El Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) ha celebrado, este jueves 24 de julio de 2025, el 40 aniversario de la inauguración oficial de su sede central y de sus dos observatorios. Un acto que ha estado centrado en destacar el trabajo de los cientos de personas que han contribuido a convertir el IAC en uno de los centros de excelencia investigadora y técnica más importantes del mundo. En el acto, el director fundador del IAC, Francisco Sánchez, ha tenido un papel fundamental pese a que sus problemas de salud no le hayan permitido participar en el mismo. El lema de este 40 aniversario ha

The Solar System research group at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) is participating in the international programme to keep a closet track of asteroid 2024 YR4. The aim is to determine its orbit with the highest possible precision before it stops being observable by ground based and satellite telescopes in April, and so improving our value of the probability that it will impact the Earth in 2032. In this context several telescopes of the Canary Observatories of the IAC are playing an outstanding role in this observing campaign: The Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) at the Roque de

A greedy white dwarf star in our own Milky Way galaxy is devouring its closest celestial companion at a rate never seen before, according to an international study involving the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC) and the University of La Laguna (ULL). The research, published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , found the double star, named V Sagittae, is burning unusually bright as the super-dense white dwarf is gorging on its larger twin in a feeding frenzy. Experts think the stars are locked in an "extraterrestrial tango" as they orbit each other every