Latest News

August Bank Holiday closure at RAS
The Royal Astronomical Society will be closed for the August Bank Holiday on Monday 25 and Tuesday 26 August 2025. We will re-open on Wednesday 27 August 2025.
Fresh twist to mystery of Jupiter's core
The mystery at Jupiter's heart has taken a fresh twist – as new research suggests a giant impact may not have been responsible for the formation of its core. It had been thought that a colossal collision with an early planet containing half of...
A&G Readers Survey 2025
Take part in A&G Readers Survey
The Royal Astronomical Society and Oxford University Press would like to invite Fellows to provide feedback on the Society's flagship bimonthly magazine, Astronomy & Geophysics (A&G). The brief, anonymous Readers Survey takes about seven minutes to...
Pictures from RAS Open House 2024 in the background, with a lock and key graphic and details of the date and times of RAS Open House 2025 in the foreground.
Guided tours and family fun at RAS Open House next month
The Royal Astronomical Society will once again be throwing open its doors as part of this year's Open House Festival in September. Guided tours of the Society's Burlington House HQ will take place alongside a number of fun-filled science activities...
Graphic showing the Earth with the text 'UK Space Agency joins DSIT'.
Savings from scrapping UK Space Agency 'must stay in science'
The Royal Astronomical Society notes with caution the Government's decision to disband the UK Space Agency (UKSA) and absorb it within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). While the desire to cut costs and bureaucracy must be...
Herstmonceux Observatory
RAS welcomes Herstmonceux lease deal
The Royal Astronomical Society is delighted to hear that the future of Herstmonceux Observatory has been secured with the signing of a new 10-year lease. It means The Observatory Science Centre, a charitable venture that welcomes about 60,000...
An artist's impression of the UPM J1040−3551 system against the backdrop of the Milky Way as observed by Gaia.
Rare quadruple star system could unlock mystery of brown dwarfs
The "exciting" discovery of an extremely rare quadruple star system could significantly advance our understanding of brown dwarfs, astronomers say. These mysterious objects are too big to be considered a planet but also too small to be a star because...
Job vacancy: Finance Officer
Job title Finance Officer Salary and hours £24,000 per annum (£40,000 FTE) Contract type Part-time, 12-month FTC About the Society: The Royal Astronomical Society was founded in 1820 and is the professional body for Astronomers and Geophysicists in...
Professor David Flower alongside an image of a front cover of Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
MNRAS Editor-in-Chief to step down next year
The Editor-in-Chief of Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS), Professor David Flower, is to step down after more than a decade in the role. He will remain in post until the end of 2026 but a recruitment process for his successor...
Radiant of the Perseid meteor shower.
Perseid meteor shower to reach its peak on 12 August
The annual Perseid meteor shower will reach its peak on the night of 12-13 August, although skywatchers hoping for a summer spectacular may be left disappointed because of the Moon. It is always more favourable to try to spot meteors when our lunar...
Graphic promoting the RAS Awards 2026 with the Society's medals in front of a background image of the Cartwheel galaxy from JWST and NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.
RAS Awards 2026: Deadline for nominations extended
Due to technical issues with our website, we understand that some people may have experienced difficulties submitting nominations for our 2026 RAS Awards. To ensure everyone has a fair opportunity, we are reopening the awards round until Wednesday...
The newly discovered ultramassive blackhole lies at the centre of the orange galaxy. Far behind it is a blue galaxy that is being warped into the horseshoe shaped ring by distortions in spacetime created by the immense mass of the foreground orange galaxy.
'Most massive black hole ever discovered' is detected
Astronomers have discovered potentially the most massive black hole ever detected. The cosmic behemoth is close to the theoretical upper limit of what is possible in the universe and is 10,000 times heavier than the black hole at the centre of our...