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On 14 September 2020, astronomers announced the detection of phosphine, a potential biomarker, in the atmosphere of Venus. Here are ten essential facts about the discovery: What has been discovered? A molecule called phosphine has been detected in...

New light has been shed on a mysterious and long-standing conundrum at the very heart of our galaxy. The new work offers a potential solution to the so-called ‘Galactic bar paradox’, whereby different observations produce contradictory estimates of...

With many conferences cancelled this year, the Royal Astronomical Society are organising an online poster exhibition from 14 September to give early career researchers (ECRs) the opportunity to showcase their work publicly on the RAS website. The...

The question of how small, dwarf galaxies have sustained the formation of new stars over the course of the Universe has long confounded the world’s astronomers. Now, an international research team has found that dormant small galaxies can slowly...

Part of our bicentenary celebrations, the RAS Supermassive podcast celebrates the best of astronomy and geophysics. Join astrophysicist Dr Becky Smethurst and science journalist Izzie Clarke to hear about the latest research, the people and...

The results of the recent survey about how to run the RAS Ordinary Meetings in the 2020-2021 session are in. We had a total of 905 responses, and the main outcomes are summarised below: 97% were quite or very interested in attending online Ordinary...

An exploding white dwarf star blasted itself out of its orbit with another star in a ‘partial supernova’ and is now hurtling across our galaxy, according to a new study from the University of Warwick and reported in the journal Monthly Notices of the...

This month astronomers in the northern hemisphere are enjoying views of Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE), discovered in March by the NEOWISE space telescope. The comet survived its closest approach to the Sun on 3 July, and is now bright enough to be seen...

The Royal Astronomical Society offers its condolences to the friends and family of Professor Nigel Weiss, who has died at the age of 83. Professor Weiss completed his PhD in 1961, becoming a world-leading expert in mathematical astrophysics...

The results of the 2020 RAS elections were announced at the Annual General Meeting of the Society on Friday 26 June. The following Fellows were elected to serve on Council, the governing body of the Society: Vice President (A): Dr Megan Argo Vice...

A lot has changed since the last update at the end of February. Due to government guidelines regarding COVID-19, the Society's offices have remained closed since March 17 and subsequently the scheduled stitching sessions in March and May were...

The RAS is pleased to announce the winners of its prizes for the best PhD theses completed in the UK during 2019. Prizes are awarded annually: the Michael Penston Prize for the best thesis in astronomy and astrophysics, the Keith Runcorn Prize for...