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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  • Imagen del proyecto "Habla con Ellas: Mujeres en Astronomía"
    Press release
    Education and social awareness activities to promote the participation of women and girls in Science
    Some 40 women astronomers, engineers and technologists from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), from IACTEC and from other collaborating institutions are taking part in around ten initiatives to raise awareness of the important contribution of women in Science and to stimulate the interest of girls in scientific and technological careers. The activities are part of the celebrations of 11F, the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, and they will extend from February till June. Even though the percentage of women in scientific and technical careers has grown in recent
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  • ExoLife Finder (ELF)
    Press release
    Initiation of LIOM, the IAC Laboratory for Innovation in Optomechanics
    From 13th to 17th of February, in IACTEC, the technical collaboration zone of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, the first scientific meeting of the Laboratory for Innovation in Optomechanics (LIOM) is taking place. This is a project for the development of new optical and mechanical technology which will form part of the next generaton of telescopes, such as the ExoLife Finder (ELF), aimed at the search for life outside the Solar System. The meeting has brought together 30 specialists in optics and photonics from Europe, Canada, and the United States. During the course of this week
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  • ESPRESSO Science Team Meeting 2023
    Photomontage
    The scientific team of the ESPRESSO instrument meets to review its first 5 years
    The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) in collaboration with the ESPRESSO consortium, has organized a conference in Lanzarote to review the current state of research carried out with the ESPRESSO instrument on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the European Southern Observatory (ESO). From 7th to 10th February, at Costa Teguise (Lanzarote, Spain) the “ESPRESSO Science Team Meeting 2023” was held. This conference, organized by the IAC, was aimed at reviewing the current status of the science carried out with the observations which used the guaranteed time on the ESPRESSO spectrograph
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  • Itxiar Anguita Fontecha
    Photomontage
    Itxiar Anguita Fontecha, a fighter for Equality, Accessibility, and Inclusion
    With deep sadness we are are sorry to report the death of our colleague María Concepción (Itxiar) Anguita Fontecha, outreach astronomer in the Unit of Communication and Scientific Culture (UC3) and Coordinator of the external web of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC). Itxiar, with a degree in Mathematical Sciences from the Complutense University of Madrid, specializing in Astonomy and Geodesy, and with a great interest in science education and outreach, travelled from her native Madrid in 1997, accompanied by her beloved daughter Tristana, to join the Cabinet of the Director of
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  • Photomontage
    The IAC hosted the meetings of the PERTE Chip Commissioner, with firms and academic departments in the semiconductor field
    Today, January 30th, several meeings took place between the Commissioner of the Strategic Proyect for the Recovery and Economic Transformation of Microelectronics and Semiconductores (PERTE chip), Jaime Martorell, and entities within the sector in the Island of Tenerife, at the premises of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC). The meetings were chaired by the Counselor for Economic knowldege and Employment of the Canary Government, Elena Mañez, and were attended by the Director of the IAC, Rafael Rebolo, and the Director of the Canary Agency for Research, Innovation, and the
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  • Low iron binary recreation
    Press release
    A near-pristine star found to be binary
    The nearly primordial origin of an ancient star of the Milky Way confirmed by an international team of researchers thanks to the ESPRESSO spectrograph. Stars with very low content of chemical elements are considered to be the older stars in the Milky Way. Formed a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, a very small time compared to the age of the Universe, these stars are real fossils which encode the first phases of the chemical evolution of the Universe in their atmosphere. The star SMSS1605-1443, discovered in 2018, was identified as one of the earliest stars in the galaxy, but its
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