Announcements

Image of Professor Emma Bunce
Professor Emma Bunce Wins EGU David Bates Medal
President of the Royal Astronomical Society, Professor Emma Bunce, has been named the winner of the European Geosciences Union David Bates Medal. The medal was established by the EGU Planetary & Solar System Sciences Division in recognition of th…
The remains of the Interplanetary Scintillation Array
Professor Antony Hewish, 1924-2021
The Royal Astronomical Society offers its sincere condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Professor Antony Hewish, who has died at the age of 97. Born in Cornwall, Prof. Hewish served at the Royal Aircraft Establishment and the Telecomm…
An image of Messier 101, the Pinwheel Galaxy, made with the Hubble Space Telescope
Supermassive black holes put a brake on stellar births
Black holes with masses equivalent to millions of suns do put a brake on the birth of new stars, say astronomers. Using machine learning and three state of the art simulations to back up results from a large sky survey, the researchers resolve a 20-y…
An illustration of material being ejected from the Sun (left) interacting with the magnetosphere of the Earth (right)
Planetary Shields Will Buckle Under Stellar Winds From Their Dying Stars
Any life identified on planets orbiting white dwarf stars almost certainly evolved after the star’s death, says a new study led by the University of Warwick that reveals the consequences of the intense and furious stellar winds that will batter a pla…
The SuperBIT ballon observatory in flight
SuperBIT: A Low-cost Balloon-Borne Telescope To Rival Hubble
Durham, Toronto and Princeton Universities have teamed up with NASA and the Canadian Space Agency to build a new kind of astronomical telescope. SuperBIT flies above 99.5% of the Earth’s atmosphere, carried by a helium balloon the size of a…
A poster for the short film Beyond Visible Noise
Beyond Visible Noise: the ‘sounds of space’ on film
Space scientists, spoken word artists and filmmakers teamed up to create a new short film, ‘Beyond Visible Noise’, that will launch at the National Astronomy Meeting on Tuesday 20 July. Dr Martin Archer of Imperial College London will describe how sc…
RAS Public Lecture's
RAS Free Public Lectures - dont miss out!
Have YOU wondered? Ever wondered about the universe? Where do we sit within it? What would life be like on Mars, and could we survive there? From the formation of the galaxy, the Solar System and the Earth itself, the Royal Astronomical Society want…
A portrait of Caroline Herschel with an illustration of planets in the solar system
Caroline Herschel Medal to honour women astronomers in UK and Germany
A new prize will celebrate outstanding research by women astrophysicists in the UK and Germany. The Caroline Herschel Medal, announced today by the UK government to mark the visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, celebrates the longstanding scient…
The RAS logo next to an image of Dr Sheila Kanani and Aine O'Brien with their awards
RAS Staff Win 'Arthurs' for Outstanding Outreach Work
Sheila and Aine receiving their awards. Credit Dr Sheila Kanani/Aine O'Brien Licence type All Rights Reserved Congratulations to o…
A nebula background image in orange and green with a logo of Burlington House in London announcing BH Lunchtime Scientist: Astrobiology 2021
Burlington House Lunchtime Scientist: Astrobiology 2021
  Burlington House Lunchtime Scientist is a free series of informal talks with GCSE and A Level students and their teachers to learn about exciting science career paths. The Royal Astronomical Society is collaborating with the Linnean Society…
The partial phase of an annular solar eclipse.
Annular Eclipse 10 June 2021: viewing it safely
On Thursday 10 June, the whole of the UK will see a partial eclipse of the Sun. These are quite rare, and this one will be a significant event. That morning, the Moon will pass right in front of the Sun, blotting out up to 38% of its disc. However…
Image of Catherine Heymans
Prof. Catherine Heymans becomes Astronomer Royal for Scotland
The Royal Astronomical Society congratulates Professor Catherine Heymans, an astrophysicist at the University of Edinburgh and Ruhr University Bochum on her appointment as Astronomer Royal for Scotland. Professor Heymans is the eleventh scientis…