Scallop-shell stars are a recently discovered class of young M dwarfs. More than 70% of the stars in the Milky Way are M dwarfs, although there are only around 50 recently confirmed scallop-shell stars. They show periodic variability, with dips in optical which are an indication of obscuring material orbiting a few stellar radii above the surface, something not seen in regular M dwarfs. The Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) led the first ever analysis of a long radio-observation to any scallop-shell star, in a pioneer study published in  Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters. 

An international scientific team, led by the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC) and the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC), has managed to detect an exceptionally fast and bright cosmic burst in a small galaxy located 500 million light years away. This discovery is published today in a study in The Astrophysical Journal.

The Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) held the first school of the Doctoral Network GLITTER from 25 to 29 November, entitled “Remote sensors and small-satellites systems for Earth Observation”. This is the first of the four training schools addressed to twelve predoctoral researchers of the GLITTER network, as well as students and professionals from the project organisations. 

Researchers from the Curtin node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), with the collaboration of the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) and the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), have made a record-breaking astrophysical discovery while simultaneously uncovering a possible explanation for the rare and extreme astrophysical events known as long-period radio transients. The finding has been published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Gravity has shaped our cosmos. Its attractive influence turned tiny differences in the amount of matter present in the early universe into the sprawling strands of galaxies we see today. A new study using data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) has traced how this cosmic structure grew over the past 11 billion years, providing the most precise test to date of gravity at very large scales.

A team led by the U.S. National Science Foundation NOIRLab, in which the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) and the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC) participate, has discovered a low-mass supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy just 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang that is consuming matter at a phenomenal rate: over 40 times the theoretical limit. The study has been published today in Nature Astronomy. 

On 15-16 October, the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) held the first LISA Spain meeting, an encounter to bring together the Spanish community interested and involved in the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission of the European Space Agency (ESA).

En el marc de la Setmana de la Ciència i la Tecnologia, l'Institut de Ciències de l'Espai (ICE-CSIC) organitza diverses activitats per a públic general, així com per a públic universitari i escolar durant el mes de novembre.

The European Space Agency's (ESA) Hera mission, in which the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) is participating, will examine the binary asteroid system formed by Didymos and its satellite Dimorphos, after the DART planetary defence mission deflected the orbit of the latter. Its launch is scheduled for today, 7 October, from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida (United States) at 16:52 CEST.

The European Space Agency's (ESA) Hera mission, in which the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) is participating, will examine the binary asteroid system formed by Didymos and its satellite Dimorphos, after the DART planetary defence mission deflected the orbit of the latter. Its launch is scheduled for today, 7 October, from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida (United States) at 16:52 CEST.

Un any més, l’Institut de Ciències de l’Espai (ICE-CSIC) participa en la Nit de la Recerca, una iniciativa de divulgació científica que s'organitza en tota Europa al voltant del 27 de setembre on científics i científiques apropen la seva recerca a la ciutadania a través de projectes, tallers i xerrades per a públic general.

The Physics of the Accelerating Universe Survey (PAUS), an international collaboration led by the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC), dependent on the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU), involving 14 institutions across six countries, releases a groundbreaking catalogue of cosmic distances. Collected over 200 nights between 2015 and 2019 using the PAUCam camera on the William Herschel Telescope (WHT) in La Palma.

On September 5th, the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) hosted an encounter with the teaching staff of the Gabriel Castellà i Raich school from Igualada, a school linked to the ICE-CSIC through a Magnet alliance to combat school segregation.

Enrique Gaztañaga, researcher of the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) and member of the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), who is currently on leave and working as a professor at the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation of the University of Portsmouth (United Kingdom), has been given the Freedom of the City of London in a ceremony that dates back to Medieval England.

The Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) participated in the recognition ceremony for the Severo Ochoa and María de Maeztu accreditations, awarded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU), through the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI). The event was held on September 6th, in Madrid and was chaired by the Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant.

A team of astronomers from the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) and the University of Hertfordshire have combined pulsar population synthesis with a novel deep learning technique to model the birth properties and evolution of neutron stars. The team found that long-term magnetic field decay is crucial to explain the observed population of pulsars, confirming previous results, and were able to provide realistic constraints for this process for the first time. These findings provide new insights into the distribution and evolution of pulsar properties in a study recently published in The Astrophysical Journal.

