A team from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has quantified for the first time the impact that the motions of binary stars can have on estimates of dark matter in some of the smallest galaxies in the universe. The study proposes a new methodology that will make it possible to obtain more precise measurements of the amount of dark matter present in these systems. The Milky Way, our galaxy, contains hundreds of billions of stars. However, dozens of much smaller galaxies orbit around it, dwarf companions that host thousands of times fewer stars and live embedded within our galaxy

An international study led by researchers from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) reports the first secure detection of the methyl radical (CH₃) in the environment of an evolved, carbon-rich star. The molecule was found with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in SMP LMC 011, a dying star in the Large Magellanic Cloud, and points to an unexpected way of building the carbon molecules that seed the Universe with organic material. The results are published in the prestigious journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters . The methyl radical, CH₃, is one of the simplest and most

The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has been awarded a new ERC Advanced Grant by the European Research Council (ERC) for the MELODY project, led by researcher Savita Mathur. This grant, one of the most prestigious and competitive in European science, supports established researchers with outstanding track records and highly innovative proposals, with the aim of promoting frontier research capable of opening up new avenues of knowledge. MELODY’s main objective is to study the rotation and magnetic activity of Sun-like stars in order to understand in greater detail the physical