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.

  • Gran Canaria
    During the afternoon of Sunday 20th June, as part of the outreach activities of the Energy Efficiency Laboratories (EELabs) project, coordinated by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) the sky-live.tv channel will broadcast the sunset of the summer solstice from the municipality of Tejeda, with the collaboration of the Town Council of the municipality and of World Heritage (Patrimonio Mundial) and Biosphere Reserve Institute of Grand Canary. “The summer solstice was one of the key dates in the astronomy of the aboriginal people of the Island of Grand Canary. We know this thanks to
    Advertised on
  • DQSkies 2021
    The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), and the International Astronomical Union (IAU) will be organizing, in La Palma, the meeting “Dark and quiet skies for science and society” between the 3rd and 7th of October 2021. This meeting is the continuation of the online workshop with the same name, which brought together, a year ago, about a thousand researchers from throughout the world to campaign for the natural darkness of the night sky. The congress “Dark and Quiet Skies for Science and Society” is backed by UNOOSA, the
    Advertised on
  • Premio CICOP
    Last Saturday the International Centre for Heritage Conservation (CICOP, the initials of its name in Spanish) awarded the International Prize for the Conservation and Protection of the astronomical quality of the Canary sky to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) for its contribution to the preservation of the darkness and transparency of the sky over the Islands via the Canary Observatories and the Technical Office for the Protection of the Sky (OTPC), which offer protection against light and radio wave pollution atmospheric contamination: a contribution which is exceptional
    Advertised on
  • Reunión Cabildo, IAC y Starmus
    Three organizations have today agreed to work jointly to ensure that the island will be the next host to the Starmus Festival, an international multidisciplinary event which unites science, art, and music. The president of the Cabild of La Palma, Mariano Zapata, the councillor for Culture and Historic Heritage, Jovita Monterrey, the Director of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) Rafael Rebolo, and the director and founder of the Starmus Festival, Garik Israelian met today in Santa Cruz de La Palma and agreed to continue collaborating so that the next edition of the Starmus
    Advertised on
  • Poster of the Astronomy Education Adventure in the Canary Islands 2021 course
    "Our home in the cosmic ocean" is the title chosen for the new edition of the International Summer Course for teachers organized by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) together with other educational institutions, which will take place from July 26 to 30 in virtual format. After the success of the last edition, held entirely online and in which some 200 teachers from more than 40 countries participated, the International Summer Course Astronomy Education Adventure in the Canary Islands repeats the format, with the aim of contributing to curb the pandemic of COVID-19 and reach more
    Advertised on
  • Artistic composition of a supermassive black hole regulating the evolution of its environment. Credit: Gabriel Pérez Díaz, SMM (IAC) and Dylan Nelson (Illustris-TNG).
    At the heart of almost every sufficiently massive galaxy there is a black hole whose gravitational field, although very intense, affects only a small region around the centre of the galaxy. Even though these objects are thousands of millions of times smaller than their host galaxies our current view is that the Universe can be understood only if the evolution of galaxies is regulated by the activity of these black holes, because without them the observed properties of the galaxies cannot be explained.
    Advertised on