Ultra-faint dwarf galaxies, among the tiniest and faintest galaxies known, may hold the key to understanding one of the Universe’s biggest mysteries: the true nature of dark matter. A new study reveals that even a single collision between dark matter particles every 10 billion years — roughly the age of the Universe — is enough to explain the dark matter cores observed in these small systems. These galaxies, which contain only a few thousand stars, are dominated by dark matter and have relatively simple evolutionary histories. That makes them ideal cosmic laboratories for testing theories
An international review article in which IAC researcher Jesús Falcón Barroso is a contributor, explains how the study of stellar populations in galaxies outside the Milky Way and the Local Group, using techniques which are called “extragalactic archaeology”, permits the reconstruction of the processes of formation and evolution of those galaxies. This article has been published in the Annual Review of Astronomy & Astrophysics , one of the most prestigious journals in this field, to which only five researchers of the IAC have contributed during the lifetime of the Institute. How did the
Researchers from around the world are taking part in the China–Spain Astronomical Collaboration on High-Resolution Spectroscopy 2025, an event organised by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) in collaboration with the National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC), the Nanjing Institute of Astronomical Optics & Technology (NIAOT), and the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) team. The aim of the conference is to strengthen and consolidate scientific cooperation between China and Spain in the field of high-resolution spectroscopy, one of the key areas for studying stars, galaxies
