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.

  • Left: comparison of ULAS1350 with the other four known L subdwarfs previously known. Right: Artist view of the orbit and position of ULAS1350 in our Galaxy. As it can be seen from the figure, subdwarfs are located in the halo of our Galaxy.Credits: Nicola
    The Gran Telescopio CANARIAS open new prospects to characterise the oldest population of stars in our Galaxy with the discovery of a cold and distant low-metallicity star A new object with an age of thousands of millions of years and a mass of one tenth of the Sun, placing it at the frontier between low-mass stars and brown dwarfs, has been discovered as the furthest of its class in Milky Way. Nicknamed ULAS1350, this subdwarf could become on of the key element to improve our knowledge on the first steps of the formation of our Galaxy.The team of European astronomers responsible for the
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  • A long-standing issue in solar astrophysics concerns the strength and structure variations with height of the magnetic field in the chromosphere of the quiet Sun. Our empirical knowledge on this issue has remained vague notwithstanding the qualitative information provided by high resolution monochromatic images of the solar atmosphere taken at various wavelengths across strong spectral lines like H-alpha showing a mass of cell-spanning fibrils as a flattened carpet, with upright ones jutting out from network patches. Unfortunately, such images do not provide quantitative information on the
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  • Fecha: Martes, 22 de diciembre de 2009Hora: 11’30h Lugar: Organización Mundial del Turismo (Capitán Haya 42, Madrid) La Fundación Starlight, con el apoyo de la UNESCO y la OMT, presenta una iniciativa innovadora para la fusión de turismo y ciencia en destinos turísticos. Esta innovación es la certificación turística Starlight, una alianza entre el turismo y la ciencia, para promover destinos en base a criterios científicos. En este caso, la calidad del cielo nocturno para la observación astronómica y la creación de productos y servicios turísticos que la exploten. A impulsos del Instituto de
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  • El viernes 4 de diciembre a las 20:00 horas en el Salón Noble de la Casa Principal de Salazar de Santa Cruz de La Palma, el doctor Romano Corradi del Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias impartirá la charla "¡Mira Qué Luna!". La entrada es libre. La Luna es nuestro satélite y sólo por eso es muy especial. Pero también es especial por su naturaleza única entre los astros del Sistema Solar. En la charla se presentarán las características astronómicas más importantes de la Luna, sus movimientos en el cosmos y las propiedades de su superficie y del interior, revelándonos un origen misterioso
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