''The Observatory'' is a publication, variously described as a journal, a magazine and a review, devoted to astronomy. It appeared regularly starting in 1877, and it is now published every two months. The current editors are

David Stickland David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the Kings of Israel and Judah, third king of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stel ...

Bob Argyle
Steve Fossey
Phillip Helbig
and Quentin Stanley. Although it is not published by the

Royal Astronomical Society The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is a learned society and charitable organisation, charity that encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, planetary science, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. Its ...

, it publishes the reports of its meetings. Other features are the extensive book reviews, correspondence, thesis abstracts, obituaries, and "Here and There", a collection of misprints and ridiculous statements of astronomical interest. As of 2025, it is a diamond—open-access publication. The founder and first editor (1877–1882) was William Christie, then chief assistant at the Royal Observatory and later

Astronomer Royal Astronomer Royal is a senior post in the Royal Households of the United Kingdom. There are two officers, the senior being the astronomer royal dating from 22 June 1675; the junior is the astronomer royal for Scotland dating from 1834. The Astro ...

. Notable subsequent editors include: *

Arthur Eddington Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, (28 December 1882 – 22 November 1944) was an English astronomer, physicist, and mathematician. He was also a philosopher of science and a populariser of science. The Eddington limit, the natural limit to the lu ...

(1913–1919) * Harold Spencer Jones (1915–1923) * Richard van der Riet Woolley (1933–1939) * William McCrea (1935–1937) *

Margaret Burbidge Eleanor Margaret Burbidge, FRS (; 12 August 1919 – 5 April 2020) was a British-American observational astronomer and astrophysicist. In the 1950s, she was one of the founders of stellar nucleosynthesis and was first author of the ...

(1948–1951) *

Antony Hewish Antony Hewish (11 May 1924 – 13 September 2021) was a British radio astronomer who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974 (together with fellow radio-astronomer Martin Ryle) for his role in the discovery of pulsars. He was also awarded the ...

(1957–1961) *

Donald Lynden-Bell Donald Lynden-Bell CBE FRS (5 April 1935 – 6 February 2018) was a British theoretical astrophysicist. He was the first to determine that galaxies contain supermassive black holes at their centres, and that such black holes power quasars. ...

(1967–1969) * Carole Jordan (1968–1973) *

Jocelyn Bell Burnell Dame Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell (; Bell; born 15 July 1943) is a Northern Irish physicist who, as a doctoral student, discovered the first radio pulsars in 1967. This discovery later earned the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1974, but she was not ...

(1973–1976)

References

External links

Official web site
Science and technology magazines published in the United Kingdom Astronomy journals Magazines established in 1877 1877 establishments in the United Kingdom Royal Astronomical Society Astronomy magazines Bi-monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom {{UK-sci-mag-stub

References

Further reading

External links