An international team, in which the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias participates, has succeeded in mapping for the first time the three-dimensional structure of the atmosphere of an exoplanet, that is a planet beyond the Solar System. This research, published today in Nature , has been able to discover very strong winds that carry chemical elements such as iron and titanium, which create certain weather patterns through the planet's atmosphere. This mapping opens the door to more comprehensive and detailed studies of the chemical composition and climate of other planets. Enric Pallé

The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) is one of the international researches centres which is following actively the asteroid 2024 YR4 which has been qualified by the United Nations (UN) as potentially dangerous, because it has a 1.5% probability of impacting the Earth during 2032.The asteroid was discovered in 2024 and has an estimated size of between 40 and 90 metres. Given these figures, the UN has activated the protocols of planetary defence to obtain more accurate estimates of the orbit, the size and the threat which might be presented by 2024 YR4. The protocols of the UN are