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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  • tesscarmenes
    Research news
    Discovery of a transiting hot water-world candidate orbiting Ross 176 with TESS and CARMENES
    The TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) mission has discovered many exoplanet candidates that need to be confirmed and characterized from the ground. One of them orbits Ross 176, a K-type dwarf star, where we have identified a promising hot “water-world” candidate. Using spectroscopic observations with the CARMENES instrument, we confirmed the planetary nature of the signal detected by TESS and estimated the planet’s mass. To improve the analysis, we applied an advanced statistical method called Gaussian Process, which allowed us to separate the star’s own variability (quite strong
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  • Poster for the 16th Gaia Science Alerts and ACME Time-Domainel workshops
    Photomontage
    The IAC hosts a meeting exploring the future of time-domain and multimessenger astronomy after Gaia's legacy
    The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) will host the Gaia Alerts 2025 conference, the 16th Gaia Science Alerts and ACME Time-Domain Workshop, from 29 September to 3 October 2025 at IACTEC in La Laguna (Tenerife). The meeting marks a milestone moment for the Gaia mission , celebrating the end of its science observations, and convenes the international community to chart the next decade of discovery in time-domain and multimessenger astrophysics. Time-domain astronomy has rapidly become a cornerstone of modern astrophysics, revealing the dynamic Universe, from stellar explosions and
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  • Cartel de la Noche Europea de los Investigadores e investigadoras de la Macaronesia
    Press release
    El IAC participa en MacaroNight 2025 con actividades de divulgación científica para fomentar las vocaciones en astrofísica
    El Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias organiza visitas guiadas y participa en la Feria de las Vocaciones Científicas de Canarias dentro de la Noche Europea de los Investigadores de la Macaronesia El Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) participará en MacaroNight 2025, la Noche Europea de los Investigadores e investigadoras de la Macaronesia, con dos actividades dirigidas a estudiantes de diferentes niveles educativos para acercar la astrofísica y fomentar las vocaciones científicas entre la juventud canaria. Visitas guiadas a la sede central del IAC Los días 22 y 23 de septiembre, el
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  • Poster for the first edition of ‘Astronomy on Tap – Canary Islands’
    Press release
    Astronomy on Tap arrives in Spain: first edition in the Canary Islands
    The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) announces the arrival of the Astronomy on Tapinternational talk series in Spain, with its very first edition to be held in Tenerife. This outreach initiative, which was created in the United States and has since expanded worldwide, will now take place in the Canary Islands under the name "Astronomy on Tap – Canary Islands” and the local nickname “AstroTragos,” and is carried out within the framework of the EDUCADO and ExGal-Twin projects at IAC. The debut event will be held at the Búho Club (Calle Catedral, 3, La Laguna, Tenerife) on Thursday
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  • An artist's impression of Japan’s Hayabusa2 space mission touching down on the surface of the asteroid 1998 KY26.
    Press release
    Gran Telescopio Canarias observations confirm that Hayabusa2's asteroid target is smaller and faster than expected
    Astronomers have used telescopes around the world, includingthe Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC or Grantecan) at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma, to study the asteroid 1998 KY26, revealing it to be almost three times smaller and spinning much faster than previously thought. The asteroid is the 2031 target for Japan’s Hayabusa2 extended mission. The new observations offer key information for the mission’s operations at the asteroid. “We found that the reality of the object is completely different from what it was previously described as,” says astronomer Toni Santana-Ros, a
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  • Poster for the second session of the science outreach series “From the sky to the thesis”
    Press release
    IAC doctoral students tackle galactic archaeology and research into ‘other worlds’ at the Museum of Science and the Cosmos
    The Museum of Science and the Cosmos (MCC), part of the Autonomous Organization of Museums and Centers of the Cabildo of Tenerife, will host the second session of the scientific outreach series “From the Sky to the Thesis” on Thursday, September 25, at 4:30 p.m. The series is organized in collaboration with the University of La Laguna (ULL) and the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC). The initiative, promoted by doctoral students from the IAC, seeks to bring the main topics of research in astrophysics closer to the public, told in the first person by those who develop them
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