The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) is demonstrating the quality and international relevance of the Canary Islands Observatories at the 245th session of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting being held this week in Maryland (USA). This meeting, led by the American astrophysics community, brings together the world's most important research centres in this field to share lines of work and proposals for the present and the future. The IAC delegation in Maryland is headed by the director of the centre, Valentín Martínez Pillet, who is part of the panel of speakers with a

An international scientific team, including members of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has launched an ambitious program to map exoplanets located around the Neptunian Desert —a region around stars where planets the size of Neptune are very rare— in order to better understand the mechanisms of planetary system evolution and formation. This scientific expedition has delivered its first results with the observation of the TOI-421 planetary system. Analysis of this system reveals a surprisingly inclined orbital architecture, offering new insights into the chaotic history of