Spain is among the participating countries in the SKA Observatory (SKAO), an intergovernmental organization that will open a new era
in radioastronomy. Spanish participation in SKA is led by the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC)
The ExoMars-TGO orbiter, from the European Space Agency and Roscosmos, finds hydrogen chloride in the Martian atmosphere,
produced by the release of salt embedded in the planet's surface
Researchers from the IAA-CSIC lead an ambitious radio observation project that shows that extrasolar planets
can be detected with radio telescopes produces its first results
Since the discovery of the first planet outside our Solar System in 1995, more than four thousand extrasolar planets have been detected.
04/03/2021
The European Astronomical Society (EAS) has just released its list of 2021 winners. Among them, Mirjana Pović (Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute and Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia), has been awarded the Jocelyn Bell Burnell Inspiration Medal, an award which is awarded this year for the first time. The jury highlighted " her work on the developing astronomy, science and education as a route out of poverty and to improve the quality of life for young people in Africa".
02/03/2021
The Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC) will host next Thursday, February 25 at 12:30 p.m. an online conference given by Didier Queloz, one of the most prolific researchers in the detection of extrasolar planets. It is an activity within the framework of the IAA's Severo Ochoa project.
23/02/2021
From 18 January to 1 February, and organised by the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia, took place the Advanced School on Planetary Systems, an activity within the framework of the Severo Ochoa-IAA project. A total of twenty-eight sessions, given by internationally renowned specialists, dissected one of the hottest areas in astrophysical research: planetary systems in their broadest context.
15/02/2021
Among the main objectives in the exploration of Mars are the search for atmospheric gases linked to biological or geological activity, as well as the development of an inventory of the planet's water, both past and present, to determine if Mars could be habitable and whether any water reservoirs are accessible for future human exploration.
10/02/2021
Spain has participated this Thursday in the Council for the constitution of a new International Organization, which is the second dedicated to astronomy after the European Southern Observatory (ESO). The international radioastronomy observatory SKAO, which stands for Square Kilometer Array Observatory, is a new intergovernmental body that will be dedicated to the construction and operation, in South Africa and Australia, of the two largest and most complex radio telescopes conceived to date to study key questions about the universe.
04/02/2021
In the icy regions of the Solar System, between Jupiter and Neptune, there is a population of objects known as centaurs, which share characteristics with both comets and asteroids. They are icy, small, low-brightness objects, so their study is extremely complex and our knowledge of them is still scarce. Now, an international study led by researchers at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC) has determined the physical characteristics of 2002 GZ32, one of the largest known centaurs.
03/02/2021
The periods of confinement imposed due to the pandemic produced by Covid-19 produced a clear and generalized decrease in environmental pollution in cities. A group of researchers, headed by the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC), developed a project to measure the effects, which are more difficult to determine, of the decrease in lighting on light pollution, a problem derived from artificial lighting which has been related to damage to our health and that of ecosystems.
19/01/2021
For two decades it has been known that the magnetic interaction between Jupiter and one of its largest moons, Io, generates a large amount of radio emission similar to terrestrial auroras (produced, in turn, by the interaction of electrically charged particles from the Sun with the Earth's atmosphere). After the discovery of the planet Proxima b around the star closest to us, Proxima Centauri, a group of researchers from the IAA-CSIC set out to check whether radio interactions also occur in this neighboring solar system. Their finding opens a new path in the study of extrasolar planets.
14/01/2021
#TheScienceOfEST series is now available as a book!
The volume includes 77 short articles on current research topics about the Sun, written in a plain language by scientists from 30 European research institutions and universities.
15/06/2020
MAAT top-level requirements will broaden its use to the needs of the GTC community for a wide range of outstanding science topics that covers the entire astronomy given its unique observing capabilities well beyond time-domain astronomy
MAAT* (Mirror-slicer Array for Astronomical Transients) is proposed as a visitor mirror-slicer optical system that will allow the OSIRIS spectrograph on the GTC the capability to perform Integral-Field Spectroscopy (IFS) over a seeing-limited field-of-view 14.20'' x 10'' with a slice width of 0.303''. MAAT will enhance the resolution power of OSIRIS by 1.6 times with respect to its 0.6'' wide long-slit.
Granada -- Virtual Format
M dwarfs are known to generate the strongest magnetic fields among main-sequence stars with convective envelopes, but we are still lacking a consistent picture of the link between the magnetic fields and underlying dynamo mechanisms, rotation, and activity. For instance, models predict that the maximum magnetic flux a star can generate scales with convective energy stored in its envelope, but no accurate measurements existed until recently.
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.
09/03/2020
SUNRISE, a mission designed to study the Sun’s magnetic field from a stratospheric balloon, faces its third flight after its successful trips flying over the Arctic in 2009 and 2013. The instrumentation was recovered in both occasions, and now the mission team focuses on the preparation of the next phase, which will take place in 2021. In late September, the aluminizing of the SUNRISE telescope mirror took place at Calar Alto, a service offered by the observatory that permits to preserve the optimal conditions for observations.
06/10/2019
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.
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.
Artificial Intelligence and big data: the power of data. Outreach conference
We review the evidence of the existence of methane on Mars and its possible implications.
Galactic superwinds, common phenomena in galaxies, are capable of releasing an extraordinary amount of energy and transporting material over long distances. Their influence on the host galaxy can be of great importance, to the extent that the formation of these "galactic hurricanes" can even determine the life of galaxies. The study of these phenomena provides us with some keys to solving the enigmas of modern astronomy about the evolution of galaxies.
