The Governing Council of Junta de Andalucía authorizes its Administration to endorse the Hispano-German Astronomical Center (CAHA)

On April 9th, 2019, the Governing Council of the regional government of Andalusia (Junta de Andalucía) authorized its Administration, through the Ministry of Economy, Knowledge, Companies and University, to enter the Economic Interest Group of the Calar Alto Observatory (CAHA) in Almería. This decision is the last required step before the signature of the corresponding agreement.

Junta de Andalucía is substituting for the German Max Planck Institute, the former co-partner, along with the Spanish Superior Research Council (CSIC), guaranteeing the continuity of this first class scientific complex, whose science and technology strategy are co-managed by the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC) located in Granada.

Considered as the main observational optical astronomy structure in mainland Europe, its facilities are a worldwide reference for telescopes and forefront instrumentation as well as for the quality of the sky in its location on top of the Filabres mountain range.

Calar Alto was founded in 1973 after an international agreement between Spain and the then Federal Republic of Germany. Highly competitive thanks to its constant renovation process, during the last decades CAHA has played a crucial role in the progress of Spanish Astrophysics, serving as the base of numerous studies as well as for the formation of professional astronomers. Every year, a hundred or so of scientific papers based on data taken at Calar Alto are published in every area of modern astrophysics.

 Since the entry of CSIC into the observatory in 2005, the CAHA reference center is the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC).