An international team, led by researchers from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) through the UNDARK project (Unravelling the Dark Universe from the Canary Islands Observatories), funded by the European Union through the Widening Participation and Spreading Excellence programme, has developed a new method to extract information from galaxy maps tracing the large-scale structure of the Universe and to better understand the physics governing the earliest moments of the Universe after the Big Bang. The study is published in the journal "Astronomy & Astrophysics" . The current best

ESFRI reconoce así la importancia y el avance de este proyecto científico internacional, que se construirá en La Palma, y refuerza su posición ante las próximas fases de desarrollo El Telescopio Solar Europeo (EST) ha sido reconocido como Landmark por el Foro Estratégico Europeo sobre Infraestructuras de Investigación (ESFRI) , tras la decisión adoptada en su 97ª reunión celebrada en Cork los días 23 y 24 de septiembre de 2026. El reconocimiento supone un importante paso para esta infraestructura, incluida desde 2016 en la hoja de ruta de ESFRI, y pone de relieve el avance alcanzado en su

How large can a galaxy grow? This is the question behind a new study led by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), in which an international team of astronomers has measured, with unprecedented precision, the size of IC 1101, considered the largest known galaxy in the Universe. The study has been published in Astronomy & Astrophysics. The result confirms that this cosmic giant is even larger than previously thought. The main body of IC 1101 reaches a diameter of around 1.7 million light-years, approximately 10 times the size of the Milky Way. If it were placed between our galaxy and

Nicolas Lodieu, a scientist working on the SELF project at the Laboratory for Innovation in Optomechanics (LIOM), presented the progress made on this experimental telescope at the international CHASES 2026 conference. SELF is designed to validate technologies for the direct observation of worlds beyond the Solar System. The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has presented the progress made on the SELF (Small ExoLife Finder) telescope at the international Charting the Future of Stellar and Exoplanet Spectroscopy (CHASES 2026) conference. SELF is a technological prototype developed to