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.

List view
  • Artistic impression of a runaway star propelled by a supernova explosion
    Press release
    IAC researchers participate in the largest Milky Way study of massive runaway stars
    Researchers from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), in collaboration with the Instituto de Ciencias del Cosmos de la Universidad de Barcelona (ICCUB) and the Instituto de Estudios Espaciales de Cataluña (IEEC), have carried out the largest observational study to date on massive runaway stars including rotation and binarity in the Milky Way. This work, recently published in Astronomy & Astrophysics , sheds light on how these stellar “fugitives” are launched into space and what their properties reveal about their intriguing origins. Runaway stars are stars that travel through
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  • Comparison between an observed galaxy (right) and a simulated galaxy (left)
    Research news
    An accurate measure of the size of dark matter haloes using the size of galaxies
    In the standard cosmological model (𝜦CDM), galaxies are merely the visible "tips of the icebergs," residing within massive, invisible cocoons of dark matter known as haloes. While these haloes dictate the evolution and motion of galaxies, measuring their true size and mass has long been one of the most challenging tasks in astrophysics. A new study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics by Claudio Dalla Vecchia and Ignacio Trujillo from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) proposes a breakthrough: a physically motivated definition of a galaxy’s edge that acts as a precision "ruler"
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  • ARKS gallery of faint debris disks
    Press release
    The IAC and the ULL participate in an unprecedented study with ALMA that reveals the Teenage Years of New Worlds
    An international team, with participation from the University of La Laguna (ULL) and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), have, for the first time, captured a detailed snapshot of planetary systems in an era long shrouded in mystery. The study, called ALMA survey to Resolve exoKuiper belt Substructures (ARKS) , is based on a series of 10 articles published simultaneously in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics and was carried out using the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) . Thanks to this work, the sharpest images ever of 24 debris disks, the dusty belts left
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  • RGB image of the Ring Nebula obtained with WEAVE/LIFU
    Press release
    The William Herschel telescope at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory discovers a mysterious iron “bar” in the Ring Nebula
    Research carried out with the new WEAVE spectrograph, installed on the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (La Palma), and in whose construction the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has participated, has found a mysterious bar-shaped cloud of iron inside the iconic Ring Nebula. The study was conducted by a European team led by astronomers at University College London (UCL) and Cardiff University, and includes researchers from the IAC. The cloud of iron atoms, described for the first time in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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  • Artist’s illustration of the V1298 Tau planetary system / Astrobiology Center, NINS.
    Press release
    Astronomers find missing link to Galaxy's most common planets
    One of the biggest recent surprises in astronomy is the discovery that most stars like the Sun harbor a planet between the size of Earth and Neptune within the orbit of Mercury — sizes and orbits absent from our solar system. These ‘ super-Earths' and ` sub-Neptunes’ are the galaxy's most common planets, but their formation has been shrouded in mystery. Now, an international team of astronomers has found a crucial missing link. By weighing four newborn planets in the V1298 Tau system, they've captured a rare snapshot of worlds in the process of transforming into the galaxy's most common
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  • Image of Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon), captured on 23 October from the Teide Observatory / Daniel López and Alfred Rosenberg (IAC)
    Press release
    A solar eclipse and the arrival of a comet will mark the 2026 astronomical calendar
    The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), through its Communication and Scientific Culture Unit (UC3) and in collaboration with the Museum of Science and the Cosmos (MCC), part of Tenerife Museums, publishes the astronomical events for the year 2026 in its traditional calendar. The year 2026 will be marked by a total solar eclipse on 12 August, which will not be visible from the Canary Islands, but will be 70 per cent partial. In addition, 2026 will see the arrival of new comets, meteor showers and other interesting astronomical events. The IAC's 2026 Calendar is illustrated with a
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