The French-Spanish Laboratory for Astrophysics in Canarias (FSLAC), is a joint international research Laboratory between the French CNRS and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC).

The scientific cooperation agreement providing for the creation of FSLAC was signed on March 15th, 2021. This laboratory will be jointly supervised by the two organizations. This new structure builds on a collaboration that began in the 1980s with the decision to install the French THEMIS telescope in Tenerife.

Three major scientific projects are outlined in the agreement: participation in the future Cherenkov Telescope Array in the Canary Islands for astronomy; use of the THEMIS telescope and the next generation of telescopes for solar physics studies; and the development of a spectrometer on the QUIJOTE telescope for observing the cosmic microwave background.

The agreement was signed by Guy Perrin, Deputy Scientific Director of the National Institute for Earth Sciences and Astronomy (INSU – CNRS), and Rafael Rebolo López, Director of the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics (IAC). The creation of this laboratory highlights the vitality of Franco-Spanish scientific cooperation.

CNRS information about Internatonial Research Laboratory (in French)