The PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of Stars) space mission, led by the European Space Agency (ESA), has recently completed one of the most delicate phases of its development: the integration of its main components, the 26 scientific cameras and the service module that houses all the instrument's acquisition, processing, and control electronics. This stage, carried out at the facilities of the aerospace company OHB in Germany, marks a fundamental step toward the launch scheduled for December 2026 from French Guiana aboard an Ariane 6 rocket. “Almost eight years after ESA gave the

The Museo de la Ciencia y el Cosmos, part of the Organismo Autónomo de Museos y Centros del Cabildo de Tenerife, will host a conference by the astrophysicist and 2006 Nobel Laureate in Physics, John Mather, entitled ‘Unsolved mysteries of physics and astronomy’, on Friday 9th May. Mather receives this week the recognition as Doctor Honoris Causa of the Universidad de La Laguna (ULL) with the sponsorship of the researcher of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and Doctor Honoris Causa of the ULL, John Beckman. Mather's lecture, which will be in English, will be presented by the

The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has successfully completed the integration of the scientific detector into the FRIDA (inFRared Imager and Dissector for Adaptive Optics) instrument, an integra-field camera and spectrograph designed to work with the adaptive optics system of the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC or Grantecan), the world's largest optical and infrared telescope, located at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in La Palma. The integration was carried out in the laboratories of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City by a team from the IAC