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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  • James Webb Space Telescope image of the planetary nebula NGC 1514
    Press release
    The James Webb Space Telescope captures 'the wedding rings' of a stellar couple
    An international team, including a researcher from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has obtained an incredible image of the planetary nebula NGC 1514 using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), revealing the nebula's spectacular dusty rings in unprecedented detail. NGC 1514 was one of the first nebulae to be studied by astronomer William Herschel, who noted that when viewed through his telescope (the biggest in the World at the time) the nebula looked like a fuzzy cloud somewhat similar in appearance to one of his other discoveries: the planet Neptune. The new images acquired
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  • Image of galaxy M101 with supernova SN 2023ixf.
    Photomontage
    The WEAVE spectrograph captures the interaction of supernova SN 2023ixf with its surroundings one year after its explosion.
    A study conducted with the new WEAVE , installed on the Telescopio William Herschel (WHT) at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos (La Palma), and in whose construction the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) participated, has revealed clear signs of shock interaction in the Type II supernova SN 2023ixf. Almost a year after the explosion, the data obtained with WEAVE reveal complex emission features that provide new clues about the processes shaping the final stages of massive star evolution. SN 2023ixf, located in the nearby galaxy M101, is the closest Type II supernova
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  • Binary system with two stars about to collide
    Press release
    The IAC discovers a pair of stars condemned to explode as a supernova only 150 light years away
    A study published today in Nature Astronomy , in which a researcher from the IAC has participated, outlines the discovery of an extremely rare type of binary system composed of two high mass white dwarfs. The two stars are so close together that they will eventually collide resulting in a supernova explosion which, due to its proximity to the Earth, will appear ten times brighter than the Moon. Type 1a supernovae are a class of cosmic explosion often used as "standard candles" to measure the expansion of the Universe. They occur when a white dwarf exceeds the Chandrasekhar mass - the limit
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  • relic_gal
    Research news
    ZF-UDS-7329: A relic galaxy in the early Universe
    Observations made with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed a larger-than-expected number of massive galaxies when the Universe was still young. The focus of this study is precisely one of these galaxies, ZF-UDS-7329. It is a very compact object, and its spectrum suggests that it formed at a very early stage, when the Universe was around 2 billion years old. According to theoretical predictions, these objects first formed a generation of stars at the center of their dark matter halos and subsequently grew by merging with other halos. However, due to the random nature of these
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  • H-alpha image of the partial solar eclipse of 29 March 2025
    Press release
    The IAC brings the partial solar eclipse of 29 March closer to the public
    This Saturday, 29 March 2025, the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) was able to follow the partial solar eclipse from the Teide Observatory in Tenerife. Although subtle to the naked eye, this eclipse was used by the IAC's outreach team to raise awareness of the phenomenon among a group of people from the ‘Friends of the IAC’ programme and IAC staff. At the same time, an observation was also made from the IAC Headquarters in La Laguna, which could be seen live on the centre's YouTube channel. The eclipse began at 09:14 UT and ended at 10:56 UT, with its maximum at 10:03 UT. For just
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