Fellows Membership | The Royal Astronomical Society

There are two routes to becoming an RAS Fellow. The Route 1 application is for those who know a current member of the Society and Route 2 is for those who do not. Both application forms can be completed and submitted through this website.

The Crab Nebula is a supernova remnant, all that remains of a tremendous stellar explosion.

NASA Goddard

Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Membership benefits

Your RAS membership comes with a number of benefits such as use of the library and archives, free attendance at all RAS scientific meetings at Burlington House, access to grants and much more.

Saturn and the shadow of its rings across its disc, taken by the Cassini/Huygens probe.

NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

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Membership fees

The membership year runs from January to December. Fellows will be contacted in October to renew their membership for the following year. The fees for the 2025 calendar year are listed here.

Photogravure of the Moon showing the craters Boussingault, Vlacq and Maurolycus

Current Fellows

Current members of the RAS can log in to the Fellows' designated website to manage their details, pay membership and journal subscription fees, as well as cast their votes electronically for the Council elections in the lead up to the AGM.…

Photogravure of the Moon showing the craters Boussingault, Vlacq and Maurolycus, from 'Atlas photographique de la lune' by Maurice Loewy and Pierre Henri Puiseux (1896-1910).

Royal Astronomical Society

Code of Conduct

All Fellows agree to be bound by the Royal Astronomical Society Code of Conduct, details of which can be found here.

Colourful, turbulent clouds in Jupiter's northern hemisphere, taken by NASA's Juno spacecraft

NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstadt/Sean Doran

Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Image showing the galaxy cluster Abell1689. Credit: NASA/ESA

Membership Committee

The RAS relies on several committees to organise aspects of its activities including membership. One of the Membership Committee's responsibilities is to review Route 2 applications and reinstatement requests before they…

Image showing the galaxy cluster Abell1689. Credit: NASA/ESA

Silhouette of a person with the night sky behind them.

Membership information for students

Useful information for students interested in becoming a member of the Society.

Greg Rakozy on Unsplash

Attribution (CC BY 4.0)

A large blue world in the orbit of a distant red star

Early Career Network Committee

The RAS Early Career Network (ECN) provides support, networking and advice for early career researchers. The steering group is run by, and represents, the views of Early Career Fellows of the RAS. This…

Searching for another blue world.

Matthew Bothwell

The night sky full of stars and the milky way galaxy diagonally crossing above a mountainous horizon.

RAS JobList

The RAS JobsList service provides email alerts for new posts for jobseekers, together with an online archive of previous mailings. For advertisers, it provides a free, moderated distribution service. Anyone can post or subscribe to the list.

The Milky Way galaxy

Universal Ethical Code for Scientists

As well as adhering to the Society's Bye-laws and Code of Conduct, we ask all our Fellows to observe the Universal Ethical Code for Scientists which can be found here.