H II regions are ionized nebulae associated with the formation of massive stars. They exhibit a wealth of emission lines in their spectra that form the basis for estimation of chemical composition. The amount of heavy chemical elements is essential to the understanding of important phenomena such as nucleosynthesis, star formation and chemical evolution of galaxies. For over 80 years, however, a discrepancy exists of a factor of around two between heavy-element abundances (the so-called metallicity) derived from the two main kinds of emission lines that can be measured in nebular spectra

The Director of the Starlight Foundation, and researcher at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias Antonia M. Varela Pérez has contributed to a monographic edition of the prestigious journal Science dedicated to light pollution and its consequences. The starry sky has been a source of inspiration throughout human history. Astronomy has been a common element in all cultures and civilizations, and has been used to establish calendars, to navigate and discover new lands, and to drive many scientific and technical advances. The article “The increasing effects of light pollution on professional

International research, with the participation of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), reveals that perturbations in the magnetic fields of galaxies may be related to star formation. The study has mapped the magnetic fields of about fifteen galaxies in the vicinity of the Milky Way. The data were obtained with the HAWC+ instrument on board SOFIA, an airborne infrared telescope on a Boeing 747 that was operational until September 2022. The results are published in The Astrophysical Journal. For decades, astronomers have studied the forces that govern the interior of galaxies -

The first batch of data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument is now available for researchers to mine. Taken during the experiment’s “survey validation” phase, the data include distant galaxies and quasars as well as Milky Way stars. The universe is big, and it’s getting bigger. To study dark energy, the mysterious force behind the accelerating expansion of our universe, scientists are using the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) to map more than 40 million galaxies, quasars, and stars. Today, the collaboration, which includes the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC)