50th anniversary of the atomic second

On 13 October 2017, atom-based time measurement will have replaced astronomic-based time measurement for exactly 50 years.
 [...]

World record in the underground laboratory of Membach: A sphere of mass 4 grams has been levitating for 8081 days

On Monday 18th of September 2017, the superconducting gravimeter of the Seismology-Gravimetry service installed at the Royal Observatory of Belgium’s facility in Membach (close to Eupen, eastern Belgium), broke two records: firstly, the gravimeter has been measuring gravitational variations for the longest recorded period at a single location, and secondly, recorded the longest period that an artifact has been levitating [...]

Science & culture at the Palais Royal 2017 – Exhibition “HEAVEN!”

As each year, the Royal Palace in Brussels opens its doors to the public in summer. This year, the visitors will be able to discover the exposition “HEAVEN!”

Royal Palace – Place des Palais/Paleizenplein – 1000 Brussels

Open from 22/07/2016 to 03/09/2016, from 10.30am to 4.30pm (last entrance).
Closed on Mondays
Free admission
Security checks are carried out at the entrance. It is highly recommended [...]

Asteroid discovered by Eric W. Elst of the ROB receives the name Jancuypers

On 30 June 2017, our colleague Dr. Jan Cuypers, who left us on 28 February 2017, was immortalized with the planetoid (23689) Jancuypers.

The announcement was done by the Minor Planet Center and has the following description: “Jan Cuypers (1956–2017) was an astronomer working at the Royal Observatory at Uccle. Involved in several public and astronomical duties at the observatory, he [...]

Véronique Dehant, foreign associate member of the Académie des sciences of Paris

The Académie des sciences of Paris has nominated on 22 March 2016 15 new foreign associate members. Pr. Véronique Dehant, scientist at the Royal Observatory of Belgium, figures amongst them.
Véronique Dehant is responsible for the Operational Directorate “Reference Systems and Planetary Science”. She is also Extraordinary Professor at the Université Catholique de Louvain. She was or is involved as Principal [...]

Obituary in homage to Jan Cuypers on the IAU website

In homage to our colleague Jan Cuypers, the International Astronomical Union recently published an obituary. [...]

Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) ready for launch!

This is it: the solar telescope EUI is ready to be mounted on the Solar Orbiter satellite. Solar Orbiter will be launched in 2019 and will approach the Sun closer than any other satellite ever. Because of its close approach, EUI will be able to make exceptionally detailed images of our star. These will enable scientists to unlock the secrets [...]

Cédric Gillmann got the Outstanding Early Career Scientists Award of the European Geosciences Union

Cédric Gillmann, planetary scientist at the Royal Observatory of Belgium, won the 2017 Outstanding Early Career Scientists Award of the Planetary and Solar System Sciences division of the EGU (European Geosciences Union) for his work on the atmospheric and thermal evolution of planets and their habitability. [...]

Every person is a seismometer!

If an earthquake is felt, one can report his experience to a national seismological institute (e.g. http://seismologie.be/en) or to international institutes such as the EMSC or USGS. Unfortunately, if an earthquake is felt across borders, felt earthquake reports will be submitted to different institutes leading to a fragmentation of the data. In a new study published in Solid Earth, an [...]

Brexit 1.0: scientists find evidence of Britain’s original separation from Europe

Researchers of the Royal Observatory of Belgium and of the Ghent University, in collaboration with English and French colleagues, have found evidence of how ancient Britain separated from Europe, nearly 450,000 years ago. They reported it on 4 April 2017 in Nature Communications. The process, which occurred in two stages, was triggered by the spillover from a proglacial lake followed [...]