A new instrument has just been installed at the Joan Oró telescope (TJO) of the Montsec Astronomical Observatory (OAdM). The instrument is a new image camera that will expand the performance of the system thanks to a larger field of view.

Researchers of the CARMENES consortium detected atoms and molecules in the atmospheres of hot Jupiter exoplanets, which could help us understand how planet atmospheres evolve over time. The findings come from several dedicated observations obtained in the last two years with the CARMENES spectrograph — a planet hunting instrument installed at the 3.5-m telescope in Calar Alto.

A research team of the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE) and Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC) provides a novel tool to investigate the mysterious mechanisms of pulsar emission. The discovery will be important to understand the fascinating nature of pulsars and use them for space navigation in the future. The Astrophysical Journal Letters published the study on the 21st November.

The small satellite 3Cat-1 was successfully launched at 5:30 a.m. (local time) from the Sriharikota space base (India) aboard the PSLV-C43 rocket. The launch, funded by the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), comes after four attempts in recent years.

We recently announced the discovery of a candidate super- Earth planet around Barnard’s Star. The planet was found using nearly 800 radial velocities from seven different spectrographs in a large observational effort spanning over 20 years. Because of its proximity, at only 6 light years, Barnard b has potential for further characterisation, including direct imaging.

Nanda Rea (Rome, 1978) holds a degree in Physics and a PhD in Astrophysics from the University of Rome "Tor Vegata". She is a senior researcher at the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) at the Institute of Space Sciences (IEEC-CSIC).

The DESI Collaboration Meeting is organized this time by members of ICE (IEEC-CSIC) in Sant Feliu de Guíxols (Girona, Catalonia, Spain) from October 16th – 20th, 2018. In this meeting will participate around one hundred researchers.

The Montsec Astronomical Observatory (OAdM), inaugurated on May 20 the third season of guided tours, which have been repeated on five Sundays during the summer months. More than 150 people attended the guided tours and all visits were filled in a few days after registration was opened.

Avui dia, coneixem uns 4.000 planetes que orbiten altres estrelles, i la natura ens ha revelat una riquesa de sistemes planetaris que mai no hauríem imaginat. Hi ha altres éssers vius a l’Univers? Quant trigarem a trobar planetes com el nostre? Com sabrem si estan habitats? Aquestes preguntes no deixen ningú indiferent. El més engrescador és que la ciència és a un pas de poder donar-hi resposta.

Lecture 3. Black hole philosophy. Puzzles about space and time.

Lecture 2. Black hole astrophysics. Basic issues.

Avui dia coneixem gairebé 4.000 planetes que orbiten al voltant d'altres estrelles, i l'astrofísica ens ha revelat una riquesa de sistemes planetaris molt superior a la que ens imaginàvem. La majoria d'aquests planetes són difícils d'estudiar en detall perquè orbiten al voltant d'estrelles llunyanes i poc brillants. Però si els planetes es troben al voltant d'astres propers en podem obtenir molta més informació, i fins i tot somiar poder-los veure directament algun dia.