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 President of the Cabildo of La Palma, Sergio Rodríguez inaugurated this morning the International Conference LSST@Europe 6 which has brought together over 140 people from over twenty countries in the field of astrophysical research. In the oficial inauguration there was also participation by the Director of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), Valentín Martínez Pillet, the director of the LSST constructive project Zeljko Ivezic and the president of the international organizing committee Mireia Montes Quiles. Sergio Rodríguez noted the importance of this type of scientific

An international research team, with participation by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) shows that the satellite galaxy NGC 5195 has passed twice through the disc of the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51), in relatively recent times, stimulating star formation, and defining the structure of its arms. The research is published in the prestigious The Astrophysical Journal. The Whirlpool Galaxy M51, is a ”grand design” spiral galaxy: its spiral form is dominated by two well defined arms. Discovered by Charled Messier in 1771 M51 lies some 31 million light years from Earth, As it is face-on