Announcements

An image of the Lagoon Nebula taken by HST
Lockdown Learning: online space classes for preschool, primary and secondary students
During these unprecedented times the Education and Outreach team have taken their wonderful space lessons online! As schools and nurseries are closed, we are offering online interactive space sessions for preschool, primary and secondary aged studen…
Image of Professor Margaret Burbidge
Professor Margaret Burbidge FRS FRAS, 1919-2020
The Royal Astronomical Society offers its condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Professor Margaret Burbidge, who has died at the age of 100. A member of the Society for 80 years, Margaret Burbidge was a global leader in astrophysics.…
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COVID-19: Postponement of 2020 National Astronomy Meeting
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Council of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) and senior management at the University of Bath have come to the difficult decision to postpone the National Astronomy Meeting (NAM 2020) conference. The confer…
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COVID-19 update: closure of RAS office
The RAS has been monitoring the situation with the ongoing global outbreak of COVID-19. Our first priority is to contribute to the international public health effort to reduce and slow the spread of the new coronavirus. We have therefore taken the d…
RAS quilt sqaures
RAS Quilt Project - an update
The RAS bicentennial quilt project officially launched at the beginning of October 2019. Since then the society has: Hosted three stitching sessions at the offices in Burlington House where participants have worked on the solar system side of the…
Generic planetarium image
UPDATE: Planetarium in central London for RAS bicentenary
***UPDATE Friday 28th February: The planetarium is now closed, thank you to all those who attended*** The second half of February will see cutting-edge astrophysics and tours of the night sky come to the courtyard of Burlington House, in central Lon…
Royal Mail bicentennial stamps 2020
Royal Mail stamps celebrate RAS bicentennial
The set of eight stamps commissioned by Royal Mail for the RAS bicentennial in 2020. Robert Ball / Royal Mail Licence type All Rights Reserved…
Mary Somerville from RAS collection
Mary Somerville features in Google Doodle
The Google Doodle for 2 February 2020 celebrates Mary Somerville, the Scottish polymath and science writer, and with Caroline Herschel, the joint first ever woman to be made an honorary member of the Royal Astronomical Society. Born in Jedburgh, Sco…
Mars in 2018
Coming this November: National Astronomy Week to mark best view of Mars until 2033
A National Astronomy Week (NAW) will be held in the UK from Saturday 14 November to Sunday 22 November 2020. The aim of the week is to celebrate the close approach of Mars, and to give members of the public the chance to see the red planet in closeup…
Artist’s impression of gamma-ray burst with orbiting binary star
Stars need a partner to spin Universe’s brightest explosions
When it comes to the biggest and brightest explosions seen in the Universe, University of Warwick astronomers have found that it takes two stars to make a gamma-ray burst.   New research solves the mystery of how stars spin fast enough to create co…
Professor Sandra Moore Faber
Leading astronomers and geophysicists honoured in RAS bicentenary year
The Royal Astronomical Society is pleased to announce the winners of its medals and prizes for 2020, the bicentenary of its foundation. Each year the Society recognises significant achievement in the fields of astronomy and geophysics through these a…
University of Bath
National Astronomy Meeting 12-17 July 2020: save the date!
In celebration of the 200 years since its foundation, the Royal Astronomical Society will hold its 2020 National Astronomy Meeting (NAM 2020) in the city of Bath. The Society’s founding president Sir William Herschel and his sister Caroline lived in…