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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  • The Near InfraRed Planet Searcher (NIRPS) instrument and its adaptive optics system
    Press release
    A new planet hunter starts its work
    Researchers at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) have participated in the development of NIRPS, an instrument recently installed on the 3.6m telescope at the European Southern Observatory (ESO), which is now hunting for exoplanets around the coolest stars in the Milky Way from the La Silla Observatory, in Chile. The Near InfraRed Planet Searcher (NIRPS) has successfully carried out its first observations. “This remarkable infrared instrument will help us to find the nearest habitable worlds to our Solar System” states René Doyon, the Director of the Institute for Exoplanetary
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  • Scheme of RS Ophiuchi. Matter from the red giant and captured by the white dwarf generates a thermonuclear explosion on the surface of the latter. The ejected material creates a shock wave where particles are accelerated that produce the gamma radiation. Credit G. Pérez-IAC
    Research news
    Proton acceleration in thermonuclear nova explosions revealed by gamma rays
    Classical novae are cataclysmic binary star systems in which the matter of a companion star is accreted on a white dwarf. Accumulation of hydrogen in a layer eventually causes a thermonuclear explosion on the surface of the white dwarf, brightening the white dwarf to ~100.000 solar luminosities and triggering ejection of the accumulated matter. Novae provide the extreme conditions required to accelerate particles, electrons or protons, to high energies. Here we present the detection of gamma rays by the MAGIC telescopes from the 2021 outburst of RS Ophiuchi, a recurrent nova with a red giant
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  • Atmósfera y estructura interna de Gliese 486 b
    Press release
    Gliese 486 b: a Rosetta stone for the study of exoplanets
    An international scientific team , with the participation of the Institutito de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has measured the mass and radius of an Earth-like exoplanet with unprecedented accuracy . The detailed analysis allows to make robust predictions on the structure and composition of its interior and atmosphere. The study is published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. Since the first exoplanet around a solar-like star , 51 Pegasi b, was discovered in 1995, the astronomical community has continued to find new exoplanets that are less and less massive, closer and closer, and
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  • Artist's impression of a system with two super-earths
    Press release
    Two new rocky planets in the solar neighborhood
    An international scientific collaboration, in which the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) participates, has discovered two new super-Earths orbiting a bright red dwarf star only 33 light-years away. Both objects are among the closest-known rocky planets yet found outside our solar system . The results are presented today at the American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting in Pasadena (California, USA). Two new exoplanets, HD 260655 b and HD 260655 c, have been detected using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), a space telescope designed to look for planets in orbit
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  • Orion Protoplanetary Disk
    Press release
    Possible evidence of planet formation found in the Orion Nebula
    International research led by scientists at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has shown the existence of solid sulphur compounds in HH514, a jet of gas coming from the centre of the Orion Nebula. The concentration of this chemical element could be related to the process of exoplanet formation. The researchers have used three of the most important optical telescopes in the world: the Very Large Telescope (VLT), the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC or Grantecan) and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The results are published in the scientific journal Monthly Notices of the Royal
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  • Visit of the "Amigos del IAC" at the OT
    Photomontage
    "Amigos del IAC" visitan el Observatorio del Teide
    El sábado 4 de junio tuvo lugar la primera visita organizada por este programa, que tiene como objetivo fomentar la participación de la ciudadanía en la actividad del Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), dando a conocer su investigación y desarrollo tecnológico. 25 miembros del programa "Amigos del IAC" fueron seleccionados del total de inscritos en la actividad para visitar las instalaciones del Observatorio del Teide (Tenerife) de la mano del equipo que gestiona el programa "Amigos del IAC". Durante su visita, accedieron al interior de varias instalaciones astronómicas y
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