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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  • Visit of the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Science
    Photomontage
    The Subsecretary of Science and Innovation visits the Canary Islands Observatories
    On June 28th and 29th, the Undersecretary of Science and Innovation, Carlos Marco Estellés, and his Chief of Technical Cabinet, Tomás Fraile Santos, visited the two Observatories of the Canary Islands, in Tenerife and La Palma. First, they went to the Teide Observatory, where they visited the facilities of the Optical Ground Station (OGS), IAC80, QUIJOTE and some of the robotic telescopes. They also made a solar observation, accompanied by the Director of the IAC, Rafael Rebolo López, the Manager of the OTAI, Anselmo Sosa Méndez, and the Head of the Scientific Communication and Culture Unit
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  • The amplitude of metallicity variations (indicated by the height of the colored rectangles) in neutral clouds is much larger and inconsistent with that found in HII regions, B-type stars, classical Cepheids and young open clusters.
    Research news
    About metallicity variations in the local Galactic interstellar medium
    In this work we discuss and confront recent results on metallicity variations in the local interstellar medium, obtained from observations of H II regions by our group and neutral clouds (from literature) of the Galactic thin disk, and compare them with recent high-quality metallicity determinations of other tracers of the chemical composition of the interstellar medium as B-type stars, classical Cepheids, and young clusters. We find that the metallicity variations obtained for these last kinds of objects are consistent with each other and with that obtained for H II regions but
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  • AEACI 2022
    Press release
    The IAC once again celebrates its Astronomical Education Adventure in face-to-face format
    The eighth edition of the international summer school for teachers "Astronomy Education Adventure in the Canary Islands" will take place from 24 to 29 July in Tenerife and will focus on the relationship between Astronomy and the Sustainable Development Goals. The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), together with other scientific and educational institutions, organises the eighth edition of the international school for teachers "Astronomy Education Adventure in the Canary Islands" (AEACI) which this year will be dedicated to "Astronomy for Sustainable Development" on the occasion of
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  • The Near InfraRed Planet Searcher (NIRPS) instrument and its adaptive optics system
    Press release
    A new planet hunter starts its work
    Researchers at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) have participated in the development of NIRPS, an instrument recently installed on the 3.6m telescope at the European Southern Observatory (ESO), which is now hunting for exoplanets around the coolest stars in the Milky Way from the La Silla Observatory, in Chile. The Near InfraRed Planet Searcher (NIRPS) has successfully carried out its first observations. “This remarkable infrared instrument will help us to find the nearest habitable worlds to our Solar System” states René Doyon, the Director of the Institute for Exoplanetary
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  • Scheme of RS Ophiuchi. Matter from the red giant and captured by the white dwarf generates a thermonuclear explosion on the surface of the latter. The ejected material creates a shock wave where particles are accelerated that produce the gamma radiation. Credit G. Pérez-IAC
    Research news
    Proton acceleration in thermonuclear nova explosions revealed by gamma rays
    Classical novae are cataclysmic binary star systems in which the matter of a companion star is accreted on a white dwarf. Accumulation of hydrogen in a layer eventually causes a thermonuclear explosion on the surface of the white dwarf, brightening the white dwarf to ~100.000 solar luminosities and triggering ejection of the accumulated matter. Novae provide the extreme conditions required to accelerate particles, electrons or protons, to high energies. Here we present the detection of gamma rays by the MAGIC telescopes from the 2021 outburst of RS Ophiuchi, a recurrent nova with a red giant
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  • Atmósfera y estructura interna de Gliese 486 b
    Press release
    Gliese 486 b: a Rosetta stone for the study of exoplanets
    An international scientific team , with the participation of the Institutito de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has measured the mass and radius of an Earth-like exoplanet with unprecedented accuracy . The detailed analysis allows to make robust predictions on the structure and composition of its interior and atmosphere. The study is published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. Since the first exoplanet around a solar-like star , 51 Pegasi b, was discovered in 1995, the astronomical community has continued to find new exoplanets that are less and less massive, closer and closer, and
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