Brussels, 17 September 2026 – On Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 September 2026, the Space Pole in Uccle (the Royal Observatory of Belgium, Royal Meteorological Institute and Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy) opens its doors. [...]
A team of astronomers led by the Royal Observatory of Belgium have found that a star called Sakurai’s Object has become 6 times hotter in the past 30 years, one of the fastest increases ever seen. Sakurai’s Object is a dead star which re-ignited in the 1990’s as a ‘born-again’ star. 30 years ago it was similar in temperature to [...]
Since 31 August 2026, stamp collectors have been able to purchase at Bpost five stamps illustrating instruments linked to the Royal Observatory of Belgium. They were issued to mark the institute’s 200th anniversary. [...]
The European Research Council (ERC) today announced the winners of its latest Starting Grant competition. Kaustubh Hakim, researcher at both the Royal Observatory of Belgium and KU Leuven, has been awarded a grant for the ExoGeochem project, with the Observatory as host institution. [...]
On 12 August 2026, a total solar eclipse took place. While people had the chance to witness the totality of this event in Spain, Iceland and Greenland, eclipse watchers from Belgium witness the Moon covering about 90% of the Sun. On this occasion, the Royal Observatory of Belgium organised an eclipse observation event in its radioastronomy station in Humain (Marche-en-Famenne) [...]
Since June 2026, the Royal Observatory of Belgium has been publishing a series of podcasts entitled Sous les coupoles d’Uccle/Onder de koepels van Ukkel (Under the domes of Uccle in English). The podcasts are freely available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Studio or via an RSS feed. [...]
From July 3 to August 16, 2026, the Royal Palace is open to the public. This is an opportunity to explore the “Science and Culture” exhibition entitled Music, Sound & Imagination.
In the Grand Gallery, visitors can discover objects, works of art, sound clips and documents, all relating to sound and music. The Music, Sound & Imagination exhibition is organised by [...]
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Proba-3 mission is extended until August 2028. This space mission, involving a significant Belgian contribution, is studying the lower layers of the Sun’s corona. The pair of satellites were originally due to complete their mission at the end of this year. Thanks to the exceptional scientific and technological results already achieved by this space mission, [...]
8 June 2026 marks the 200th anniversary of the Royal Observatory of Belgium. To mark the occasion, the institute organises a wide range of activities, with events scheduled right through to 2027. These are regularly updated on the Observatory’s 200th anniversary website: 200year.observatory.be. [...]
From the 1st to the 30th of June 2026 an airborne campaign – with the name MAGIC Avalon – will take place over France and Belgium for the validation of the new European weather satellite Metop-Second Generation. [...]