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.

List view
  • Image of the planetary nebula WeSb1 / Credit: Klaus Bernhard
    Press release
    The IAC discovers a planetary nebula that destroyed its solar system
    An international team of researchers, including staff from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has discovered a planetary nebula that destroyed its own planetary system, conserving the remaining fragments in the form of dust orbiting its central star. To date, more than 5000 exoplanets have been discovered orbiting stars of all kinds and almost every stage of stellar evolution. However, while exoplanets have been discovered around white dwarfs – the final stage in the evolution of low- and intermediate-mass stars like the Sun, no exoplanets have been detected in the previous
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  • light bridges
    Research news
    Dissecting light bridges: the stratification of their physical properties in geometric height
    Light bridges are elongated and bright structures protruding into the umbra of sunspots. The presence of light bridges has a significant role in the evolution of sunspots and the heating of their overlying atmosphere. Therefore, investigating these structures is crucial to understanding fundamental aspects of sunspots. By applying a novel code based on deep-learning algorithms called SICON to spectropolarimetric observations acquired with the Hinode satellite, we computed atmospheric parameters that allowed us to infer the variation of the physical properties of light bridges on a geometric
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  • Relación entre la SFR media para las galaxias con y sin AGN
    Research news
    The role of active galactic nucleus feedback on the evolution of dwarf galaxies from cosmological simulations: Supermassive black holes suppress star formation in low-mass galaxies
    Recent observational studies suggest that feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGNs)—the energetic centres powered by supermassive black holes—may play an important role in the formation and evolution of dwarf galaxies, contrary to the standard thought. We investigated this using two sets of 12 cosmological magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the formation of dwarf galaxies: one set using a version of the AURIGA galaxy formation physics model including AGN feedback and a parallel set with AGN feedback turned off. Our results reveal that AGNs can suppress the star formation (SF) of dwarf
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  • DESI observes the sky from the Mayall Telescope, shown here during the 2023 Geminid meteor shower. Credit: KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/R. Sparks
    Press release
    New DESI Results Weigh In On Gravity
    Gravity has shaped our cosmos. Its attractive influence turned tiny differences in the amount of matter present in the early universe into the sprawling strands of galaxies we see today. A new study using data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) has traced how this cosmic structure grew over the past 11 billion years, providing the most precise test to date of gravity at very large scales. DESI is an international collaboration of more than 900 researchers, included the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), from over 70 institutions around the world and is managed by
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  • MaNGA galaxies
    Research news
    Constraints on the in situ and ex situ stellar masses in nearby galaxies obtained with artificial intelligence
    The hierarchical model of galaxy evolution suggests that mergers have a substantial impact on the intricate processes that drive stellar assembly within a galaxy. However, accurately measuring the contribution of accretion to a galaxy's total stellar mass and its balance with in situ star formation poses a persistent challenge, as it is neither directly observable nor easily inferred from observational properties. Using data from MaNGA, we present theory-motivated predictions for the fraction of stellar mass originating from mergers in a statistically significant sample of nearby galaxies
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  • ESA’s Hera mission lifted off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Space /ESA - S. Corvaja
    Press release
    The IAC is participating in the first European planetary defence mission
    Researchers Julia de León and Javier Licandro of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) are participating in the Hera mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) , successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida (USA) on 7th October at 14:52 UTC. This is the first European mission for planetary defence which together with NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid redirection Test) will study the effects of a technique for diverting asteroids called “ kinetic impactor”. The DART probe crashed into the smaller ( Dimorphos) of the two asteroids which form the binary system Didymos, on September
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