The exoplanets closest to us offer the best opportunities to make a detailed study of their physical properties, including the search for life outside the Solar System. In research led by the University of Göttingen (Germany), in which the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias and the University of La Laguna (ULL) are participants, has detected a system of superearths in orbit round the nearby star Gliese 887 (GJ 887), the brightest red dwarf in the sky. The results are published today in the journal Science. Superearths are planets with a larger mass than the Earth, but substancially less

Confronted by the health emergency generated by COVID-19, the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) wants to help by letting the citizen’s responsibility implied by staying at home be an opportunity to bring everyone closer to astronomy and knowledge of the universe, as well as continuing to offer training and support to the educational community, which is carrying on with its work by Internet. With this objective, we at the Press and Outreach Unit (UC3) have set in motion a plan of activities with the name "#IACUniversoEnCasa" (IAC Universe at Home) about which we will be issuing

Next Tuesday, September 22nd, at 13:30 UT the Earth will be at a specific point in its orbit round the Sun: the September equinox. The September and March equinoxes are the only days in the year when the Sun rises exactly in the east and sets exactly in the west, across the whole planet.