At the heart of almost every sufficiently massive galaxy there is a black hole whose gravitational field, although very intense, affects only a small region around the centre of the galaxy. Even though these objects are thousands of millions of times smaller than their host galaxies our current view is that the Universe can be understood only if the evolution of galaxies is regulated by the activity of these black holes, because without them the observed properties of the galaxies cannot be explained.

The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has finished, during October, with the help of FEDER funds, the renewal of the whole platform of the Wifi network of its facilities. The new technology, provided by Aruba, will allow higher speeds, improving the quality of the signal and increasing the security of the users. This is a project which has been steadily implemented centre by centre and, during the health crisis, it has been given a push forward in the Teide Observatory and in the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, and completed in record time, mainly due to the absence of personnel

El Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) y el Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), el mayor organismo público de investigación de Francia, firmaron ayer, reunidos por videoconferencia y en el marco de las actividades de la XXVI Cumbre Hispano-Francesa, un acuerdo por el que se establece la creación del primer laboratorio internacional del CNRS en territorio español. Firmaron el convenio el Dr. Guy Perrin, director del Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers (INSU) del CNRS, y el Prof. Rafael Rebolo, director del IAC, en presencia de otros miembros directivos y