Data sonification: a new way to study the universe

Historically, understanding the cosmos has depended on interpreting complex data and images—useful tools that, however, have certain limitations in capturing the full richness of the information the universe offers. In this context, a recent study published in the journal Royal Astronomical Society Techniques and Instruments (RASTI) introduces, for the first time, an innovative technique for interactively exploring galaxies: data sonification.

CTAO reaches a key milestone by consolidating as a European Research Infrastructure Consortium

The Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) has made a significant stride toward becoming the world's largest and most powerful gamma-ray astronomy observatory. The European Commission has officially established the CTAO as a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC), a recognition that not only accelerates the construction of the observatory but also ensures a solid framework for the global distribution of its valuable scientific data.

First solid evidence of the universal mechanism shaping cosmic jets revealed

Jets are powerful streams of matter and energy observed on a wide range of scales across the universe, from supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies to protostars—forming stars—within our own Milky Way. Despite the diversity of their energy sources, these jets, which travel at supersonic speeds—sometimes near the speed of light—and play a key role in shaping their environments, are believed to be different manifestations of a single universal phenomenon.

The Sunrise III Mission captures unprecedented Solar data with exceptional spatial and temporal resolution

Ground-based observatories currently employ a wide range of instruments to study the Sun’s surface in the visible and infrared ranges. However, combining these observations with those in the near-ultraviolet, covering wavelengths from 400 to 200 nanometers, is not possible due to atmospheric turbulence, and extended periods of uninterrupted observation are unfeasible.

The LPI project to explore new frontiers in quantum astronomy from La Palma

Interferometry arrived decades ago to revolutionize astronomy, overcoming the limitations of individual telescopes. This technique combines the signals from multiple antennas or telescopes, achieving resolutions and sensitivities unattainable with a single telescope. Until now, this advancement has primarily been applied in radio waves, with facilities like ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array), and in infrared, with the VLTI (Very Large Telescope Interferometer) of the European Southern Observatory, located in northern Chile.

New evidence of organic material identified on Ceres, the inner Solar System’s most water-rich object after Earth

Six years ago, NASA’s Dawn mission communicated with Earth for the last time, ending its exploration of Ceres and Vesta, the two largest bodies in the asteroid belt. Since then, Ceres —a water-rich dwarf planet showing signs of geological activity— has been at the center of intense debates about its origin and evolution. Now, a study led by IAA-CSIC, using Dawn data and an innovative methodology, has identified eleven new regions suggesting the existence of an internal reservoir of organic materials in the dwarf planet.

‘Territorio gravedad’, the Spanish docu-series about the cosmos, returns with its second season

In February 2023, Territorio Gravedad premiered its first season on RTVE Play. Now, this docu-series, produced by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC) in collaboration with Lipssync Medialab, returns to screens with new educational content exploring the sciences that study the cosmos. Starting Friday, 29 November, the Filmin and Vimeo On Demand platforms will host the four episodes of the second season, along with the eight episodes already available from the first.

The J-PAS Astronomical Project releases the first data from its mapping of the Universe

In the autumn of 2023, the Javalambre Astrophysical Observatory (OAJ) collected the first data for the J-PAS project (Javalambre Physics of the Accelerating Universe Astrophysical Survey). This initiative is designed to map a large portion of the sky and study the nature of the expanding Universe in detail.

Signal of a Binary Super Massive Black Hole System interacting with a gas cloud detected for the first time

In recent years, the number of facilities capable of monitoring the entire sky and measuring variations in the brightness of stars and other astronomical objects has increased significantly. This has enabled the detection of more cases of objects whose behavior deviates from typical patterns, resulting in unusual phenomena known as exotic nuclear transient events.

Several Neptune-like planets discovered in a theoretically barren region

The distribution of planets in the over five thousand distant solar systems discovered to date forms a complex puzzle. There is a region in the planetary orbit graph, known as the "Neptunian desert", where very few Neptune-like planets with orbits of between two and four days period around their star have been recorded to date. Now, a scientific team led by the IAA-CSIC and the IAC has validated, using a novel technique, new planets around red dwarf stars located precisely in this desert. The finding is published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Supermassive black holes alter the chemical evolution of galaxies

Quasars are among the most luminous objects known in the universe. Like other active galaxies, they host a supermassive black hole at their center, with masses that vary from millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun. It is surrounded by a disk of plasma that feeds it. The enormous gravitational pull of the black hole generates extreme temperature and pressure in this accretion disk.

