NGC 2366 is a dwarf galaxy placed at a distance of 11 millions of light-years (3.4 millions of parsecs). Its irregular shape and stellar content make it similar to the Magellanic Clouds, the two irregular dwarf galaxies very close to our own. For scale, NGC 2366 is about 20 000 light-years wide, what makes it twice as large as the Large Magellanic Cloud, and four times larger than the Small Magellanic Cloud, but still classified as a dwarf galaxy...

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s most famous character, the Little Prince, lived on a volcanic asteroid whose volcanoes the Prince took care of. But real asteroids are seldom volcanic. Or are they? There are reasons to think that these objects should not be so scarce after all. Recent studies based on Calar Alto data are helping to unveil the existence of more of these volcanic tiny worlds, some of them with exotic and puzzling traits…

Andalusia has just created the first network of institutions devoted to science communication existing in Spain. This network was born on December 12th, 2007, under de auspices of the Junta de Andalucía (the regional government of the autonomous community Andalusia), and Calar Alto Observatory is one of its founder members...