La Fundación” la Caixa” prosigue con su compromiso con el fomento de la investigación en España a través de sus distintas convocatorias de becas. Recientemente, ha concedido 100 becas de doctorado y posdoctorado para que investigadores de excelencia desarrollen sus proyectos en universidades y centros de España y Portugal. En este sentido, refuerza los lazos con el Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) que ha recibido a dos de las cien personas becadas en estas modalidades. A través de los programas INPhINIT, dirigido a personal doctorando, y Junior Leader, enfocado en la etapa

IAC researcher David Aguado has obtained a prestigious Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC), aimed at promoting promising young scientists. This is the third ERC grant -one of the most competitive and recognized of the Horizon Europe program- that the center has received so far this year, thus consolidating its international projection. These highly competitive grants provide up to €1.5 million over five years to support outstanding young scientists in establishing their own independent research groups and pursuing pioneering scientific ideas. Searching for the first stars

Astronomers have used telescopes around the world, includingthe Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC or Grantecan) at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma, to study the asteroid 1998 KY26, revealing it to be almost three times smaller and spinning much faster than previously thought. The asteroid is the 2031 target for Japan’s Hayabusa2 extended mission. The new observations offer key information for the mission’s operations at the asteroid. “We found that the reality of the object is completely different from what it was previously described as,” says astronomer Toni Santana-Ros, a