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Daisaburo Kido, of the University of Tokyo.
2026 MNRAS Student Author Prize winner announced
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS) is delighted to announce the winner of the 2026 MNRAS Student Prize. The annual prize recognises papers that, in the view of the MNRAS Editorial Board, are the best submitted in a given 12...
ALMA's DV-59 antenna in the foreground with multiple other antennas observing the sky in a night dominated by the Moon.
NAM 2026: Could alien signals be hiding on a different radio channel?
Astronomers searching for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence may have been missing alien signals in part of the radio spectrum that has not recently been explored. Most radio SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) surveys have focused on...
A global photography competition called RAStroPhoto is being launched to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS).
RAStroPhoto competition launched to mark MNRAS bicentenary
Amateur astrophotographers are invited to share their images capturing the wonder of astronomy for a new photography competition being launched to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS). First...
Aurora borealis seen over Cwmbran, Wales, produced by the May 2024 solar storm. 
NAM 2026: Most powerful Northern Lights in a generation 'exposed weaknesses in UK infrastructure'
Millions of people across the UK marvelled at the spectacular Northern Lights that lit up the night sky in May 2024. But while the display captivated skywatchers, the geomagnetic storm behind it also served as the biggest test in a generation of the...
From left, Professor Joe Silk, Dr Jonathan McDowell, Professor Martin Ward, Dr Nikita Chiu and Dr Manuel Salvoldi.
NAM 2026 Debate: Should the far side of the Moon be reserved for science?
What we do on the Moon now will set a precedent for preserving parts of the entire Solar System as we move out into it, according to astrophysicist and leading space debris expert Dr Jonathan McDowell. He was speaking during a debate in which experts...
Image from HST showing the bipolar outflow of material ejected by the helium nova V445 Puppis. The progenitor binary star system is just about visible in the centre of the outflow. Also visible are the 'bullets' of gas that were shot out at either end of the outflow. Image taken in 2013 with the F502N filter on Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3.
NAM 2026: Mystery 'bullets' seen in Milky Way's only helium nova
Mysterious high-speed "bullets" – clumps of possibly oxygen-rich gas travelling at up to 20 million miles per hour – have been discovered shooting out of the rarest stellar explosion in our galaxy. They were spotted after a dust of debris surrounding...
Halo 18 is an example of a galaxy that had a head-on collision (see the panel at z=1.2) and had a disc flip (you can see this by comparing the disc orientation at z=1.4 and z=0). This image and Image 2 show how these two exemplary galaxies evolve with time: each panel corresponds to a different time defined by redshift (z). Redshift is a quantity used by astronomers to measure the time in the universe, with z=0 corresponding to the present day, and larger z corresponding to earlier times. Each z has two pan
NAM 2026: How our Milky Way once underwent a dramatic flip
The Milky Way may have undergone a dramatic change in orientation during its history, according to new research that helps explain a long-standing mystery about our galaxy. Using supercomputer simulations of galaxies like the Milky Way, a team of...
Comparison of Mars before (left) and during (right) the June 2018 dust storm, which coincided with the solar energetic particle event examined by the Lancaster University team. Images taken by the Mars Color Imager (MARCI), a wide-angle camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), that maps daily weather conditions across the planet.
NAM 2026: Solar storms 'may alter Martian weather during dust storms'
Solar storms may affect weather on Mars when they strike at the same time as major Martian dust storms, a new study has suggested for the first time. Researchers found evidence of rising temperatures in the Red Planet's lower atmosphere when the two...
The front cover of The Sun as a Star, an online collection of papers celebrating our growing understanding of the Sun over the past two centuries.
New online collection celebrates growing understanding of our Sun
Our growing understanding of the Sun over the past two centuries has been reflected in a new online collection of papers collated from Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ( MNRAS). These advancements include the Sun's effect on the...
Photograph of the MAGIC instrument. This is the flight instrument that has just been finished and will be sent for integration into HENON soon. It is missing the sensor, which is attached by a wire and will be mounted on a deployable boom.
NAM 2026: UK-built instrument could vastly improve space weather forecasts
Space weather warnings could be received hours before Earth is hit rather than minutes with the help of a miniature UK-built instrument soon to be stationed in deep space. MAGIC (MAGnetometer from Imperial College) is part of the European Space...
Sunspots are regions of intense magnetic activity on the Sun's surface. The number of sunspots rises and falls over the Sun's approximately 11-year activity cycle and is one of the main ways astronomers track and predict solar activity.
NAM 2026: How Sun goes to 'sleep' could reveal space weather when it wakes
Scientists have developed a new way to predict the strength of the Sun's next activity cycle up to seven years before it reaches its peak. The new method uses the number of sunspots at a newly-identified 'switch-off' point in the solar cycle, when...
RAS response to UKRI/STFC funding announcement
The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) cautiously welcomes the decision to largely protect UK astronomy from the catastrophic cuts previously under consideration. Fears of a budget reduction of up to 30 per cent sparked profound concern across the...