The international team of the “Chromospheric LAyer Spectro-Polarimeter” (CLASP) space missions, which includes three scientists of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has just received the NASA Group Achievement Honor Award for the successful execution of the recent CLASP2.1 mission. The goal of this mission is to map the magnetic field of the Sun in an extended region of the chromosphere. The Chromospheric Layer Spectro-Polarimeter series of heliophysics sounding rocket missions were designed to measure the polarization of the ultraviolet light emitted by the Sun to study the

A research team at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has observed an unusual type of emission in a sample of local galaxies which could indicate the presence of accretion discs around intermediate mass black holes (IMBH). The discovery would multiply by five the numer of known IMBH and opens a new way to detect and study this mysterious class of astronomica objects. Although only a few are known, via indirect evidence, the IMBH are a key to understand the formation of supermassive black holes and the galaxies which harbour them. The IMBH is a type of black hole whose mass is

A team of researchers from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), the University of Manchester and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology have detected an anomalously high lithium abundance in the atmosphere of the companion star of a binary millisecond pulsar. The lithium abundance is higher compared to stars with the same effective temperature and high-metallicity stars and so the study provides unambiguous evidence for fresh lithium production. Lithium is a fragile element and in stars similar to the Sun it is gradually destroyed in the interiors via low-temperature

Research led by the University of Chicago and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has shown the existence of exoplanets with water and rock around type M dwarf stars, which are the most common in the Galaxy. The results are published in the prestigious journal Science. A detailed analysis of the masses and the radii of all 43 known exoplanets around M stars, which make up 80% of the stars in the Milky Way, has led to a surprising discovery, entirely led by the researchers Rafael Luque, of the University of Chicago and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC) and Enric

Astronomers simulate physical processes in the interstellar medium of galaxies at “Cosmic Noon” with SKA

A study, led by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has confirmed the presence of an unusual metal-poor brown dwarf less than 30 light-years away from the Sun. Its proximity could suggest a possible overabundance of brown dwarfs formed in the early stages of the Milky Way. Several telescopes located at the observatories of Roque de Los Muchachos (La Palma) and Calar Alto (Almería) have been used in the investigation. The results are published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. On a cosmic scale, our immediate neighbourhood is composed of just a few hundred stars and brown