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
  • Jocelyn Bell Burnell next to the radiotelescope she built. Cortesy of Martin Burnell
    Blog post
    Jocelyn Bell Burnell, the woman who discovered pulsars
    When Jocelyn Bell Burnell failed an important exam at the age of 10 she did not expect to become one of the most relevant figures in astronomy. Nor when she began work on her doctoral thesis did she expect to discover an unknown type of star. The story of Jocelyn Bell is one of serendipity, perseverance, the “impostor syndrome” and “little green men”. In honour of her career she will have her own star in the Passage of Science in La Palma. So she will receive the homage which the Island pays to notable scientific figures, such as Stephen Hawking, Alekséi Leonov, Takaaki Kajita, and Samuel
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  • Lucía González Cuesta, Susana Delgado Marante, Julia de León Cruz and Mary Barreto Cabrera
    Press release
    The return of “Girls who broke a glass ceiling looking at the sky"
    To celebrate March 8th, International Women’s Day, a new chapter of the audiovisual series “Girls who broke a glass ceiling looking at the sky” is being premiered. This project was started in 2017 as part of the initiative “The Return of Henrietta Leavitt, from school to a research career, via the Theatre” by the IAC in collaboration with the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT), of the Ministry of Science and Innovation. Its objective is to show to the general public the work of women in science, encouraging young girls to opt for careers in science. Previously the series
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  • Pulsating star in binary system
    Press release
    Astronomers discover a pulsating teardrop-shaped star
    An international team of astronomers, including researchers from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, has found for the first time an unusual star that oscillates on one side due to the gravitational attraction of another nearby star. The study, which is published in the journal Nature Astronomy, uses data from NASA's TESS satellite and has involved the collaboration of citizen scientists.
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  • Teide shadow and Moon
    Press release
    The March “Supermoon” will bid goodbye to winter next to the shadow of Teide
    On March 9th we can see the second “supermoon” of this year, and the last full moon of winter in the northern hemisphere. With the collaboration of the EELabs project, coordinated by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, sky-live.tv will broadcast live, from the Teide Observatory, the rise of the “supermoon” which will be aligned in the evening with the shadow of the volcano.
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  • Night landscape in the Teide National Park. Total Eclipse of Moon and Red Tajinastes -endemic to Tenerife-. Image J.C. Casado @ starryearth.com.
    Press release
    EELabs: sustainable use of artificial lighting
    Initiation of the European project EELabs. The recent visit of the Mayor of Gúímar to the Teide Observatory sees the start of the Energy Efficiency Laboratories project, coordinated by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, for the protection of night-time ecosystems through energy efficiency.
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  • Artistic representation of the white dwarf star
    Press release
    Astronomers discover a white dwarf formed by the merger of two stars
    An international team of researchers led by the University of Warwick, with a member who is a scientist at the IAC has discovered white dwarf with unusual dimensions. This star could be, in fact, the result of the merger of two white dwarfs. The discovery is published today in the journal Nature Astronomy, and could resolve some questions about the evolution of white dwarfs, and about the number of supernova in our Galaxy. The star, which is 150 light years away, was identified by data from the satellite telescope GAIA of the European Space Agency (ESA). Based on these, the astronomers used
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