A public programme (IAC-STAR) has been developed for generating of HR and C-M synthetic diagrams to investigate problems of star formation and population synthesis. The programme's outputs have multiple applications: from use as tools for studying the History of Star Formation in the galaxies, to applications in the field of Surface Brightness Fluctuation. IAC-STAR is a free access project via the World Wide Web from the url http://iac-star.iac.es/iac-star and is proving to be very successful.

A planet the size of Jupiter (TrES-1) has been detected from its transits around a star K0 V. (Data: M=0.75 ± 0.07 MJ R= 1.08 (+0.18,-0.04) RJ ). This is the first planet discovered using the transit technique with a small telescope. It is currently the second best-known extrasolar planet, and one of two from which direct thermal emission (light emitted by the planet) has been detected.

An investigation carried out at the IAC has demonstrated that the apparently non-magnetic regions of the solar photosphere (the innermost region of the atmosphere of the Sun) are instead permeated by a "chaotic" magnetic field of very significant intensity, which implies the presence of a vast amount of "hidden" magnetic energy in the quiet solar photosphere. This investigation required to develop first a novel diagnostic technique of magnetic fields, which is based on three-dimensional numerical simulations of the Hanle effect in atomic and molecular lines. For more information see the

A possible explanation has been discovered for the UV peak at 2175A based on the presence of fullerenes and buckyonians in interstellar matter. This is a problem that has been known about in astrophysics for over fifty years.

The range of masses for the compact object in binary r-X 2S 0921-630 has been determined (between 2.0-4.3 solar masses), consistent with a massive neutron star or a low-mass black hole.

Este proyecto educativo, coordinado y gestionado desde el IAC y subvencionado por el Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología pretende ayudar al profesorado de la ESO (Enseñanza Secundaria Obligatoria) y Bachillerato en el desarrollo de contenidos curriculares que puedan tratarse desde el ámbito de la Astronomía proporcionando, a su vez, un enfoque científico-cultural-humano de los mismos.