On 18 May 2024, a giant superbolide overflew the Iberian Peninsula, being captured by the video stations monitoring the sky of the Spanish Meteor Network (SPMN). A team led by the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) reconstructed the trajectory of the meteoroid and concluded that its most likely source is the Jupiter-family comet (JFC) region. The study is being published today in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters. 

An international team of astronomers, in which the Institute of Space Sciences  (ICE-CSIC), the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC), both from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), and the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), present the first resolved images of the Near-Earth Didymos binary asteroid system. The images obtained with the DART and LICIAcube spacecraft allowed astronomers to infer key information on the geology and evolution of the asteroid system.

The Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC), through the Earth Observation Group led by researcher Estel Cardellach, participates in the GLITTER doctoral network, within the Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action program. This programme seeks to train the new generation of experts to advance in Earth observation through the GNSS-R technique, based on reflections in the ground (or sea, or ice) of signals from GNSS satellites (System Global Navigation Satellite).

The DeepSpacePULSE project, led by the astrophysicist Nanda Rea from the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) and the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), has been the 2000th project selected to receive an ERC Proof of Concept (PoC) Grant from the European Research Council (ERC).

From July 2nd to 11th, the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) celebrates the seventh edition of the Summer School, whose theme this year is Multiwavelength approach to Exoplanets. For the third year in a row, the centre holds a 2-week long Summer School. 

ESA’s XMM-Newton and NASA’s Chandra spacecraft have detected three young neutron stars that are unusually cold for their age. By comparing their properties to different neutron star models, a team of astronomers led by the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC), in collaboration with the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC) and University of Alicante, concludes on a study published in Nature Astronomy that the oddballs’ low temperatures disqualify around 75% of known models.

The Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) researcher Aldo Serenelli has been appointed director of the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC), a CSIC institute affiliated with the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC). The new ICE-CSIC Managing Team is also composed of Mar Mezcua and Serni Ribó, who have been appointed scientific and technical deputy directors, respectively.

The ILIADA project, led by scientists from the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) and the Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC) in collaboration with other institutions, has been selected to test technology on board the next microsatellite of the NewSpace Strategy.

The European Space Agency (ESA) Arrakihs space mission has passed the Instrument Preliminary Requirements Review (iPRR) in just six months, a key step for the space agency to approve advancing the phase with the aim of completing the mission’s Payload. 

L'Institut de Ciències de l'Espai (ICE-CSIC) participarà a la dissetena edició de la Festa de la Ciència, que acollirà més de 150 activitats de divulgació per a tots els públics, que tindrà lloc els dies 8 i 9 de juny a El Born Centro de Cultura i Memòria i la plaça Comercial.

Two international teams of astronomers have discovered an exciting planet between the sizes of Earth and Venus only 40 light-years away. Multiple factors make it one of the highest-profile worlds for further study using the James Webb Space Telescope of NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

The Euclid Consortium releases early scientific papers based on observations made by the Euclid telescope. A number of scientifically exciting targets have been observed and analysed by scientists of the Euclid Collaboration during an Early Release Observations phase, giving a glimpse of the unprecedented power of this telescope meant to provide the most precise map of our Universe over time.

A team of astronomers has found supermassive black holes at a key epoch in the history of the Universe called ‘Cosmic Noon’, about 10 billion years ago, in which star formation and black hole activity reached their peak. The study, led by researcher Mar Mezcua from the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) and the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), is published today in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

From 18 to 19 April, around 80 scientists working for the ESA Euclid space mission gathered at the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) in the framework of the Euclid Spain Meeting 2024. The goal of the meeting was to inform about the mission status to the whole Spanish community collaborating in Euclid. 

The Amanar team of astronomers, educators and filmmakers will travel to the refugee camps in Tindouf to participate in the Fisahara 2024 International Film Festival, which will be held from April 29th to May 5th, to present the virtual reality experience Desert Stars within the framework of the film festival. At the same time, it will also carry out astronomy activities in schools, teacher training and astronomical observations.

