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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  • Artistic impression of the constant emission of winds produced during the eruption of a black hole in an X-ray binary. Credit: Gabriel Pérez Díaz, SMM (IAC).
    Press release
    Continuous infrared winds discovered during the eruption of a stellar mass black hole
    A team of researchers from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has detected for the first time the constant infrared emission from winds produced during the eruption of a black hole in an X-ray binary. Until now, these flows of material had been detected only in other wavelength ranges, such as X-rays or the visible, depending on the phase in which the black hole is consuming its surrounding material. This study provides the first evidence that the winds are present throughout the evolution of the eruption, independently of the phase, and this is a step forward in our
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    Press release
    Communiqué from the IAC about the recent fire in Garafía
    The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and the international institutions of the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory would like to give due recognition to the outstanding work carried out by the personnel who have participated in the tasks of extinguishing the fire declared last Friday, 21st August, in the municipality of Garafía (La Palma) and which on the Sunday was “stabilized”, thanks to their professionalism, effort and courage in extremely difficult labour. We would also like to praise the efficiency and the coordination shown by the various administrations involved, especially
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  • The stellar source for phosphorus, element so important for life, is still unknown. Credit: Gabriel Pérez Díaz, SMM (IAC).
    Research news
    The phosphorus that came from the stars
    All chemical elements in the Universe (except for H and most of the He) have been made in stellar interiors. But among those elements, the ones that allowed to build life such as we find on Earth are of particular interest (carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, sulphur and phosphorus). However, the stellar origin of phosphorus (P) is still unknown as none of the current models of Galactic chemical evolution can explain all the phosphorus we observe in the Galaxy and notably in our Solar System, highlighting a still lacking phosphorus source. In this work we report the discovery of stars very rich in
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  • Perseids_2018
    Press release
    The Perseids 2020
    On the night of 12th to 13th August we will be able to enjoy the maximum of the Perseids. This will be broadcast live, from the Teide Observatory (Tenerife) and from the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (La Palma) on the sky-live.tv channel on the night of August 12th, with the collaboration of the Energy Efficiency Laboratories (EELabs) project of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and of the Program of Astronomy Outreach / SODECAM - Service for Innovation of the Cabildo of the Island of La Palma.
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  • Scheme which represents the origin of phosphorus on Earth, with respect to possible stellar sources of phosphorus in our Galaxy. Credit: Gabriel Pérez Díaz, SMM (IAC).
    Press release
    Stars rich in phosphorus: seeds of life in the universe
    The journal Nature Communications today is publishing the discovery of a new type of stars, very rich in phosphorus, which could help to explain the origin of this chemical element in our Galaxy. This achievement has been made by astronomers of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and researchers in computer science from the Centre for Research in Information and Communication Technology (CITIC) at the University of La Coruña (Galicia).
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