News highlights

Discovery of a key molecule in the origin of life

The Spanish 40m radio telescopes at the Yebes Observatory, equipped with the Nanocosmos receiver, and the 30m radio telescope at IRAM have detected for the first time ethanolamine in interstellar space. Ethanolamine is one of the components of phospholipids, the molecules that make up cell membranes.

Discovery of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the interstellar medium

The 40m radio telescope at the Yebes Observatory (IGN) has made the first unequivocal detection of a pure PAH (indene) in an unexpected place. Thanks to the new Q- and W-band radio astronomical receivers, built by IGN engineers as part of the Nanocosmos-ERC project.

Launch of Europe's largest astronomy network: ORP

The IGN, through the Yebes Observatory and the Institute of Millimetre Radio Astronomy, has been part of the radio wave domain (RadioNet) since 2008. The recent merger of OPTICON and RadioNet has resulted in the largest collaborative ground-based astronomy network in Europe: ORP.