Launched on 9 January 2024, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) spacecraft Einstein Probe joins ESA’s XMM-Newton and JAXA’s XRISM in their quest to discover the Universe in X-ray light. The mission is a collaboration led by CAS with ESA, the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) (Germany), and the National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) (France).

The ICE-CSIC Annual Report 2023 is now available. It presents a summary of ICE-CSIC’s many activities throughout the year. Download the Annual Report here.

2023 has been at ICE-CSIC a year for consolidating many of the efforts that have been possible thanks to the foundations laid out in previous years.

On 15 November 2023, ESA’s gamma-ray space telescope Integral spotted a sudden explosion from a rare object. For only a tenth of a second, a short burst of energetic gamma-rays appeared from the direction of the bright galaxy M82. The study, in which researcher Nanda Rea from the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) and the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC) participates, is published today in the journal Nature.

Around 30 scientists involved in the Spanish contribution to the ESA’s Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission gathered at the Catalan Delegation of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in Barcelona on April 15-16 to advance on the mission and comply with the LISA Science Management Plan in the framework of the LISA Consortium Constitutional Council (CCC) Meeting.

The European ALLIES program seeks to promote excellence in research in artificial intelligence and encourage interdisciplinary and intersectoral innovation in this field through 17 research grants for postdoctoral researchers focused on advancing the application of AI to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The SPOTLESS project, led by the director of the Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC) and researcher at the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC), Ignasi Ribas, has been one of the projects selected to receive an ERC Advanced Grant from the European Commission’s European Research Council (ERC).

En els propers dies, l’Institut de Ciències de l’Espai (ICE-CSIC) participarà en dues fires universitàries per apropar-se al públic estudiantil i donar a conèixer la seva recerca i les oportunitats a les quals podrien aspirar en un futur. 

El dia 17 d’abril el centre participarà a la XVIII Fira de Ciències i Enginyeries a la Universitat de Barcelona i el 25 d’abril a una nova edició de la fira tecnològica de referència de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB): MEMEnginy. 

Serra d'Or magazine recently announced the names of the winners of the 58th edition of the Crítica Awards at an event at the Espai Endesa in Barcelona on April 3rd, 2024. Among the winners, there is Guillem Anglada-Escudé, a researcher from the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) and the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC).

With 5,000 tiny robots in a mountaintop telescope, researchers can look 11 billion years into the past. The light from far-flung objects in space is just now reaching the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), a project managed by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), enabling us to map our cosmos as it was in its youth and trace its growth to what we see today.

The ”la Caixa” Foundation awarded 105 new doctoral and postdoctoral scholarships to excellent researchers to carry out their projects at universities and research centres in Spain and Portugal. Álex Alarcón González is one of them and works as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC).

The Institute of Space Sciences opens registration for its 7th Summer School that will take place in Barcelona on 2-11 July 2024. ICE-CSIC will welcome around 50 international students to broaden their knowledge on exoplanetary systems. The deadline for registration is 15 April 2024.

Cosmic dust is similar to dust on Earth: groupings of molecules that have condensed and stuck together in a grain. An international team of astronomers, including researchers from the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) and the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), has discovered a previously unknown source of dust in the universe: a Type Ia supernova interacting with gas from its surroundings. 

On the occasion of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) will launch a social media campaign called #HowItAllStarted. It will feature the women working at the institute in different fields (research, engineering and administration) explaining what they do, their background and what took them to pursue a career in science.

The European Space Agency’s Science Programme Committee has approved today the Laser Interferometer Space  Antenna (LISA) mission, the first scientific endeavour to detect and study gravitational  waves from space. The scientific contribution in Spain is led by the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) and the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC). 

Starting the 2023-2024 academic year, the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) collaborates with the European Space Agency (ESA) CESAR project, which organises online training courses for teachers on topics related to space sciences. On 5-8 February 2024, the second course of the academic period will take place, this time focused on black holes.

The Einstein Probe space-mission, led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), has been launched today, 9 January 2024, at 08:03 CET on a Chang Zheng (Long March) rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in China to survey the sky and hunt for blasts of X-ray light coming from new astronomical objects.