The IAC researcher Susana Iglesias-Groth has discovered the existence of tryptophan, an amino acid essential for the formation of proteins and the develoment of living organisms, within a stellar system in the Perseus Cloud. She did this using data from the Spitzer Space Observatory. The results of this finding are published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Tryptophan is one of the 20 amino acids considered essential for the formation of proteins, which are key macromolecules for the development of life on Earth. This amino acid has many spectral features in

The "Astronomy Education Adventure in the Canary Islands 2023" will take place in Tenerife from 17 to 21 July and will mainly focus on research on the Solar System and extrasolar planets, highlighting the work carried out at the IAC and the Observatories of the Canary Islands. The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), together with other scientific and educational institutions, is organising the ninth edition of the "Astronomy Education Adventure in the Canary Islands" (AEACI). Under the title "Other Worlds", the latest discoveries and advances in research on extrasolar planets, the

Using observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), an international scientific team, in which the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) participates, has identified water vapour in the atmosphere of WASP-18 b, a massive extrasolar planet, a so-called hot Jupiter, with a temperature of around 2.700 °C. The result is published in the journal Nature. Exoplanet WASP-18 b is about 400 light-years from Earth, is 10 times more massive than Jupiter and has an orbital period of less than a day. Its extreme proximity to its star, its relative closeness to Earth, and its large mass

An international research, with the participation of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has discovered an Earth-size exoplanet that may be carpeted with volcanoes. Called LP 791-18 d, the planet could undergo volcanic outbursts as often as Jupiter’s moon Io, the most volcanically active body in our solar system. The study is published in the scientific journal Nature. LP 791-18 d orbits a small red dwarf star about 90 light-years away in the southern constellation Crater. The team estimates it’s only slightly larger and more massive than Earth. Astronomers already knew about two

Using first-of-their-kind observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), an international scientific team, in which the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) participates, finds a unique, minuscule galaxy that emitted its light more than 13 billion years ago. The galaxy, detected through gravitational lensing, is one of the smallest ever discovered at this distance and has an extremely high star formation rate for its size. This discovery could help astronomers learn more about galaxies that were present shortly after the Universe came into existence. The paper is published in