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.

  • Ilusiones y estrellas
    El Observatorio del Teide, en Tenerife, recibe estos días una visita muy especial. Una decena de chicos y chicas discapacitados disfrutarán esta semana de una experiencia única: contemplar el firmamento desde uno de los lugares más privilegiados del planeta para la observación astronómica. El Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) abre su telescopio educativo Mons a la iniciativa “Ilusiones y Estrellas”, un proyecto social que apuesta por la formación como mecanismo efectivo de integración. “Venir a observar aquí es para ellos un sueño”, explica el administrador del Observatorio del
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  • Artist conception of asteroid 24 Themis and two small fragments of this dynamical family, which resulted from a large impact more than one billion years ago. Note that one of the small fragments is inert (as most asteroids are) and the other has a comet-l
    A thin layer of ice and complex organic molecules covers the surface the asteroid Themis (the largest of a family of asteroids to which it gives its name), a rocky body200 kilometres in diameter orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. According to an international team of astronomers, the ice particles are uniformly distributed over the entire surface of the asteroid in even greater proportions than the water detected on the Moon. This unexpected discovery, which could explain the development of life on Earth, has been published by the scientific journal Nature. ‘A thin layer of frost covers
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  • Following the announcement by the ESO Council that it has chosen Cerro de Armazones as the "reference location" for the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias has confirmed its view, based on the analysis of the publically available scientific data and test results, that the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos (ORM), in the Island of La Palma, is the best site for the telescope. The ESO Council's announcement makes it much more difficult for Spain's candidate location, the Roque de los Muchachos (Island of La Palma) to finally be chosen, even
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  • Por tercer año consecutivo, mañana martes se celebra a nivel internacional la “Noche Mundial en Defensa de la Luz de las Estrellas”. Como cada 20 de abril, esta iniciativa pretende incidir en la importancia de la luz de las estrellas como patrimonio cultural, científico y medioambiental de la humanidad, así como conmemorar los principios de la iniciativa Starlight. Bajo el lema “Hay otra manera de iluminar la noche, ¡enciende las estrellas!”, se insiste en la necesidad de tomar medidas para evitar la contaminación lumínica y se reivindica el derecho de la población del planeta a disfrutar de
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