News

This section includes scientific and technological news from the IAC and its Observatories, as well as press releases on scientific and technological results, astronomical events, educational projects, outreach activities and institutional events.

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  • Photomontage
    The IAC hosted the meetings of the PERTE Chip Commissioner, with firms and academic departments in the semiconductor field
    Today, January 30th, several meeings took place between the Commissioner of the Strategic Proyect for the Recovery and Economic Transformation of Microelectronics and Semiconductores (PERTE chip), Jaime Martorell, and entities within the sector in the Island of Tenerife, at the premises of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC). The meetings were chaired by the Counselor for Economic knowldege and Employment of the Canary Government, Elena Mañez, and were attended by the Director of the IAC, Rafael Rebolo, and the Director of the Canary Agency for Research, Innovation, and the
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  • Low iron binary recreation
    Press release
    A near-pristine star found to be binary
    The nearly primordial origin of an ancient star of the Milky Way confirmed by an international team of researchers thanks to the ESPRESSO spectrograph. Stars with very low content of chemical elements are considered to be the older stars in the Milky Way. Formed a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, a very small time compared to the age of the Universe, these stars are real fossils which encode the first phases of the chemical evolution of the Universe in their atmosphere. The star SMSS1605-1443, discovered in 2018, was identified as one of the earliest stars in the galaxy, but its
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  • Emisión polarizada en microondas medido por QUIJOTE
    Press release
    QUIJOTE maps the structure of our Galaxy’s magnetic field
    Almost a decade after starting observations of the sky in the northern hemisphere, the QUIJOTE Collaboration has presented an initial series of 6 scientific articles, giving the most accurate description we have of the polarization of the emission of the Milky Way in the microwave range. This is a window of observation not previously explored, which provides complementary information to that obtained previously by space missions (Planck and WMAP) dedicated to the study of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB), the fossil radiation left behind by the Big Bang. The new results allow
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  • Calendario 2023
    Photomontage
    Astronomical calendar 2023
    The Unit of Communication and Scientific Culture (UC3) of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), with the collaboration of the Museum of Science and the Cosmos (Museums of Tenerife), has edited two astronomical wall calendars with astronomical events for the year 2023, which can be consulted and downloaded in digital format and picked up in physical form at the IAC headquarters in La Laguna. The astronomical images that illustrate them have been obtained by the astrophotographer Daniel López (El Cielo de Canarias). The Wall Calendar ( link to the document pdf) The Poster calendar (
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  • Low iron binary recreation
    Press release
    Astronomers find the origin of one of the oldest stars in the Milky Way
    An international team of researchers, among them scientists from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has confirmed the primitive origen of an old star in the Milky Way, using the ESPRESSO instrument. The stars with the least content of metals are considered to be the oldest in the Milky Way, formed only a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, which is a small fraction of the age of the universe. These stars are “living fossils” whose chemical composition gives clues about the first stages of the evolution of the universe. The star SMSS1605-1443 was discovered in 2018 and
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  • Lanzamiento de DRAGO2
    Press release
    The IAC sends to space its second instrument for Earth observation
    The infrared camera DRAGO-2, developed by the team at IACTEC-Space and integrated into the satellite carrier ION-scv007 Glorious Gratia of the Italian company D-Orbit is now in orbit around the Earth after its successful launch yesterday on board a Falcon 9 rocket of Space-X. The Transporter-6 mission of SpaceX lifted off without a hitch at 14: 56 UT from platform 40 of the Space Force Station at Cape Canaveral, Florida (USA). Yesterday afternoon students, families, the media and IACTEC personnel were in the viewing room which had been installed in the multi-use area of IACTEC in the
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