The field of exoplanets has been rapidly growing since the discovery of the first exoplanet orbiting a main sequence star, 51 Pegasi. This planet and the early discoveries afterwards were mainly detected with the radial velocity method. A star that is orbited by a planet is gravitationally affected by it and hence moves around its centre of mass at the orbital period of the planet. This change in its radial velocity can be measured through the Doppler shifts of the stars spectra. The periodicity of this signal corresponds to the orbital period of the planet, i.e. the time it takes the planet to orbit the star once. From the strength of the signal the mass in terms of the orbital inclination can be derived.

The Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC) welcomed the visit of Professor Didier Queloz, Nobel Laureate in Physics and co-discoverer of the first exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like star. Professor Quelozs stay at the IAC has focused on instrumental development and technological collaboration. As part of his agenda, he also gave a lecture entitled Exoplanets: the next frontier in the IAC Lecture Hall.

The Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes (ING) and the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC) warmly congratulate James Peebles (Princeton University), Michel Mayor (University of Geneva) and Didier Queloz (Universities of Geneva and Cambridge) on the award of the Physics Nobel Prize 2019.