MIT holds its astronomy camp at the Teide Observatory and shares its findings at the ULL
    This January, the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias hosted, for the fourth time, the MIT Astronomy Field Camp, the historic science camp that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), considered one of the best and most influential universities in the world, offers its planetary science and astronomy students with the aim of providing them with real experience of working in a professional observatory. On this occasion, nine students spent three weeks at the Teide Observatory in Tenerife, where they carried out various astronomical observations. This activity, coordinated by MIT
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  • Comparison between an observed galaxy (right) and a simulated galaxy (left)
    Research news
    An accurate measure of the size of dark matter haloes using the size of galaxies
    In the standard cosmological model (𝜦CDM), galaxies are merely the visible "tips of the icebergs," residing within massive, invisible cocoons of dark matter known as haloes. While these haloes dictate the evolution and motion of galaxies, measuring their true size and mass has long been one of the most challenging tasks in astrophysics. A new study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics by Claudio Dalla Vecchia and Ignacio Trujillo from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) proposes a breakthrough: a physically motivated definition of a galaxy’s edge that acts as a precision "ruler"
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  • ARKS gallery of faint debris disks
    Press release
    The IAC and the ULL participate in an unprecedented study with ALMA that reveals the Teenage Years of New Worlds
    An international team, with participation from the University of La Laguna (ULL) and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), have, for the first time, captured a detailed snapshot of planetary systems in an era long shrouded in mystery. The study, called ALMA survey to Resolve exoKuiper belt Substructures (ARKS) , is based on a series of 10 articles published simultaneously in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics and was carried out using the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) . Thanks to this work, the sharpest images ever of 24 debris disks, the dusty belts left
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  • Ciclo de charlas divulgativas "Del Cielo a la Tesis"
    Press release
    Cúmulos estelares y fósiles galácticos, protagonistas de una nueva sesión de ‘Del Cielo a la Tesis’ del IAC
    El ciclo de charlas divulgativas Del Cielo a la Tesis, impulsado por el estudiantado predoctoral del Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) y la Universidad de La Laguna (ULL) para acercar la investigación en astrofísica a la ciudadanía, celebrará una nueva sesión el próximo 22 de enero de 2026 a las 16:30 horas en el Museo de la Ciencia y el Cosmos, del Organismo Autónomo de Museos y Centros del Cabildo de Tenerife. En esta ocasión, la cita propone un viaje al pasado de nuestra galaxia a través de dos ponencias que abordan cómo se forman y evolucionan los cúmulos de estrellas y cómo las
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  • Un momento de la grabación del programa de radio Soñando Estrellas con Jonay González, Silvia Granja, Verónica Martín y Alfred Rosenberg / IAC
    El programa Soñando Estrellas profundiza en cómo se descubren otras Tierras en la emisión de este viernes 9 de enero
    El Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) emite este viernes, 9 de enero de 2026, a las 22:30 horas, su espacio radiofónico ‘Soñando Estrellas’ en La Radio Canaria. Este programa semanal de 30 minutos, conducido por Verónica Martín, nace para divulgar la labor de los más de 400 profesionales del centro y rendir homenaje a la visión de Francisco Sánchez, fundador del IAC. El programa de esta semana contará con una entrevista a Jonay González, investigador del IAC y coordinador del Área de Investigación del IAC, quien explicará los métodos actuales para localizar planetas rocosos en zonas
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  • Artist’s illustration of the V1298 Tau planetary system / Astrobiology Center, NINS.
    Press release
    Astronomers find missing link to Galaxy's most common planets
    One of the biggest recent surprises in astronomy is the discovery that most stars like the Sun harbor a planet between the size of Earth and Neptune within the orbit of Mercury — sizes and orbits absent from our solar system. These ‘ super-Earths' and ` sub-Neptunes’ are the galaxy's most common planets, but their formation has been shrouded in mystery. Now, an international team of astronomers has found a crucial missing link. By weighing four newborn planets in the V1298 Tau system, they've captured a rare snapshot of worlds in the process of transforming into the galaxy's most common
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