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

A group of scientists and engineers from IACTEC Espacio, of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), will participate in the Second Spanish Small Satellites International Forum 2020 (SSIF) which will take place on 25th, 26th and 27th pf February in Málaga.The personnel from IACTEC-Espacio will present three studies on the development of technology which will help improve the working of nanosatellites as well as having a stand which will show off the developments and capacity of IACTEC. IACTEC (Space, Technology, Medicine and Large Telescopes) is the centre of technical and commercial

At the next General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), to be held in Korea in 2021, José Miguel Rodríguez Espinosa, a researcher at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias will be named Secretary General of this, the biggest international astronomical organization, with over 13,500 professional astronomers in over 100 countries. For the time being he has been named Assistant General Secretary so that, afterwards, he will be able to take over the Secretariat. He will be the first Spaniard to occupy this position, which he will hold from 2021 to 2024. Rodríguez Espinosa

A study by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), led by researchers Nushkia Chamba, Ignacio Trujillo and Johan H. Knapen, reveals that the enigmatic ultra-diffuse galaxies, very low-luminosity and low-density star galaxies, are similar in size to dwarf galaxies. The results, which are published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, provide new clues about the number and type of galaxies in our Universe and about the nature of dark matter.