An international team of researchers, including staff from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has discovered a planetary nebula that destroyed its own planetary system, conserving the remaining fragments in the form of dust orbiting its central star. To date, more than 5000 exoplanets have been discovered orbiting stars of all kinds and almost every stage of stellar evolution. However, while exoplanets have been discovered around white dwarfs – the final stage in the evolution of low- and intermediate-mass stars like the Sun, no exoplanets have been detected in the previous

An international scientific team, in which the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) participates, has discovered the extremely eccentric orbit of a gas giant exoplanet. This world, called TIC 241249530 b, not only follows one of the most drastically stretched-out orbits of all known transiting exoplanets, but also is also orbiting its star backwards, lending insight into the mystery of how these high-mass gas giants evolve into hot Jupiters , with very close and circular trajectories. The study is published in Nature. Within the population of known exoplanets, there are those that

The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has opened the application period for the XXXVI Canary Islands Winter School of Astrophysics , which will be held from 17 to 22 November 2025. This edition is carried out in the framework of the CELESTE (Centre for Optical and Space Technologies of the IAC) programme funded by the European Union and will focus on key optical technologies for astronomy, a field that is driving 21st century discoveries about the universe. Applications will be accepted until Friday, 13 June. The IAC’s Winter School is renowned for its educational approach and