NASA will launch the Solar Orbiter spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, with 10 scientific instruments on board, including the space telescope Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI). Solar Orbiter is an ESA mission, with an important contribution from... Read more...
In 2019, 45 earthquakes and 14 induced earthquakes were located by the Royal Observatory of Belgium in or near Belgium. One earthquake, one induced event and one quarry blast were felt in Belgium. The largest... Read more...
Nervia and Eburonia are the new official names of the star HD49674 and its exoplanet. This was decided by the 1300 participants in the Belgian vote, whose purpose was to determine the winning proposal among... Read more...
Sébastien Le Maistre, researcher at the Royal Observatory of Belgium, will receive the Georges Vanderlinden Prize from the Royal Academy of Belgium (Science Class). This distinction, which will be awarded to him on Saturday December... Read more...
Brussels/Antwerp, 7 November 2019 – The Belgian instrument LaRa (Lander Radioscience) is accepted for integration on the Kazachok platform of the ExoMars 2020 mission. The final inspection of LaRa was performed end of July at the... Read more...
On November 2, the ESA satellite PROBA2 will be celebrating its 10th anniversary. Not too bad for this small Belgian spacecraft that was initially intended for a two-year mission! During these ten years, PROBA2 has been... Read more...
Solar scientists from the Royal Observatory of Belgium launched the citizen science project Val-u-Sun. This project, open to everyone, allows citizens to help research by counting sunspots from their archive. Sunspots are dark, ‘cold’ spots... Read more...
Brussels, 18 October 2019 – Ever closer to the Sun! The instrument EUI (Extreme Ultraviolet Imager) is integrated into the Solar Orbiter satellite to be launched towards the Sun in February 2020. Today, Solar Orbiter... Read more...
A special report from international experts was released on October 10, 2019, to explain the challenges of space weather and to provide a set of recommendations against radiation hazards in space. David Berghmans, of the... Read more...
This Operational Directorate (OD1) contributes to the elaboration of reference systems and timescales, integrates Belgium in the international reference frames, and studies the interior, rotation, dynamics, and crustal deformation of the Earth and other terrestrial planets and moons of our solar system. Read more...
The main mission of this Operational Directorate (OD2) is studying seismic activity, its causes and its consequences in western Europe. In support of this scientific research and to provide the authorities, the media and the public with relevant information about the seismic activity in real time in our region, this operational direction develops and maintains a network of seismic monitoring in Belgium. Read more...
This Operational Directorate (OD3) conducts scientific research in astronomy, especially in the field of stellar physics and the study of objects of the solar system. Research themes include astrometry, stellar evolution and asteroseismologie. Read more...
This Operational Directorate (OD4) studies the outer layers and the atmosphere of the Sun, with a particular focus on solar activity and the influence it exerts on the Earth and its space environment (space weather). On the ground, the observations are obtained using the Uccle Solar Equatorial Table (USET). Read more...
