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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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  • Exo-Earths in GJ 1002
    Press release
    ESPRESSO and CARMENES discover two potentially habitable exo-Earths around a star near the Sun
    An international scientific team led by researchers at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has discovered the presence of two planets with Earth-like masses in orbit around the star GJ 1002, a red dwarf not far from the Solar System. Both planets are in the habitability zone of the star “Nature seems bent on showing us that Earth-like planets are very common. With these two we now know 7 in planetary systems quite near to the Sun” explains Alejandro Suárez Mascareño, an IAC researcher, who is the first author of the study accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics. The
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  • Southern Ring Nebula
    Press release
    James Webb Telescope reveals the possible origin of the mysterious shapes in the Southern Ring Nebula
    The first data show there were at least two, and possibly three, more unseen stars that crafted the oblong, curvy shapes of the Southern Ring Nebula. In addition, for the first time, combining infrared images from James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) with existing data from ESA’s (European Space Agency’s) Gaia observatory, researchers were able to determine the precise mass of the central star before the nebula was formed. In this study, led by Macquarie University in Sydney (Australia), around 70 researchers have participated , among them scientists from the Instituto de Astrofísica de
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  • Webb's First Deep Field
    Press release
    The James Webb telescope produces an unparalleled view of the ghostly light in galaxy clusters
    A recent study, entirely done by researchers at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has produced the most complete analysis to date of the intracluster light, the diffuse and faint light emitted by stars in galaxy clusters which are not gravitationally bound to any galaxy. This result was based on data obtained by the new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The research gives new clues about the formation processes of galaxy clusters, and the properties of dark matter. The article was published in the specialized journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters . In clusters of galaxies
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  • Jorge Martín Camalich (left) and Carlos Hernández Monteagudo (right), researchers at the IAC and the organisers of the present edition of the School, with Rafael Rebolo, Director of the IAC (middle).
    Press release
    XXXIII Canary Islands Winter School - Overlaps at the Frontiers of Astrophysics, Cosmology and Particle Physics
    From 21th November till 2nd December at the Museo de la Ciencia y el Cosmos (San Cristóbal de La Laguna), and organised by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias The 33rd edition of the Winter School of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias will focus on the efforts of astrophysics, cosmology and particle physics to understand the mysteries of the dark universe. The XXXIII Canary Islands Winter School of Astrophysics, which is taking place between November 21st and December 2nd, was inaugurated yesterday in the Museo de la Ciencia y el Cosmos, with a welcome address by Rafael Rebolo
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  • OGS green láser
    Press release
    The European Space Agency and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias celebrate their silver anniversary in Tenerife
    The workshop “25 years of cooperation in optical technologies and future trends”, will take place next Monday, November 14th, at the Headquarters of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) with scientific and engineering staff from the IAC, and from ESTEC, the European Space Technology and Research Centre of the European Space Agency (ESA). At the meeting, the two institutions will present their work on optomechanical engineering and set out the basis for further collaboration. They will discuss, among other subjects, thermal techniques and optical instrumentation developments, cryo
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  • Results of the recent 2D model of CBPs. Left: temperature. Right: Image showing how the simulation would look like if observed with the Solar Orbiter mission in the extreme ultraviolet from space. The CBP is distinguished by the hot magnetic loops that appear bright in the right panel.
    Research news
    Unravelling coronal bright points
    When the Sun is observed in X-ray or extreme ultraviolet wavelengths, hundreds of bright and compact structures with a rounded shape and sizes similar to that of our planet Earth can be easily distinguished in the solar corona. These structures are known as Coronal Bright Points or CBPs and they consist of sets of magnetic loops that connect areas of opposite magnetic polarity on the solar surface. These loops confine the solar plasma and in them, by mechanisms that have been debated for many years among solar physicists, the gas remains with temperatures of several million degrees, emitting
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