Five days between Tenerife and La Palma, discovering astrophysical research and its infrastructures.
From 9 to 13 September 2026, eleven undergraduate Physics students took part in an educational trip to the astrophysical observatories of the Canary Islands. Made possible thanks to the support of the University, the Piano Lauree Scientifiche programme, and the Astrophysics group at Tor Vergata, the initiative gave students the opportunity to complement their university education with first-hand experience at internationally renowned research facilities.
The trip reflects a distinctive feature of Physics education at Tor Vergata, where students are introduced to research and interact with academic staff from the very beginning of their undergraduate studies. The itinerary included two of the world’s most important observing sites: the Teide Observatory in Tenerife and the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in La Palma. The scientific activities carried out at the two observatories span many of the research topics pursued by the Department’s Astrophysics group.
Accompanied by Prof. Marina Migliaccio, who organised the trip and coordinated the visits, the participants had the opportunity to meet researchers, explore the operation of cutting-edge technologies, and visit telescopes and control rooms. It was a unique opportunity to consolidate and expand on the knowledge acquired in the classroom.
The first stop, at the Teide Observatory, introduced the students to instruments designed to investigate a wide range of astrophysical phenomena: from the THEMIS solar telescope to the ASTRI Mini-Array, a project led by the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics to study the Universe at very-high-energy gamma rays. The students also visited the historic IAC80 telescope, which was used to discover Teide 1, the first confirmed brown dwarf, as well as experiments dedicated to the cosmic microwave background, the fossil glow of the Big Bang.
A visit to the headquarters of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias in La Laguna then offered an insight into the design and construction of scientific instruments, highlighting the technological challenges involved in developing new observational capabilities.
The journey continued on the island of La Palma. At an altitude of around 2,400 metres, the group had the opportunity to see the four large LST telescopes of the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory, recently completed, and to visit the MAGIC telescopes and their control room. After a stop at the visitor centre, the group continued to the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo, the Gran Telescopio Canarias — the world’s largest single-aperture optical and infrared telescope — and the William Herschel Telescope.
After sunset, the participants attended observations of an exoplanet transit at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo. The experience was rounded off by the spectacular sight of the Milky Way in the skies above La Palma.