IAA-CSIC researcher Rafael Luque receives a ‘Starting Grant’ from the European Research Council

The Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC) researcher Rafael Luque has obtained one of the Starting Grants awarded by the European Research Council (ERC) for the THIRSTEE project, which aims to study and understand the origin and properties of subneptune planets. The funding, 1.5 million euros over the next five years, is part of the European Union's Horizon Europe programme.

JANUS, the optical camera on ESA's JUICE probe, captures stunning images during its first lunar and terrestrial flyby

JANUS, the optical camera on ESA's JUICE probe, captured stunning images of the Earth and Moon during its first lunar and terrestrial flyby. This high-risk manoeuvre, successfully completed between 19-20 August, allowed JUICE to alter its speed and direction for a close flyby of Venus in August 2025. This critical step is part of JUICE's journey through the inner Solar System towards its final destination: the moons of Jupiter. 

SETTING UP THE JANUS CAMERA

Origin of persistent emission in enigmatic Fast Radio Bursts revealed

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are one of the most powerful and enigmatic cosmic events in the universe. Discovered just over a decade ago, these bursts release an immense amount of energy in milliseconds, making them one of the most energetic types of phenomena observed to date. However, the physical processes that give rise to them are still unknown and represent one of the most fascinating open questions in modern astrophysics today. In some cases, the brief flash of an FRB is accompanied by persistent fainter radio emission.

NASA's DART mission captures high-resolution image of the binary asteroid system Didymos

An international team of astronomers, with participation from the Instituto de Ciencias del Espacio (ICE-CSIC) and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC), both from the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), and the Instituto de Estudios Espaciales de Cataluña (IEEC), presents the first high-resolution images of Didymos, a near-Earth binary asteroid system. The images obtained with the DART and LICIACube probes have allowed astronomers to infer key information about the geology and evolution of the asteroid system.

The IAA-CSIC participates in a project that offers the scientific community three-dimensional images of 100 galaxies

The CAVITY project, led by the University of Granada, and with an important participation of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC), launches its first public distribution of data, which means offering the scientific community spectroscopic information covering the two-dimensional extent (data cubes) of 100 galaxies. This is the only 3D mapping of galaxies in cosmic voids, i.e., those in whose interior there is almost no mass. 

Sunrise III successfully launched

After four attempts and more than a month of waiting, the Sunrise III mission has been successfully launched.

It has a strong participation of the Solar Physics Group of the IAA, which leads one of the three postfocus instruments (TuMag) and co-leads another (SCIP). 

The most distant and oldest star clusters discovered

Thanks to observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST - NASA/ESA/CSA), an international collaboration led by Angela Adamo of Stockholm University and the Oscar Klein Centre in Sweden has discovered a set of five gravitationally bound star clusters in a galaxy whose light was emitted when the Universe was only 460 million years old.

The IAA strengthens CSIC's international role in the SKA Observatory

The "CSIC4SKA" project, led by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC) and with the participation of members of other CSIC centres (IFCA, ICE and CAB), is one of the five projects that have obtained funding from the CSIC Programme for Large European Research Infrastructures (INFRAS 2024 Call), with an endowment of nearly 100,000 euros.

ANDES instrument for the European Giant Telescope ELT is agreed upon

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has signed today an agreement with an international consortium of institutions, including the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC) and the Centro de Astrobiología de Madrid (CSIC-INTA), for the design and construction of ANDES (ArmazoNes high Dispersion Echelle Spectrograph).

It snows more on Mars than expected

Just like Earth, Mars experiences four seasons throughout the year due to the tilt of its rotational axis. During Martian autumn and winter, temperatures in its polar regions can drop below the freezing point of carbon dioxide (around -125°C), which constitutes 95% of Mars' atmosphere by volume. This carbon dioxide can deposit on the surface of the red planet either by precipitating as snow or directly condensing into frost.

Earth-type planet found in an ultra-cool dwarf star

Within the SPECULOOS project, led by the University of Liège with a strong participation of members of the IAA-CSIC, an exo-Earth, a planet similar in size to the Earth, has been discovered orbiting an ultra-cool dwarf star. This type of star, similar in size to Jupiter, is up to ten times less massive and a thousand times less luminous than our Sun.

Giant planet as light as cotton candy discovered

An international team, co-led by IAA-CSIC researcher Francisco J. Pozuelos, has discovered an extraordinarily light planet orbiting a distant star in our galaxy. This discovery, published today in the journal Nature Astronomy, challenges our understanding of the formation of giant and ultralight planets.

The new planet, dubbed WASP-193b, is about 50% larger than Jupiter, but its density is about 25 times lower, an extremely low value that suggests the planet is as ethereal as cotton candy.