On 12 August, to mark the total eclipse that will be visible across much of Spain, various towns in Palencia — including the capital, Frómista and Carrión de los Condes — will host a series of observation and outreach events bringing together scientists and students from Spain, Morocco and the United States. This event will serve as a training exercise for the NATE experiment, which will take place in North Africa during the next total eclipse next year, and will act as a meeting point between depopulated areas of Spain, the outermost regions, and Moroccan, American and Spanish students and

Clues to the first stars may be hiding much closer to home than expected. An international team led by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has detected potential chemical traces of the very first stars in the Universe within a neighboring galaxy. The setting for this discovery is NGC 1277, a well-known "relic" galaxy. While normal galaxies grow and transform by merging with others throughout their history, this compact system formed most of its stars very quickly in the early Universe and became frozen in time. Acting as a cosmic time capsule, this galaxy is perfect for