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.

  • Pulsating star in binary system
    An international team of astronomers, including researchers from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, has found for the first time an unusual star that oscillates on one side due to the gravitational attraction of another nearby star. The study, which is published in the journal Nature Astronomy, uses data from NASA's TESS satellite and has involved the collaboration of citizen scientists.
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  • Jocelyn Bell Burnell next to the radiotelescope she built. Cortesy of Martin Burnell
    When Jocelyn Bell Burnell failed an important exam at the age of 10 she did not expect to become one of the most relevant figures in astronomy. Nor when she began work on her doctoral thesis did she expect to discover an unknown type of star. The story of Jocelyn Bell is one of serendipity, perseverance, the “impostor syndrome” and “little green men”. In honour of her career she will have her own star in the Passage of Science in La Palma. So she will receive the homage which the Island pays to notable scientific figures, such as Stephen Hawking, Alekséi Leonov, Takaaki Kajita, and Samuel
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  • Teide shadow and Moon
    On March 9th we can see the second “supermoon” of this year, and the last full moon of winter in the northern hemisphere. With the collaboration of the EELabs project, coordinated by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, sky-live.tv will broadcast live, from the Teide Observatory, the rise of the “supermoon” which will be aligned in the evening with the shadow of the volcano.
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  • Night landscape in the Teide National Park. Total Eclipse of Moon and Red Tajinastes -endemic to Tenerife-. Image J.C. Casado @ starryearth.com.
    Initiation of the European project EELabs. The recent visit of the Mayor of Gúímar to the Teide Observatory sees the start of the Energy Efficiency Laboratories project, coordinated by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, for the protection of night-time ecosystems through energy efficiency.
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  • Artistic representation of the white dwarf star
    An international team of researchers led by the University of Warwick, with a member who is a scientist at the IAC has discovered white dwarf with unusual dimensions. This star could be, in fact, the result of the merger of two white dwarfs. The discovery is published today in the journal Nature Astronomy, and could resolve some questions about the evolution of white dwarfs, and about the number of supernova in our Galaxy. The star, which is 150 light years away, was identified by data from the satellite telescope GAIA of the European Space Agency (ESA). Based on these, the astronomers used
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  • Camera Drago
    A group of scientists and engineers from IACTEC Espacio, of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), will participate in the Second Spanish Small Satellites International Forum 2020 (SSIF) which will take place on 25th, 26th and 27th pf February in Málaga.The personnel from IACTEC-Espacio will present three studies on the development of technology which will help improve the working of nanosatellites as well as having a stand which will show off the developments and capacity of IACTEC. IACTEC (Space, Technology, Medicine and Large Telescopes) is the centre of technical and commercial
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