The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC). www.iac.es
The IAC operates two headquarters and two observatories, set in an environment of excellent astronomical quality.
The main headquarters are located in La Laguna (Tenerife island) and are the usual workplace of the greater part of its staff. There, astrophysical research and technical projects are developed.
The IAC's second headquarters is the Centre for Astrophysics, located on La Palma island. This center also houses the offices of the Gran Telescopio CANARIAS and the Magic Collaboration, as well as the supercomputer LaPalma, a node of the Spanish Supercomputing Network.
The IAC operates the Teide Observatory on Tenerife and the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma, where more than 30 telescopes and other instruments are run by institutions from a large number of countries. The IAC is a partner in the 4.2m William Herschel Telescope and 2.5m Isaac Newton Telescope, and owns a number of smaller telescopes. The 10.4m GTC at ORM, the largest optical-IR telescope in the world, is an outstanding Spanish Scientific Infrastructure assigned to the IAC.
The IAC has 3 main Divisions - Research, Technology and Graduate Education Divisions - but also considers the scientific outreach as one of its principal aims, with a Unit of Scientific Culture depending on the Director's Office.