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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  • Spectral energy distribution from radio to VHE gamma rays. For the first time a narrow spectral feature is detected in the VHE band. The proposed theoretical emission model is represented by the red curve (taken from Acciari et al. 2020, A&A, 637, A86).
    Research news
    Testing the extreme acceleration mechanisms in the supermassive black holes neighborhood
    Blazars, Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) whose relativistic jets point in the direction of the Earth, dominate the VHE (VHE, E>100 GeV) gamma-ray extragalactic sky. One of the most famous archetypical VHE gamma-ray emitters is the blazar Markarian 501 (Mrk 501). During July 2014, the source displayed a strong flare detected across all wavelengths from VHE to the optical band. In particular, it is especially interesting that the source reached the maximum flux and harder spectrum measured in the X-ray band, compatible with the most extreme historical flare from this source. On 2014 July 19
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  • WASP-156b
    Photomontage
    IAC80 telescope detects faint transit of exoplanet WASP-156b
    Astronomers from the Agrupación Astrónomica de Sabadell together with the Telescopic Operations Technicians of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Marta Puig Subirà and Miguel Rodríguez Alarcón, have detected the transit of the exoplanet WASP-156b, catalogued as a high priority objective by the Exoclock project. The depth of the detected transit was only 6 millimagnitudes and will contribute to improve the ephemerides available for the ARIEL (Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey) mission of the European Space Agency. Exoclock project: Kokori, A., Tsiaras, A
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  • The lines of flow of the magnetic field detected with SOFIA are shown superposed on an image of the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51), by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Credits: NASA, the SOFIA science team, A. Borlaff; NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI) and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA).
    Press release
    Magnetic turbulence hidden in the Whirlpool Galaxy
    There is a force hidden deep inside galaxies: magnetic fields. Invisible to conventional telescopes, they are a factor in galaxy evolution, regulating the formation of new stars and helping to drive intragalatic gas towards their central supermassive black hole.
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  • TMT
    Press release
    The committee of experts of the US Academy of Science considers that the TMT is a priority, and maintains La Palma as a possible site
    The National Academy of Science of the United States presented, yesterday afternoon, its report Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s, a decadal study which identifies priorities for research and makes recommendations for future investment in scientific projects for the next ten years. Among its conclusions the report specifies the Programme of Extremely Large Telescopes (ELT) as a priority for ground-based astronomy, and stresses the need to invest in at least one of the projects proposed for this type of telescopes, among them the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT)
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  • Diana Morant en el CALP
    Press release
    Diana Morant, Minister of Science and Innovation, visits the Centre for Astrophysics in La Palma
    Spanish Minister of Science and Innovation, Diana Morant, visited last Wednesday the Centre for Astrophysics’ facilities in La Palma (CALP) to know the impact of the volcanic eruption on the personnel and on the operation of the facilities at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (Garafía, La Palma). During her visit, she held a meeting with IAC Director Rafael Rebolo, which was also attended by the Director of the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), Romano Corradi, and the ORM Site Manager, Juan Carlos Pérez Arencibia. Accompanying the Minister were the General Secretary of Research, Raquel
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  • Image of the galaxy cluster Abell 370, one of the regions of the sky observed in the SHARDS Frontier Fields project. This is the deepest image ever taken to detect galaxies with emission lines, which are actively forming stars. The centre of the cluster is in the upper right of the image. In the same area, you can see gravitationally amplified galaxies, some of them showing highly deformed and lengthened morphologies, known as arcs. Credit: GRANTECAN
    Press release
    Images from the Hubble Space Telescope and GRANTECAN help to show how the first galaxies were formed
    One of the most interesting questions for astrophysicists for the past few decades is how and when did the first galaxies form. One of the possible answers to “how” is that star formation in the first galaxies took place at a steady rate, building up a system with increasing mass. Another possibility is that the formation was more violent and discontinuous, with intense bursts of star formation, on short timescales, triggered by events such as galaxy mergers and strong concentrations of gas.
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