Since 4th Jan 2011 I'm working at the Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO) and the Macquarie University (MQ) with a Joint AAO/MQ Postdoctoral Fellowship position. Please, update your link to my new personal webpage, http://www.aao.gov.au/local/www/alopez/ as the CSIRO webpage will be closed soon and has been not updated with my new contact details / research / images / etc. THANKS!

My name is Ángel Rafael López-Sánchez(*) and nowadays I'm working as a postdoc fellowship at Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF), Sydney, Australia, that is a division of Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the Australian official institution that coordinate the researching activity in this country..

Although the ATNF is especially focused in radio-astronomy, I'm an astrophysicist that works in several wavelength ranges. Indeed, my PhD Thesis is mainly based in optical data from astronomical observations carried out at Canary Islands (Spain) observatories. My current research combines optical, radio, infrared, ultraviolet and X-ray data in order to understand the stellar formation and the chemical and dynamical evolution of galaxies, remarking the importance of starbursts in galaxy groups. Furthermore, I'm working in the analysis of the ionized gas and the ionization structure of Galactic nebulae.

I'm an active amateur astronomer and I love to do outreaching activities. In my webpage you will also find some of my old and new observations and pictures made using amateur techniques, as well as astronomical papers made for the general public. In 2004 I started a blog focused in Astronomy and general Science, El Lobo Rayado, that you are invited to visit. However, the majority of these things are in Spanish.

Finally, in this webpage I will also include some personal stories, as next journeys, pictures, presentations, some nonsense pieces and all things that I consider are useful or interesting.

| Released: 31.01.2008 | Presentation of my webpage |

(*) That is my full name. Ángel is a typical Spanish name for boys, it is pronounced somewhat similar to an-hell, stressing the an (that is why Spanish language has tildes, to know the stressful syllable). Rafael is my second name, it is very common in Córdoba, the Spanish city where I'm from, because the Raphael Archangel is its patron. Indeed, my cousins are named José Rafael, Jesús Rafael or Francisco Rafael. We have TWO SURNAMES in Spain because women do not lose hers after they are married. López (that means The son of Lope) is my father's first surname (Ángel López Bustos), and Sánchez (The son of Sancho) is my mother's first surname (María José Sánchez Vargas). You can not imagine all the problems I have outside Spain because of this!