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.

  • Artist's impression of a hot star plagued by a giant magnetic spot (Credit: ESO/L. Calçada, INAF-Padua/S. Zaggia).
    For more than six decades, the quest to understand the formation of hot (about 20,000−30,000 K) extreme horizontal branch (EHB) stars in Galactic globular clusters has remained one of the most elusive in stellar evolutionary theory. Here we report on two discoveries that challenge the idea of the stable luminosity of EHB stars. The first mode of EHB variability is periodic and cannot be ascribed to either binary evolution or pulsation. Instead, we attribute it here to the presence of magnetic spots: superficial chemical inhomogeneities whose projected rotation induces the variability. The
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  • Proposed model to explain the color diversity observed on the surface of Bennu.
    The main objective of the NASA OSIRIS-REx mission is the collection of material from the surface of primitive asteroid (101955) Bennu, and to bring it back to the Earth. To provide general context to the results obtained from the analysis of this sample it is fundamental to carry out an extensive study of the surface of the asteroid. To do that, the spacecraft is provided, among other instruments, with an optical camera (MapCam) equipped with 4 color filters b’, v, w, and x, centered at 473, 550, 698, and 847 nm, respectively. This set-up allowed to do color studies, i.e., to analyze how the
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  • Image of PINRELL - Prototype for INfraREd analysis of Lower Limbs, designed and built by the team at Medical Technology. Credit: Carlos Colodro and Sara González
    Today, November 14th, World Diabetes Day, we celebrate that the prototype PINRELL (Prototype for INfraREd analysis of Lower Limbs) of the Medical Technology Programme (TECMED) of IACTEC, has passed the preliminary proofs of concept and is in the initialization phase for the start of clinical trials. The prototype has been developed in the programme of Medical Technology within IACTEC, the area of technological and business collaboration of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), which has economic support (Training Programme) and infrastructure support (the IACTEC building) from the
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  • Wifi Controller at the IAC Headquarters in La Laguna. Credit: Jorge Goya.
    The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has finished, during October, with the help of FEDER funds, the renewal of the whole platform of the Wifi network of its facilities. The new technology, provided by Aruba, will allow higher speeds, improving the quality of the signal and increasing the security of the users. This is a project which has been steadily implemented centre by centre and, during the health crisis, it has been given a push forward in the Teide Observatory and in the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, and completed in record time, mainly due to the absence of personnel
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  • Tenerife South Airport
    The Technical Office for the Protection of the Quality of the Sky (OTPC) of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) is collaborating with the engineers of Aena so that the exterior lighting of the Tenerife South Airport incorporates the recommendations of the Institute, in order to preserve the astronomical quality of the Canary Observatories. Aena keeps in close touch with this department of the IAC so that the new exterior lighting of Tenerife South Airport conforms to the technical characteristics recommended to improve its efficience and reduce light pollution. Since it was
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