Latest News

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...

The Royal Astronomical Society welcomes the uplift to the public sector research budget announced by the UK Government. Allocations for 2020 to 2021 were announced by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) at the end of...

Earlier this morning, RAS President-Elect Prof. Emma Bunce featured in Jim Al-Khalili's 'The Life Scientific', speaking about her path into space science, her passion for studying the largest planets in our Solar System, and the role of astronomy and...

Scientists have discovered new evidence for active volcanism next door to some of the most densely populated areas of Europe. The study ‘crowd-sourced’ GPS monitoring data from antennae across western Europe to track subtle movements in the Earth’s...

The winner of the 2020 Caroline Herschel Prize Lectureship is Dr Rebecca (Becky) Smethurst. Dr Smethurst is a Junior Research Fellow at Christ Church, University of Oxford. Her research accomplishments include applying state-of-the-art statistical...

Professor Haley Gomez MBE has been announced as the winner of the 2020 Frances Hoggan Medal, in recognition of her outstanding research in a STEMM subject. The Frances Hoggan Medal is awarded by the recently-formed Learned Society of Wales, and...

A new ultra-bright source of X-rays has awakened in between our galactic neighbours the Magellanic Clouds, after a 26-year slumber. This is the second-closest such object known to date, with a brightness greater than a million Suns. The discovery is...

Professor Andy Fabian has today been announced as the 2020 winner of the Kavli Prize in Astrophysics, in recognition of his pioneering research into black holes and their effects on their surrounding galaxies. Prof. Fabian is a former president of...

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...

Professor Roger Blandford is the 2020 winner of the Shaw Prize in Astronomy, awarded in recognition of his seminal contributions to theoretical astrophysics. Prof. Blandford is the Luke Blossom Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences and...

Comet C/2020 F8 (SWAN), perhaps the brightest comet we will see this year, is at its best from now until mid-June. It should be visible in from the UK in the north-western sky after sunset, close to the horizon. Along with the Sun, planets, and...