Surprises from MAVEN at Mars: Aurora, meteor showers, and a new water loss paradigm

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft carries the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) to study the Mars atmosphere and atmospheric escape. After more than two Mars years in orbit, IUVS has gained new insights on key phenomena at Mars including dayglow, nightglow, aurora, meteor showers, clouds, solar-planetary interactions and atmospheric evolution. In this presentation, I will highlight three key results obtained by IUVS:

(1) Mars exhibits a surprisingly high level of auroral activity of three distinct types;

Disks around evolved binaries: do they form second-generation planets?

Most of the planets are formed around young stars. But can they also form around dying stars? The origin of the diversity and complexity of the detected exoplanetary systems stems from how they form in protoplanetary disks. These disks are intensively studied around young stars thanks to the high-angular resolution provided by recent instruments (VLT, ALMA). However, similar disks are also found around evolved stars, namely post-AGB binaries, raising the exciting but yet unanswered possibility of second-generation planet formation.

What have we missed in extraterrestrial space?

Biology and philosophy. 50 years of Jacques Monod's "Chance and Necessity".

Azarquiel, the chiseler of ideas

The history of science in Spain has never been a subject that has been valued in its fair measure, even by Spanish scientists themselves today. In this talk we will focus on the figure of Azarquiel, a representative of medieval science who, in the opinion of the speaker, is the greatest Spanish astronomer of all time. The aim of rescuing this and other forgotten scientists is to settle, even if only partially, the historical debt we owe them.

Einstein and General Relativity. The beginning of modern cosmology

Andalusia and its role in the discovery of new worlds

Nobel Prize in Physics 2020: the black hole in the Milky Way galaxy

Andrea Ghez and Reinhard Genzel were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 2020 for their discovery of the massive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. In my talk I will review the history of their research work from a front-line point of view (having worked closely with the two researchers on this topic). I will explain the methods and measurements they used and the strength of their results.

EMISSION VIA ZOOM

ID de reunión: 416 064 2441            

Código de acceso: 590179

Beauty and geometry in Alhambra mosaics

Supernovae: the spectacular death of stars

Polarized light in the vicinity of supermassive black holes

Relativistic jets produced by supermassive black holes are the most energetic astrophysical objects known and can be observed up to enormous distances and very early ages in the universe. This lecture will focus on these objects, and more specifically on their main characteristics and the extra information provided by studying the polarized light they emit, as well as the main questions that remain to be answered to fully understand them.

Emisión en: https://youtu.be/AvzF6fD0nf0

The Symbolic Primate. How language and culture made us human

16th school of the Spanish Virtual Observatory

The Spanish Virtual Observatory (SVO) is organising a VO school at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía. The school is partly supported by the ESCAPE project and by the IAA-CSIC Severo Ochoa Excellence programme. The Virtual Observatory (VO) is opening new ways of exploiting the huge amount of data provided by the ever-growing number of ground-based and space facilities, as well as by computer simulations.

What is climate change, why is it anthropogenic and why is it an urgent problem?

Galaxies. Geometry of star formation

If we cannot save Galapagos, what can we save?

The Arp299 puzzle. Black holes that devour stars

In January 2005, a bright flash was detected in the nucleus of the galaxy in the process of fusion Arp 299-B, which was considered a supernova explosion. However, ten years of observations at different wavelengths have allowed us to witness how the luminous region was lengthening and expanding, and to conclude that it is a jet of material expelled by the galaxy's central super-massive black hole after tearing a star.

The Hubble-Lemaître constant: is it really a constant?

Following an open debate, the International Astronomical Union recently recommended that the rate of expansion of the universe, traditionally referred to as the "Hubble Constant", should henceforth be referred to as the "Hubble-Lemaître Constant". In this session we will see why the change of designation was necessary to do justice to the work of Georges Lemaître, one of the fathers of relativistic cosmology, but also the reasons that point out that in reality it is not a constant.

Climate change in Mars

Visit of the Delegation of Environment of the Junta de Andalucía at Sierra Nevada Observatory

On Thursday September 15 the Delegate of Environment of the Junta de Andalucía, Inmaculada Oria, visited the Sierra Nevada Observatory (OSN). The visit is part of a collaboration agreement between the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA) and the Provincial Delegation which began following the First Day of Sky Quality held last June.

The visit was also attended by the Mayor of Monachil, Jose Morales, Councilman Environment of the City of Monachil, Franciso Alvarez, and the Director of the Sierra Nevada National Park, Javier Sanchez.

The IAA hosts a conference on the quality of the sky

Tomorrow will be held at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC), a technical conference which seeks to establish a strategy for joint action among the various regional actors involved in the protection of the sky.

Conferences and events calendar

Check out the list of events and conferences.

• Seminars
• Conferences, workshops and schools
• Lucas Lara outreach conferences
• Manuel Félix Herrera training sessions