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The newly-discovered giant radio galaxy ‘Inkathazo’. The glowing plasma jets, as seen by the MeerKAT telescope, are shown in red and yellow. The starlight from other surrounding galaxies can be seen in the background.
'Troublesome' radio galaxy 32 times size of Milky Way spotted
Astronomers have discovered an extraordinary new giant radio galaxy with plasma jets 32 times the size of our Milky Way. Measuring 3.3 million light-years from end-to-end, the cosmic megastructure was spotted by South Africa's MeerKAT telescope and...
RAS award winners 2025
Pioneering physicist and galaxy luminary among 2025 RAS award winners
One of the world's most distinguished theoretical astronomers and a pioneering molecular physicist who is illuminating our understanding of exoplanets have each been awarded the Royal Astronomical Society's illustrious Gold Medal for 2025. Professor...
Job vacancy: A&G Editor
The Royal Astronomical Society wishes to appoint an Editor for its flagship members' magazine Astronomy & Geophysics. The position is a shared role, working 2 days per week with the current Editor as part of a small team (Editor, Production Editor...
Professor Karl Menten
Professor Dr Karl Martin Menten, 1957-2024
The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) offers its sincere condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Professor Dr Karl Martin Menten, who has died at the age of 67. Professor Menten, director at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in...
Job vacancy: Executive Director
The Royal Astronomical Society is working with its Executive Search Partner Hanover Fox to appoint an inspiring leader with a passion for science and proven management expertise as its new Executive Director. JOB SUMMARY As Executive Director you...
Royal Astronomical Society Fellows Paul Fellows (left) and Howard Parkin (right) have been recognised in the New Year Honours for services to astronomy. Inset is an MBE, which Mr Parkin has received.
Two RAS Fellows awarded New Year Honours
A cruise ship astronomer and Dark Sky ambassador – both Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) – have been recognised in the New Year Honours list. Paul Fellows, the chairman of the Cambridge Astronomical Association, received a British...
Quadrantid Meteor Shower offers 'perfect New Year treat'
One of Earth's most spectacular meteor showers will light up the night sky with an array of dazzling 'shooting stars' over the next fortnight. Stargazers will have a chance to catch a glimpse of the Quadrantids between now and 12 January 2025...
Image of Arp220 from the Hubble Space Telescope showing the large scale structure of the merging system.
Clever trick to cook stars like Christmas puds detected for first time
The missing ingredient for cooking up stars in the same way you might steam your Christmas pudding has been spotted for the first time by astronomers. Much like a pressure cooker has a weight on top of its lid to keep the pressure in and get your...
This graphic offers a glimpse of the history of the Universe, as we currently understand it.
Dark energy 'doesn’t exist' so can't be pushing 'lumpy' Universe apart – study
One of the biggest mysteries in science – dark energy – doesn't actually exist, according to researchers looking to solve the riddle of how the Universe is expanding. For the past 100 years, physicists have generally assumed that the cosmos is...
Graphic showing the RAS Thesis Prizes 2024 and deadline for nominations on a pink starry background.
RAS Thesis Prizes 2024 – Call for nominations
Each year the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) recognises the best PhD theses in astronomy and geophysics completed in the UK. Three prizes are available: the Michael Penston Prize for astronomy, the Keith Runcorn Prize for geophysics, and the...
The two prize winners.
GJI Student Paper Award Winners 2024
Geophysical Journal International (GJI) is delighted to announce the two winners of the 2024 Student Paper Award. They are Théo Santos for his first author paper, “Refining Tomography with Generative Neural Networks trained from Geodynamics”, and...
University of Aberdeen's Dr David Cornwell doing seismology-related outreach, which forms part of planned grant activities funded by the RAS.
RAS hands out over £160k in grants in 2024
More than £160,000 in grants have been awarded by the Royal Astronomical Society in 2024. In recent years the Society has been able to support projects ranging from an educational seismology network in Scotland, to a travelling observatory bringing...