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Gamma-ray bursts (like the one depicted in this artist’s impression) are the most violent explosions in the Universe, releasing more energy than the Sun would in 10 billion years.
Huge gamma-ray burst collection ‘rivals 250-year-old Messier catalogue’
Hundreds of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been recorded as part of an enormous global effort so extensive it "rivals the catalogue of deep-sky objects created by Messier 250 years ago", astronomers say. GRBs are the most violent explosions in the...
Job vacancy: Managing Editor
Job title Managing Editor Salary Circa £50k per annum Reporting chain Heads of Publishing; Executive Director Job summary The Managing Editor (ME) is responsible for supporting the Heads of Publishing in the publication of the international journals...
Job vacancy: Education and Outreach Officer
Job title Education and Outreach Officer Salary £38,000 per year Contract type Full-time, permanent About the Royal Astronomical Society The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), founded in 1820, is a prestigious institution dedicated to the advancement...
Job vacancy: Marketing and Events Officer
Job title Marketing and Events Officer Salary £32,000 per year Contract type 1 year Fixed-Term (Hybrid) About the Royal Astronomical Society The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), founded in 1820, is a prestigious institution dedicated to the...
Satellite image showing a wadi crossing a road within part of the Zooniverse interface that allows the pictures to be marked.
From supernova-spotting to foiling floods
Astro-skills used to spot supernovas and spiral galaxies will soon be deployed in disaster relief efforts to help humanitarian aid workers in Sudan. The northeast African country endures recurring flooding which has killed hundreds of people and...
Dr Rosemary Fowler with her daughter Mary Fowler.
Physics pioneer, 98, honoured 75 years after discovery
A pioneering physicist who gave up her PhD 75 years ago to have a family has been made an honorary Doctor of Science by her old university. Dr Rosemary Fowler’s discoveries at the University of Bristol in 1948 helped change our understanding of...
Professor Gilles Chabrier (left) and Professor John-Michael Kendall (right) pick up their Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medals, along with other prize winners (inset).
Winners of 2024 RAS Awards receive their prizes at NAM
Winners of this year’s Royal Astronomical Society Awards were presented with their prizes at a special celebration at last week’s National Astronomy Meeting in Hull. They included Gold Medal winners Professor John-Michael Kendall - a geologist whose...
Scientists say it is now possible to predict the precise speed a coronal mass ejection (shown left in an artist's impression) is travelling at and when it will smash into Earth (bottom right moving in our direction) – even before it has fully erupted from the Sun (top right).
New dawn for space storm alerts could help shield Earth's tech
Space storms could soon be forecasted with greater accuracy than ever before thanks to a big leap forward in our understanding of exactly when a violent solar eruption may hit Earth. Scientists say it is now possible to predict the precise speed a...
Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) image of the big sunspot that occurred on 5 May 2024, in continuum intensity ('white light').
Early riser! The Sun is already starting its next solar cycle
The first rumblings of the Sun's next 11-year solar cycle have been detected in sound waves inside our home star – even though it is only halfway through its current one. This existing cycle is now at its peak, or 'solar maximum' - which is when the...
The transformers that are most ‘connected’ to the network throughout the storm and therefore may be locations of vulnerability when it comes to space weather.
Washington DC among US cities most vulnerable to space weather, scientists say
Several cities in the United States - including the nation's capital - have power grids particularly vulnerable to the threat of space weather – but experts are still trying to understand why. Researchers at the British Geological Survey (BGS) found...
An artist's impression of the European Space Agency's PLATO spacecraft.
Exoplanet-hunting telescope to begin search for another Earth in 2026
Europe's next big space mission - a telescope that will hunt for Earth-like rocky planets outside of our solar system - is on course to launch at the end of 2026. PLATO, or PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars, is being built to find nearby...
In this image, the person on the left (Scarlett Johansson) is real, while the person on the right is AI-generated.
Want to spot a deepfake? Look for the stars in their eyes
In an era when the creation of artificial intelligence (AI) images is at the fingertips of the masses, the ability to detect fake pictures – particularly deepfakes of people – is becoming increasingly important. So what if you could tell just by...