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.

  • Image of Messier 6, one of the galaxies in the study. Superposed dashed ellipses are rings indicating concentric density waves in this galaxy. Source: SLOAN + IACbia
    Astronomers at the IAC have discovered complex patterns of resonances in the discs of spiral galaxies not previously described by theories. Using the GHaFaS 2dimensional spectrometer they have measured the velocities of the density waves in the discs of over a hundred galaxies Within the discs of spiral galaxies there are waves which propagate concentrically in the form of spirals. This is somewhat similar to the waves on the surface of a lake, or the standing waves on the strings of a violin, or on the surface of a drum, to use a musical metaphor. These are the so-called “density waves”
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  • The galaxy NGC 1277 in the Perseus cluster. Copyright: Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS).
    The nearby galaxy NGC 1277 was formed at an early epoch of the cosmos and has remainedunchanged since then, thus making it a unique window on to the early Universe. Astronomers have found that the rate of star formation in massive galaxies at that remote epoch was much higher than expected with a thousand times more stars being generated than at present in the Milky Way. Further information: Spanish Press Release
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  • Image of the comet ISON (the bright object in the upper part of the image) post-perihelion. The image was captured by the Solar Space Telescope (SOHO, NASA-ESA), at 12.30 UT on the 29th November 2013.
    ISON: Are you there? What remains of a comet post-perihelion? Earth based observations can tell us whether it still has its nucleus. ISON could be 'alive'. It is difficult to determine its current condition, so we do not know whether it is now just a tail or whether anything remains of its nucleus. The only images available are from solar space telescopes (particularly SOHO, see photograph), and they are at insufficient resolution to show the bright condensation at its centre where the nucleus of a comet normally resides. The data available confirms that ISON is alive but tells us nothing
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