The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and the KU Leuven , Belgium, have amplified their framework of collaboration in astrophysical research. The two institutions have signed an agreement which gives continuity to the operations of the Mercator Telescope at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (ORM), which started in 2002, and whose work will be strengthened by the installation of a new instrument called MARVEL (Mercator Array for Radial Velocities). Mercator is a semi-robotic telescope with a 1.2 metre primary mirror. Its name comes from that of the famous Flemish cartographer

An international team, led by a researcher from the University of Liège (Belgium) affiliated to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has discovered an extraordinarily light planet orbiting a distant star in our galaxy. This discovery, reported today in the journal Nature Astronomy, is a promising key to solving the mystery of how such giant, super-light planets form. The new planet, named WASP-193b, appears to dwarf Jupiter in size, yet it is a fraction of its density. The scientists found that the gas giant is 50 percent bigger than Jupiter, and about a tenth as dense — an