News

Music, Sound & Imagination Exhibition at the Royal Palace

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 [...]

Successful Proba-3 mission extended until 2028

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, [...]

200 candles for the Royal Observatory of Belgium

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.    [...]

Second workshop on Belgian Time and Frequency Services (BTFS)

On Tuesday 10 March 2026, the second workshop on Belgian Time and Frequency Services (BTFS) was held at the Royal Observatory of Belgium (ROB). It brought together around thirty interested participants to discuss the latest developments and applications. Thanks to the use of an optical network for the distribution of time and frequency signals, this technology is immune to GNSS [...]

A New View of the Sun’s Corona

The Belgian-led ASPIICS coronagraph aboard ESA’s Proba-3 mission reveals a dynamic birthplace of the solar wind
Observations made by the ASPIICS coronagraph aboard the Proba-3 mission of ESA reveal a world of small-scale activity in the Sun’s inner corona, according to a new study led by the Royal Observatory of Belgium. These observations suggest that the region where the solar wind forms [...]

Battle of the Scientists 2026

On February 6, six researchers, including two from the Royal Observatory of Belgium, shared their knowledge on solar storms and space weather with a special audience during the eleventh Battle of the Scientists. 2,700 enthusiastic primary school children, 500 of whom were in the auditorium and 2,200 via livestream, voted for the most insightful presentation. The Belgian Space Weather Centre [...]

Daunting image of a pair of stars and its surrounding nebula

Last Monday, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) released a new Picture of the Week. It is an image of a pair of stars and its surrounding nebula. The two stars constitute the binary system AFGL 4106, which was recently studied in a recent Astronomy and Astrophysics paper, of which René Oudmaijer of the Royal Observatory of Belgium is a co-author. [...]