A team of scientists led by the Observatory of Munich University and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias have obtained direct visualization of the process of feeding the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Andromeda galaxy. The study reveals the existence of long filamentary structures of gas and dust which move in a spiral starting at a distance from the black hole and ending up at the black hole itself. The results, which have been published in the Astrophysical Journal, were obtained using images from the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes. The Andromeda Galaxy, which is

The distribution of planets in the over five thousand distant solar systems discovered to date forms a complex puzzle. There is a region in the planetary orbit graph, known as the " Neptunian desert", where very few Neptune-like planets with orbits of between two and four days period around their star have been recorded to date. Now, a scientific team led by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IAA-CSIC) , using a novel technique, new planets around red dwarf stars located precisely in

The Technical Office for the Protection of the Quality of the Sky (OTPC) of the IAC is collaborating to advise about the implementation of energy efficiency and the reduction of light pollution in the port installations of general interest which belong to the public company Puertos Canarios. Specifically, the IAC has just issued a report which checks out the exterior lighting of the installations of the Port of las Nieves in Agaete (Gran Canaria), and in the coming months expects to carry out suitable tests in the Port of Vueltas in Valle Gran Rey (La Gomera) and the Port of Garachico