Announcements

The Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society
Royal Astronomical Society unveils 2023 award winners
The Royal Astronomical Society is pleased to announce the 2023 winners of its awards, medals and prizes. Each year the RAS recognises significant achievement in the fields of astronomy and geophysics through these awards, encompassing different types…
RAS logo and text reading "GCSE poster competition"
GCSE Poster Competition 2023 - Sponsored by Winton
The Royal Astronomical Society invites you to present an astronomy topic of your choice as an academic style poster. Winners will receive book token prizes of 1st = £100, 2nd = £50, 3rd = £25. Some example topics are given in the guidelines but you…
Image of a star field with a red square in the centre highlighting a small group of stars.
Astronomers discover eight new super-hot stars
An international team of astronomers has discovered eight of the hottest stars in the universe, all with surfaces hotter than 100,000 degrees Celsius. The work was published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The paper is based on…
Professor Gillian Wright sitting at a table with a model of JWST
Astronomers and Space Scientists Win National Honours
The Royal Astronomical Society is delighted that four astronomy and space experts were recognised in this year’s New Year Honours list. Professor Gillian Wright receives the award Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in recognition of…
Royal Astronomical Society logo
Update on the RAS and JWST
The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) recently wrote to the UK Space Agency, the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA to express its concerns about the original JWST naming process, the apparent failure to investigate James Webb’s background and the d…
The Milky Way in the night sky. A silhouette of a telescope is visible in the foreground.
Three quarters of major observatories affected by light pollution
Researchers from Italy, Chile and Galicia have studied and compared the light pollution levels at major astronomical observatories across the world. The study shows that light is polluting the sky above most observatories and that immediate action is…
2022 Geophysical Journal International Student Author Award Winners announced
Three student authors, Gauthier Guerin, Paul Alberto Jarrin Tamayo and Solvi Thrastarson, have jointly won the 2022 Geophysical Journal International student author prizes. The winning authors each received a cash prize and a certificate of recogniti…
A section of the night sky showing the constellation of Orion, the Moon, Mars, and the Hyades star cluster. The Moon and Mars appear next to eachother and above Orion, with the Hyades cluster to the bottom right of Mars and just above and to the right of Orion.
Mars shines high in UK skies
In the first part of December northern hemisphere observers will enjoy their best view of Mars until the 2030s. The red planet will be high in UK skies and will appear brighter than any star. Mars is often described as the solar system planet most l…
Professor Jay Pasachoff
Professor Jay Pasachoff, 1943-2022
The Royal Astronomical Society offers its condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of the astronomer Professor Jay Pasachoff, who has died at the age of 79. Pasachoff began his career at Harvard, receiving his doctorate there in 1969, befor…
Professor Tom Marsh of the University of Warwick
Professor Tom Marsh
The Royal Astronomical Society is saddened to learn of the tragic death of Professor Tom Marsh of the University of Warwick, whose body has been found near the European Southern Observatory in Chile. Professor Marsh worked in astronomy for four deca…
A yellow gold hued spiral galaxy against the blue-black backdrop of space.
Research unveils birthplace of gold-rich stars
A team of researchers from the University of Notre Dame and Tohoku University have revealed the birthplace of so-called ‘gold-rich’ stars – stars with an abundance of heavy elements beyond iron, including the "jewellery store elements", gold and plat…
This image depicts bright blue newly formed stars that are blowing a cavity in the centre of a fascinating star-forming region known as N90 with text written over it stating, "Congratulations to our February winners!"
RAS E&O February 2022 Small Grants Winners
  Congratulations to the following winners from February's round of Education and Outreach small grant scheme applicants: Dr Vasileios Spathopoulos - The Antikythera Mechanism: Using an ancient computer to teach basic astronomy concepts Mrs Trac…