News

This section includes scientific and technological news from the IAC and its Observatories, as well as press releases on scientific and technological results, astronomical events, educational projects, outreach activities and institutional events.

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  • Personal del IAC reunido durante el Comité Científico Internacional
    Press release
    El Comité Científico Internacional aborda la situación actual y los retos futuros de los Observatorios de Canarias
    El Comité Científico Internacional (CCI) de los Observatorios de Canarias ha celebrado los días 9 y 10 de noviembre su 96.ª reunión, en la que ha abordado el estado actual de las infraestructuras astronómicas gestionadas por el Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), así como las principales actuaciones previstas para garantizar su funcionamiento y sostenibilidad a largo plazo. La reunión se ha desarrollado por vía telemática, aunque el personal del IAC que forma parte del Comité ha seguido las sesiones de manera presencial desde la sede del Instituto, en La Laguna. Entre los asuntos
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  • Euclid’s view of the rich galaxy cluster Abell 3128
    Press release
    Euclid Releases Its First Major Dataset for Mapping the Dark Universe
    The European Space Agency’s Euclid mission has released its first major batch of data. With this release, which captures the light of more than a billion objects and covers an area of sky as big as 9500 full Moons, ESA’s dark Universe ‘detective’ lays the foundation for its largest-ever 3D map of the cosmos. Launched in 2023, ESA’s Euclid space mission will map the sky for 6 years to create the largest and most accurate 3D map of the Universe. Spain has an important role in the mission, with a prominent role in the Euclid Consortium. The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC)
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  • New Scales for Measuring the Chemical Composition of the Universe
    Press release
    The IAC is participating in the development of new scales for measuring the chemical composition of galaxies
    An international team, with the participation of researchers from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has developed a new generation of calibrations that make it possible to estimate the chemical composition (metallicity) of both nearby galaxies and the most distant and early galaxies in the Universe observed by the James Webb Space Telescope. The study is based on the analysis of the largest collection of high-quality spectroscopic observations gathered to date, the result of more than a decade of compilation and analysis work. To understand the origin and evolution of galaxies
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  • Winter School 2026
    Press release
    The IAC’s 37th Winter School turns Tenerife into the world capital of massive stars for two weeks
    The 37th Canary Islands Winter School of Astrophysics, to be held from 16 to 27 November in La Laguna, will bring together more than a hundred students and early-career researchers – with almost exact gender parity – to learn about the study of massive stars, from their birth through to core-collapse supernovae and gravitational-wave events. The programme combines lectures by international specialists, practical tutorials, visits to observatories in the Canary Islands and a series of activities open to the public. The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) will host the 37th Canary
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  • auriglobes
    Research news
    Introducing AuriGLOBES: The effects of compressive tides, compact object-induced mass loss, and size evolution on modelling globular clusters
    Globular clusters are dense, ancient groupings of stars that have survived the long history of galaxy formation and evolution, yet the exact processes that shape them from birth to the present day remain unclear. Here, we present AuriGLOBES (Auriga GLOBular clustEr Simulations), a new physical model designed to track how star clusters form and evolve within large-scale cosmological simulations. Using this model, we simulated nine galaxies similar in mass to the Milky Way and five lower-mass galaxies. Our simulations successfully produce realistic globular cluster systems that match
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  • Artist’s impression of a massive binary system
    Press release
    Research led by the IAC reveals that massive stars inherit their composition from hidden companions
    An international team, led by a pre-doctoral researcher at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has revealed that the heaviest chemical elements on the surfaces of the youngest massive stars originate from their more evolved companions. The study has been published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics . ‘Throughout their lives, stars produce energy by fusing lighter chemical elements into heavier ones.’ “Stars are the universe’s great factories for chemical elements: as they evolve, they take the lighter ones and fuse them into heavier ones, changing their original
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