Stranger galaxies: how do galaxies detected by JWST look like?
A recent study led by Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, researchers have studied in detail previously unknown galaxies discovered by JWST, finding that the early Universe was much more active forming stars than expected. The JWST is providing many surprises to astronomers. Among them, a new paper that just appeared in The Astrophysical Journal Letters […]
The lonely giants: Do the most massive stars live alone?
New research published posthumously by lead author Dr Simon Clark from the Open University in the UK demonstrates, for the first time, that the most massive stars known are not as lonely as previously thought. Instead, they are mainly found in binary systems with companion stars. Massive stars live violent lives: they continuously expel material […]
Astronomy: Assessing the impact of the DART mission
International teams, with the participation of the Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, publish today in Nature the results of the first observations of NASA’s DART mission. Understanding how the impact of the DART spacecraft modified the orbit of the asteroid Dimorphos will help in the development of strategies and defense systems against possible collisions of […]
CARMENES project boosts the number of known planets in the solar neighbourhood
20,000 observations from the Calar Alto telescope are made public, and have led to the discovery of 59 planets, some of them potentially habitable. The CARMENES survey is led by a consortium of Spanish and German institutions. The instrument has proven to be a success and will continue to provide information on small cool stars […]
CAB participates in the scientific planning of the Mars Sample Return mission
The Center for Astrobiology (CAB, CSIC-INTA)) will host a meeting between February 20 and 24, 2023 of the international group for the scientific planning of the “Mars Sample Return Mission”, the MCSG (for its acronym in English, Mars sample return Campaign Science Group). The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency […]
Two Earths in “habitable” orbits around a nearby star
An international team of astrophysicists with the participation of three researchers from Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, announces the discovery of two possibly rocky planets in the habitable zone of the star GJ 1002, a red dwarf located barely 16 light-years away from the solar system. Rocky planets like the Earth are the norm, rather […]
WEAVE First Light: a new window into the Universe
WEAVE First Light The Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes (ING) and the WEAVE instrument team present first-light observations with the WEAVE spectrograph. WEAVE is a powerful, next-generation multi-fibre spectrograph on the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos (La Palma, Canary Islands) now being commissioned on-sky and already generating high-quality […]
Experiments in preparation for the defense against future Earth-threatening asteroids
A recent study led by the Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, forms a vital part in the preparations for the NASA’s mission DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test), that will impact the asteroid Dimorphos on the 27th of September. This mission aims to test the concept of a kinetic impactor to deflect an eventual future Earth-threatening […]
The best studied terrestrial planet outside the Solar System
An international scientific team led by astronomers from the Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, has measured the mass and radius of an Earth-like exoplanet with unprecedented accuracy, allowing them to make robust predictions on the structure and composition of its interior and atmosphere. The detailed analysis is announced today by the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. […]
Escape from Bermuda: The ejection of its massive stars leaves a stellar cluster orphan
A recent study ed by the Centro de Astrobiología (CAB, CSIC-INTA) has discovered that a young stellar cluster has expelled most of its recently formed massive stars. The stellar ejections took place in three close encounters between several of them that happened 1.9, 1.6 y 1,5 million years (Ma) ago, respectively. If this phenomenon is […]
The dramatic final dance of the stars with a common envelope
Centro de Astrobiología (CAB, CSIC-INTA) participates in the study of fifteen peculiar stars which turned out to be double stars that, after sharing an envelope, lost most of their mass. Unlike the Sun, most stars form binary systems, in which two stars revolve around a common center. Sometimes the distance between the two is so […]
Scientific study reveals that the giant planets reach their “maturity” much earlier than expected
An international team of scientists with the participation of the Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA) and other institutions in Spain, Italy, Germany, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Mexico has measured for the first time the masses of gaseous and giant planets at a very early age in the evolution of planetary systems. V1298 Tau, a solar-type […]
20th SVO school- Virtual Observatory Tools
The Spanish Virtual Observatory (SVO [1]) is an initiative whose main goal is to promote, coordinate and develop the activities related to the Virtual Observatory (VO) in Spain. In this context, one of the main tasks of the SVO has been the organization of schools and workshops aiming at disseminating the possibilities that the Virtual […]
Detection of molecular biomarkers in Triassic-Jurassic rocks from the Atacama Desert and their relevance to the search for life on Mars
A multidisciplinary team from the Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA) and the Universidad Católica del Norte (Chile) has applied a powerful multianalytical platform to detect traces of life in rocks more than 200 million years old from the Atacama Desert as system training for future astrobiological missions to Mars. The search for life in the Universe […]
Dwarfs and the first galaxies: diesel or jerky?
Astronomers from the Centro de Astrobiología (CAB, CSIC-INTA), in collaboration with researchers from the UK, Mexico and Chile, are searching for clues about the origins of the first stars and structures formed in the Universe. For that purpose, they are using data from the most ambitious project carried out with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) […]
New exhibition “AstrónomAs” opens its doors
The exhibition ‘AstrónomAs’ focuses on the contribution of women who have worked and continue to work in this scientific discipline. The digital version includes information on 270 female astronomers and their areas of research, along with other downloadable educational materials, interactive games, podcasts and videos. The exhibition is complemented by a smaller traveling version in […]
Víctor Rivilla and Eduardo Cueto win the award for best virtual poster 2021 from EANA
Centro de Astrobiología researchers Víctor Rivilla (Interstellar and Circumstellar Medium Group) and Eduardo Cueto (Prebiotic Chemistry Group) have won the 2021 Poster Award of the European Astrobiology Network Association (EANA) with two posters presenting two articles which also involve other CAB researchers. The award was presented to the authors on Friday 10 September, by André […]
Marina Fernández Ruz, a CAB student, wins third prize at “Space Factor Student Contest 2021”
Marina Fernández, a CAB student, wins the third prize for the best scientific video in the “Space Factor Student Contest”, organised by the European Astrobiology Network association (EANA), with an 8-minute video in which she presents her work in an informative and entertaining way (more info at https://eana2021.wixsite.com/website). https://youtu.be/LLhbnaifyvYMusic: Gabriel Fernández Macarrón Molecular cloud photography: […]
CAB scientists put star formation mechanisms to the test
An international scientific team led by Centro de Astrobiología (CAB, CSIC-INTA) has used the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) VLTI interferometer to observe the innermost parts of a sample of protoplanetary discs and test current models of star formation. Young stars are surrounded by disc-shaped structures whose material, gas and dust, “feeds” the central star, leading […]
CAB receives the EANA 20th Anniversary Outstanding Paper Award in Astrobiology
A multidisciplinary team from Centro de Astrobiología has won the European Astrobiology Network Association (EANA) award to the most outstanding research paper published during 2020. The award will be presented to the authors today, Friday 10 September, by André Brack, chairman of the jury and first President of EANA, and the current President of EANA, […]
CAB – “María de Maeztu” fosters transdisciplinary projects led by young researchers
The María de Maeztu Academy of the Centro de Astrobiología closed the 2020-2021 academic year on June 15 with the final of the first edition of the transdisciplinary challenges. The winning team was that of the Biomarkers objective, formed by the CAB and INTA researchers: Jorge Lillo-Box, Patricia Cruz, David Ruano Gallego, Mercedes Moreno-Paz, Alberto […]
