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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  • Asteroid reflectance spectra from Gaia DR3
    Research news
    Asteroid reflectance spectra from Gaia DR3: Near-UV in primitive asteroids
    Asteroids are the remnants of the planetary formation in the Solar System and so, their study helps us to understand the conditions during the early stages of the formation of our planetary system. Among asteroids, those classified as primitives present similar spectra to that of carbonaceous chondrites, i.e., they are rich in carbon and organic compounds and silicates altered by the presence of liquid water (phyllosilicates). Primitive asteroids are well characterized in various wavelength regions, showing their most diagnostic feature at 3μm. However, there is a lack of information in the
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  • Reinstalation of Commissioning Camera (ComCan) de LSST en Agosto de 2024 / Hernan Stockebrand
    Press release
    La Palma welcomes the Conference LSST@Europe 6, a front-line initiative in the exploration of the Universe
    During the week from 16th to 20th September the International Conference LSST@Europe 6 will be held in La Palma a meeting which will bring together some 140 researchers in astrophysics from more than 20 countries. At the meeting the latest advances in the LSST project, a front-lione initiative in the exploration of the Universe which will be carried out at the Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile and which has close collaboration from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC). The project consists in carrying out a new and detailed census of the sky, called the Legacy Survey of Space and
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  • Image of the exterior lighting of the jetty of Puerto de las Nieves, in Agaete (Gran Canaria).
    Press release
    The IAC will advise Puertos Canarios to reduce light pollution from their installations
    The Technical Office for the Protection of the Quality of the Sky (OTPC) of the IAC is collaborating to advise about the implementation of energy efficiency and the reduction of light pollution in the port installations of general interest which belong to the public company Puertos Canarios. Specifically, the IAC has just issued a report which checks out the exterior lighting of the installations of the Port of las Nieves in Agaete (Gran Canaria), and in the coming months expects to carry out suitable tests in the Port of Vueltas in Valle Gran Rey (La Gomera) and the Port of Garachico
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  • La ministra de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades ha presidido este jueves en el CaixaForum el acto de reconocimiento de las Acreditaciones Severo Ochoa y María de Maeztu, que concede el Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MICIU), a través de la Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI), a centros y unidades de investigación de excelencia.
    Photomontage
    The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, present during the formal awarding of the Severo Ochoa and María de Maeztu qualification
    The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) participated, during the afternoon of September 5th, in the awarding of the qualifications Severo Ochoa and María de Maeztu, offered by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU) via the National Agency for Research (AEI) to centres and research units of excellence in our country. For the IAC this qualification refers to the period 2020-2024, and was received by the outgoing Director, Rafael Rebolo, who was accompanied by the Director Valentín Martínez Pillet and by the project manager Dahimar Sánchez.
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  • Central region of the old galaxy NGC 1386 where thousands of stars are forming into star clusters
    Press release
    Regions where extremely young stars are forming have been found in very old galaxies
    An international study led by Almudena Prieto, a researcher at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has found places where new stars are forming, as faint star clusters, around the centre of an evolved galaxy. This is the first time that young populations of stars have been picked out and dated in this type of galaxies dominated by very old stars, which can be called “rejuvenated old galaxies”. The research has combined observations from various telescopes, both ground based and space based, and has used innovative techniques of data analysis. The results are published in the
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  • Observation of 2024 NP2 obtained with the TST telescope
    Press release
    The Solar System Group at the IAC discovers a new asteroid near the Earth
    The discovery of 2024 NP2 took place during the night of July 4th in images taken during the commissioning of the TST, a new telescope recently installed at the Teide Observatory. On July 4th the first regular observations were made in the commissioning of the Transient Survey Telescope (TST), an astronomical installation produced by a public-private collaboration between the IAC and the Canary company Light Bridges , at the Teide Observatory (Tenerife). The TST is a robotic telescope with a wide field. With a 1 metre telescope and a camera using an sCMOS detector at its prime focus, it can
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