Latest News

Geophysical Journal International logo
Eruption of Hunga Volcano: special issue of GJI
Geophysical Journal International (GJI) welcomes contributions to a special issue devoted to the eruptive sequence of Hunga volcano (Tonga islands) that began on 14 January 2022. This eruption produced what is perhaps the largest volcanic explosion...
An artist's impression of the circumbinary planetary system Kepler 16-b. A planet is seen in the foreground, with 2 orange and yellow-hued stars in the background. Faint stars can be seen in the background.
‘Tatooine-like’ exoplanet spotted by ground-based telescope
A team of astronomers, led by Professor Amaury Triaud of the University of Birmingham, has detected a rare type of exoplanet using a ground-based telescope. The exoplanet is circumbinary, meaning it orbits around two stars at once, and until now had...
Two white-blue coloured spheres are shown merging in space, with tendrils of plasma coming from their merging point. Blue circular lines are seen extending outward from the point where the spheres meet.
Astronomers discover a new type of star covered in helium burning ashes
A team of German astronomers, led by Professor Klaus Werner of the University of Tübingen, have discovered a strange new type of star covered in the by-product of helium burning. It is possible that the stars might have been formed by a rare stellar...
Images showing the simulation - 3 different figures depict glowing pink and purple tendrils against the black background of space. In the third, 2 yellow-white orbs are labelled 'MW' for Milky Way and M31.
Scientists unveil most accurate virtual representation of the Universe
Scientists have produced the largest and most accurate virtual representation of the Universe to date. An international team of researchers, led by the University of Helsinki, and including members from Durham University in the UK, used supercomputer...
An illustration of a blue-white hued star in space surrounded by rings of orange and brown coloured planetary material. A small planet, blue in colour, lies just off the centre of the image.
Planetary bodies observed in habitable zone of dead star
A ring of planetary debris studded with moon-sized structures has been observed orbiting close to a white dwarf star, hinting at a nearby planet in the “habitable zone” where water and thus life could exist, according to a new study led by UCL...
Multicoloured filaments in space surrounding a bright blue core, Sagittarius A*. The filaments appear to be red, and green, and look gaseous.
Black hole at centre of Milky Way unpredictable and chaotic
An international team of researchers, led by postgraduate student Alexis André s, has found that the black hole at the centre of our galaxy, Sagittarius A*, not only flares irregularly from day to day but also in the long term. The team analysed 15...
A vivid yellow, orange, pink and purple map of the Milkyway with dark black splotches seen top the left centre and far right of image.
Gaia finds fossil spiral arms in Milky Way
An international team of astronomers, led by researcher Chervin Laporte of the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona (ICCUB-IEEC), has used data from the Gaia space mission to create a new map of the Milky Way’s outer disc...
A diffuse galaxy in green and blue hues. White and orange stars appear around the clouds of the galaxy.
Evidence emerges for dark-matter free galaxies
An international team of astronomers led by researchers from the Netherlands has found no trace of dark matter in the galaxy AGC 114905, despite taking detailed measurements over a course of fourty hours with state-of-the-art telescopes. They will...
A bright white galaxy that is round in shape, glowing against the darkness of space.
The last breaths of massive galaxies
A team of astronomers propose a scenario in which galaxies with active cores may undergo a period of rapid star birth before shutting down completely. The research, conducted by astronomers from the University of Southampton, the Institute of...
""
New RAS journal invites submissions and reviewers
The new open access RAS journal, RAS Techniques and Instruments (RASTI) , is set to open for submissions in November 2021, and invites the astronomy and geoscience communities to make submissions from next month. RAS Techniques and Instruments is a...
Cutaway of a star showing an artist's impression of a spinning yellow core
Magnetic fields implicated in the mysterious midlife crisis of stars
Middle-aged stars can experience their own kind of midlife crisis, experiencing dramatic breaks in their activity and rotation rates at about the same age as our Sun, according to new research published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal...
RAS launches new multi-disciplinary journal
The Royal Astronomical Society is pleased to announce the launch of its first new journal in almost 100 years. Tentatively titled RAS Techniques and Instruments, it will cover topics in astronomy and geophysics ranging from instrumentation, data...