News

04 Mar 22

Statement concerning Ukraine – suspension of the execution of collaborations with the Russian Federation

The Management Committee of Belspo (Belgian Science Policy Office), composed of ten federal scientific institutions (RMI, RBISA, ROB, KBR, State Archives, RBINS, RMCA, RIAP, RMAH and RMFAB) Belnet and the central administration, joins the numerous expressions of support from the Belgian and international scientific community regarding the armed conflict in Ukraine.

We wish to express collectively our full and complete solidarity [...]

04 March 2022 Read more...
18 Feb 22

Unique images of a solar cloud

On February 15, 2022, an immense cloud escaped from the Sun. The space telescope EUI onboard the Solar Orbiter satellite could capture the solar cloud while it was hurled into space. EUI followed the solar cloud over a distance of 3,5 million kms. Never before could a single telescope image the journey of a solar cloud from the early start [...]

18 February 2022 Read more...
01 Feb 22

Two asteroids discovered in Uccle named after two colleagues of the Observatory

Recently, two colleagues from the Royal Observatory of Belgium have had their names given to two asteroids. They are Michel Van Camp, head of the Seismology and Gravimetry service and researcher in gravimetry, and our sadly departed colleague Anne Vandersyppe, former secretary of the Solar Physics and Space Weather service, who passed away more than two years ago.  [...]

01 February 2022 Read more...
07 Jan 22

Passing of Eric Elst, Former Astronomer of the Observatory

Recently we were informed of the passing away on 2 January 2022 of one of our former collaborators, Dr. Eric Walter Elst. He was born on 30 November 1936.

After studies at the universities of Gent, Lund and Bonn, and temporary jobs at the universities of Utrecht and Boulder, Colorado, Eric Elst got a position as an astronomer at the Royal Observatory [...]

07 January 2022 Read more...
06 Jan 22

Two 2021 prizes of the Académie royale de Belgique awarded to scientists from the Observatory

Laurent Mahy and Jérémy Rekier, researchers at the Royal Observatory of Belgium, received respectively the 2021 Paul & Marie Stroobant Prize and the 2021 prize of the annual competition of the science division of the Académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique. These prizes highlight the quality of their research in the field of astronomy and [...]

06 January 2022 Read more...
20 Dec 21

The Observatory publishes its 2022 calendar (with text in French and Dutch)

The Royal Observatory of Belgium published its 2022 calendar. This is the second edition of its annual calendar.

This large calendar (32 cm x 32 cm) is illustrated with beautiful pictures representing the scientific activities of the Observatory. In addition,there is also information on astronomical events, written in French and Dutch, that can be observed with the naked eye or with [...]

20 December 2021 Read more...
26 Nov 21

Solar Orbiter returns to Earth for a last goodbye

On 27 November 2021, the Solar Orbiter spacecraft returns from its voyages in deep space, and will pass at only a few hundred kilometers above the Earth’s surface. This manoeuvre is needed to get Solar Orbiter in a new orbit to go yet closer to the Sun. During this flyby, Solar Orbiter unfortunately needs to cross the clouds of space [...]

26 November 2021 Read more...
22 Nov 21

DART: the Royal Observatory of Belgium participates in a NASA planetary defence mission

Brussels, 22 November 2021 – On November 24, 2021, at around 7:20 local Belgian time, NASA’s DART spacecraft will take off from the Vandenberg Space Force base in California (USA) as part of a planetary defence mission against asteroids. The Royal Observatory of Belgium is involved in this mission. The DART data will be used, among other things, to prepare [...]

22 November 2021 Read more...
06 Oct 21

Sun, Space, STCE, and Sangria!

The Solar-Terrestrial Centre of Excellence that combines research on the Sun, space and earth at the Belgian Space Pole will be present at the 4th Symposium on Space Educational Activities (SSEA), a European Space Agency-led congress that will be hosted by the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya – BarcelonaTech in April in Barcelona. SSEA provides a forum for university students, professionals working in [...]

06 October 2021 Read more...