The activity of the Astrophysics Department focuses on the study of the processes that were necessary for the appearance and evolution of life in the Universe. These objectives range from the creation of chemical elements in the interior of stars and the formation and evolution of the galaxies that host them, to the processes of planet formation around new stars, as well as the formation and evolution of chemical compounds of greater or lesser complexity in interstellar space.
Throughout the history of the Universe, successive generations of stars have created in their interiors all the heavy elements we know. The atoms of these chemical elements formed molecules, dust grains and ice mantles in the interstellar and intergalactic medium until they condensed into planetary systems with rocky planets, rich in water and oxygen, like the Earth, conditions in which life arose more than 3000 million years ago and which must be repeated in an infinite number of planetary systems.
Email: mcalero (+@cab.inta-csic.es)
