The IAC shows the potential of the Canary Island Observatories at the American Astronomical Society meeting

The IAC shows the potential of the Canary Island Observatories at the American Astronomical Society meeting
The IAC shows the potential of the Canary Island Observatories at the American Astronomical Society meeting
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The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) is demonstrating the quality and international relevance of the Canary Islands Observatories at the 245th session of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting being held this week in Maryland (USA).

This meeting, led by the American astrophysics community, brings together the world's most important research centres in this field to share lines of work and proposals for the present and the future.

The IAC delegation in Maryland is headed by the director of the centre, Valentín Martínez Pillet, who is part of the panel of speakers with a lecture on Astrophysical Observatories in the Canary Islands. Along with Martínez Pillet, the Subdirector, Eva Villaver, the Research Coordinator, Jesús Falcón, and the head of the Canary Islands Observatories, Emilio García, have travelled to Maryland. In addition, the principal investigator of the CTAO (Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory) project at the IAC, Ramón García López.

The IAC will show, with data, why its observatories are, together with those of Chile and Hawaii, among the three best places in the world for Astrophysical Observation. In this respect, the director Valentín Martínez Pillet points out that “in the Canary Islands we have excellent sky quality, both because of the atmospheric parameters and because of the protection provided by the so-called ‘Sky Law’, which is unique in the world and prevents light pollution from affecting telescopic operations”.

In addition, Pillet also points out the connectivity of the Canary Islands' observatories and their capacity to host large international projects such as the CTAO network, the European Solar Telescope (EST) or the TMT, if it is not finally installed in Hawaii.

Thanks to the exceptional quality of the Canarian skies and the advanced instrumentation of the telescopes located at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (ORM) and the Teide Observatory (OT), significant advances have been made in various fields of astrophysics, which have been referenced in the best scientific publications and validated by international agreements.

The IAC's participation in this 245th session of the AAS reaffirms Spain's leadership in the field of astrophysics and consolidates the Canary Islands Observatories as a world reference for astronomical research.

News type
Press release

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