Ultra-faint dwarf galaxies, among the tiniest and faintest galaxies known, may hold the key to understanding one of the Universe’s biggest mysteries: the true nature of dark matter. A new study reveals that even a single collision between dark matter particles every 10 billion years — roughly the age of the Universe — is enough to explain the dark matter cores observed in these small systems. These galaxies, which contain only a few thousand stars, are dominated by dark matter and have relatively simple evolutionary histories. That makes them ideal cosmic laboratories for testing theories

The headquarters of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and its technological headquarters, IACTEC, open their doors to the public at their Open Days as part of Open Government Week 2025. This initiative, promoted by the Open Government Partnership worldwide, seeks to bring public administrations closer to citizens and promote the values of transparency, integrity, participation and accountability. The event at the IAC headquarters will take place on Monday 19 May, while the IACTEC will open its doors on Tuesday 20 May. Both days will be held in person, with two visiting hours