An international team of astronomers with participation of researchers at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and the University of La Laguna (ULL) has revealed an ‘astonishing’ overabundance of massive stars in a neighbouring galaxy.

Several telescopes of the Canary Island Observatories are studying this controversial star in a coordinated campaign involving over a hundred professional and amateur astronomers throughout the world, among them researchers at the IAC and the ULL.

An International team with participation by researchers with close links to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias and the University of La Laguna, obtains the first clear observational evidence that the mass of the supermassive central black hole in a massive galaxy affects the formation of new stars during its lifetime.

Researchers at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) have identified, using the Gran Telescopio de Canarias (GTC) a star which is a key to the formation of the first chemical elements in the Galaxy. The results of this research are published today in the scientific journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

La directora general, quien midió hace unos años el impacto social y económico de la Gran Ciencia (Big Science), destacó el ambicioso Plan Estratégico del IAC para los próximos años. "El IAC -dijo- destaca no sólo por su producción científica, sino también por la creación de capacidades tecnológicas y de innovación". Insistió en que la ciencia que hace el IAC es con y para la sociedad y que este instituto debe contribuir a combatir la pseudociencias.

The remnant of this huge supernova, chosen as Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) by NASA, is the third photograph taken with this telescope within the NIÉPCE Project.