CARMENES instrument demonstrates its capacity for finding planets similar to Earth
October 4th 2017
CARMENES, a spectrograph that operates in both visible and infrared channels, operating at Calar Alto Observatory (Almería), study a three hundred stars sample in order to find similar to Earth planets.
The first results of its visible channel, derived from the study of seven planetary systems, show its perfect functioning.
CARMENES instrument, developed by a consortium of eleven institutions from Germany and Spain, and co-lead by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC), with the participation of the Institut de Ciències de l’Espai (IEEE-CSIC) and the Centro de Astrobiología (CAB, CSIC-INTA), has been designed for searching earth like planets within the habitability zone or area that surrounds a star where the conditions allow the existence of liquid water. The first results, obtained with the Calar Alto Observatory 3.5m telescope and published today, analyze seven known planetary systems and proves its excellent performing.
New clues on the formation process of Milky Way-like galaxies
September 12th 2017
Researchers from the Theoretical Physics and Cosmos department of Granada University (UGR, Spain) lead a study which gives new details about the formation process of the structure of our galaxy, the Milky Way.This study is based on data obtained at Calar Alto.
Granada University astronomer Isabel Pérez lead a series of observational studies which show the distribution and characteristics of the stars in barred spiral galaxies like the Milky Way, giving new insights on the formation process of this kind of galaxies.
Polarized light from a brown dwarf: where lies the dust at play?
July 19th 2017
The brown dwarf 2MASS J04221413+1530525 shows linear polarization of its light which could be due to dust in its Jupiter-like atmosphere, or in the interstellar medium
Brown dwarfs, sometimes known as “failed stars”, fill the gap between low mass stars and giant gaseous planets. They are faint objects, difficult to study and, as such, some of their characteristics are not well known. An international team has searched for polarized light in a sample of brown dwarfs with the CAFOS instrument at Calar Alto observatory – a method which helps to know the properties of these objects –, and has found polarized light in one of them, although its poorly determined distance does not allow us to determine the exact cause of the polarization.
Calar Alto Observatory has embarked on an ambitious project with the University of Peking for the study of black holes
May 18th 2017
60% of the time of the 2.2m telescope will be devoted to the study of supermassive black holes placed in active galaxies nuclei.
Calar Alto Observatory, the biggest astronomical observatory within mainland Europe, has signed an agreement with the University of Peking in order to develop, from the 2.2m telescope, an intensive study of supermassive black holes located in the central regions of the galaxies, which constitutes what are known as active galaxies nuclei, and are among the most energetic objects in the Universe.
