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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  • Mosaic image of asteroid Bennu
    Research news
    The surface of asteroid Bennu: dark, rough and dense with boulders
    Between August and December 2018, during the Approach and Preliminary Survey phases of the NASA OSIRIS-REx mission, a series of images and spectra of the surface of asteroid Bennu, target of the mission, was acquired. Images acquired with MapCam, using 5 different filters provide an average albedo (fraction of the light reflected by the surface of the asteroid) of about 4.5 %, consistent with the spectral type of Bennu as determined from ground-based observations, and in agreement with the results from OSIRIS-REx disk-integrated photometry. Such a dark surface and spectral behaviour are also
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  • Grey sphere surronded by yellow little spheres
    Research news
    Massive collision in the planetary system Kepler 107
    Recently, astrophysicists have studied the configuration of a planetary system (Kepler 107) discovered with the NASA Kepler mission, which was looking for exoplanets outside our Solar System. The planetary system Kepler 107 is constituted of a star similar to the Sun though slightly more massive and four planets orbiting around it. The detailed analysis of the configuration of the planets, in particular their densities, showed that the closest planet is not the densest, which is what is expected from the planet formation theory. Using some simulations, one of the most plausible explanation
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  • Spectral energy distribution of the Taurus molecular cloud region
    Research news
    Anomalous microwave emission detected from the Taurus Molecular Cloud with the QUIJOTE experiment
    The QUIJOTE experiment operates from the Teide Observatory with the goal of characterising the polarization properties of the cosmic microwave background radiation and other Galactic and extra-galactic emission mechanisms in the frequency range 10-42GHz and at large angular scales. Within the studies conducted in the context of characterizing the diffuse radio emissions of our Galaxy, an "anomalous" microwave emission from the Taurus Molecular Cloud (TMC) has been detected with QUIJOTE. This type of emission was detected for the first time about 20 years ago, and cannot be explained in terms
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  • Li abundance, A(Li), versus metallicity, [Fe/H], of the extremely iron-poor dwarf star J0023+0307 compared with other dwarf stars (logg ≥ 3.7) with Li abundance values from Bonifacio et al. (2018) and references therein. Blue filled circles connected with a solid line indicates the spectroscopic binary systems in González Hernández et al. (2008) and Aoki et al. (2012). The Lithium “plateau” (also called Spite Plateau) reference is shown as a solid line at a level of A(Li) = 2.20 dex. Blue dashed line repres
    Research news
    Back to the Lithium Plateau with the [Fe/H] < -6 star J0023+0307
    We present an analysis of the UVES high-resolution spectroscopic observations at the 8.2m VLT of J0023+0307, an extremely iron-poor dwarf star. We are unable to detect iron lines in the spectrum but derive [Fe/H]< −6.1 from the Ca II resonance lines assuming [Ca/Fe]=0.40. The chemical abundance pattern of J0023+0307, with very low [Fe/Mg] and [Ca/Mg] abundance ratios, but relatively high absolute Mg and Si abundances, suggests J0023+0307 is a second generation star formed from a molecular cloud polluted by only one supernova in which the fall-back mechanism played a role. We measure a carbon
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  • Temporal evolution of the spiral wavefront observed in a sunspot photosphere.
    Research news
    Spiral-shaped wavefronts in a sunspot umbra
    There are many oscillatory phenomena in the Sun which show up from the deepest interior layers to the outermost layers of its atmosphere. The study of these waves is a fundamental problem in solar physics, since they are one of the candidates proposed to explain the high temperatures measured in the chromosphere and the corona of the Sun, and they are used to characterize the structure of the Sun using seismological analyses. In this work we have studied wave propagation in sunspots. Sunspots are caused by strong concentrations of magnetic field, visible on the solar disc as dark regions
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  • Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/Decin et al. (2019).
    Research news
    Spiral-shaped winds in old stars reveal presence of a partner
    Towards the end of their lives some 95% of stars evolve into red giants which lose their mass via a “stellar wind”. Eventually they end up as planetary nebulae, ionized gas with a central hot star, a white dwarf. Here we report ALMA data on massive red giant (asymptotic giant branch, AGB) stars, displaying a spiral structure which show that these stars are not individual and have a binary companion. This offers an alternative explanation to the high rates of mass loss which it was thought were present towards the end of the lives of the most massive AGB stars. We show that these stars lose
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