It has been 45 years since Calar Alto Observatory was founded. An observatory that, among its merits, has been one of the main engines of the development of astronomy in Spain and, of course, one of the foundations of the creation of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (Andalusian Astrophysics Institute). This year the observatory goes from being Hispano-German to being totally Hispanic, with the incorporation of the Junta de Andalucía as a 50% partner.
At 22:25 in the evening (local time) of December 11 a brilliant fireball crossed the south of Spain. The fireball, which overflew the provinces of Granada and Jaén, could be seen from much of the country. The phenomenon has been recorded from the Sierra Nevada Observatory (Granada), as well as from the meteor detection stations operating under the SMART Project from the observatories of La Hita (Toledo), Calar Alto (Almería), La Sagra (Granada) and Seville.
12/12/2016
The mayor of Granada, Francisco Cuenca, has conducted a public event in which he has introduced the proposal submitted yesterday to the Secretary of State for Science and Innovation. Representatives of the Government of Andalusia, the University of Granada, The Technological Health Park, the Higher Council for Scientific Research and the Science Park have attended the event.
The UPWARDS project is coordinated by the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC), with the participation of seven European scientific institutions. It will develop new analytical techniques to exploit the Mars Express and ExoMars data. Among the activities to publicize the project is the documentary "Rediscovering Mars: UPWARDS project", which airs today at 18h in La 2 of Spanish Television.
19/10/2016
Calar Alto Observatory constitutes an astronomical reference for the international scientific community for the quality of its telescopes and astronomical instrumentation.
10/10/2016
We wanted to celebrate the anniversary of the IAA with a special issue of this magazine which, with over a decade of life, is also part of the history of the center.
02/11/2016
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.
19/09/2016
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.
27/06/2016
Check out the list of events and conferences.
The scientific activities of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía require the analysis, design, prototyping, manufacture and integration of astrophysical instrumentation. To carry out all these tasks the Instrumental and Technological Development Unit UDIT has a Mechanical department, Optics laboratories, Electronics and Software as well as two clean rooms of ISO 8 class.
Space Projects
UDIT
Ground-based Instrumentation
Contribution in the technological areas of Electronics, Mechanics, Optics, Project Management and Software.
Among our facilities we have clean rooms for testing and assembly equipment that require special conditions of environmental cleanup.
We provide related to optical metrology and optical engineering consultancy services.
Designed to study the dispersion of light in dust samples that are of interest in the field of astrophysics.
Dedicated to the maintenance and development of optical telescopes and astronomical instrumentation in the visible and near infrared.
Companies and technology centers collaborators in projects carried out in the center.
The Instituto Astrofísica Andalucía (IAA) is an institute belonging to the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) in Granada - Andalucía. The activities of the IAA - CSIC are related to research in the field of astrophysics and the development of instrumentation for telescopes and spacecraft.
General overview of the activities carried out in the IAA - CSIC, organization and internal structure, as well as some of its history.
Jobs, scholarships and contracts granted, and any relevant administrative information for members of the IAA - CSIC.
It is responsible for advising on the necessary or convenient measures to actively integrate the principle of equality for women and men in the daily life of the center.
Web portal where you may find specific information related with activities performed in the frameworfk of Excelencia Severo Ochoa distinction label.
General aims and composition of the external scientific advisory board in IAA - CSIC
Description and composition of groups and scientific units associated with the IAA - CSIC.
Responsible for the communications and computing infrastructure needed in scientific research and business partnerships.
Check out the different activities in the IAA - CSIC through the annual reports published in recent years.
List of personnel assigned to IAA - CSIC through its scientific departments and internal units.
List of scientific seminars that are held weekly in the ceremony hall of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía.
The main goal of the IAA International Office is to improve the fund raising level of the centre by securing funds beyond the support already provided by national and international grants.
Scientific and technological projects led by IAA - CSIC members
Access to restricted information for personnel assigned to IAA - CSIC through its intranet.
The Sierra Nevada Observatory (OSN) is a high mountain observatory located in Loma de Dilar, in the ski resort of the Sierra Nevada mountain range (Granada). The OSN is operated, maintained and supplied by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC). It consists of a main building which hosts two Nasmyth optical telescopes of 90-cm and 1.50-m diameter each, as well as a 60-cm IR semi-automated telescope and a 35-cm telescope.
The German-Spanish Astronomical Center at Calar Alto is located in the Sierra de Los Filabres (Andalucía, Southern Spain) north of Almeria. It is operated jointly by the Junta de Andalucía and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC) in Granada/Spain. Calar Alto provides three telescopes with apertures of 1.23m, 2.2m and 3.5m to the general community. A 1.5m-telescope, also located on the mountain, is operated under the control of the Observatory of Madrid.
Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía
Glorieta de la Astronomía s/n, 18008 Granada
Telephone: (+34) 958 12 13 11
Fax: (+34) 958 814 530
Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía
Apartado 3004,18080 Granada
Take a taxi to the IAA or your hotel directly. There are some buses from the aiport to Granada, but they are not syncronous with the planes...
At the train station, ask for Av. de la Constitución and get on bus LAC to Palacio de Congresos. Get off Palacio de Congresos stop and change to bus S2, direction to Villa Argaz. This bus has a stop very close to the IAA, only a few meters.
At the bus station, get on bus SN2 to Palacio de Congresos. Get off at the bus stop Tierno Galván - Palacio de Congresos and change to bus S2 to Villa Argaz. The S2 route passes in front of the IAA. Get off at the first stop of Camino Bajo de Huétor Street, then walk for a few seconds and you'll be here.
