Professor Michele Dougherty has been appointed the new Astronomer Royal for the United Kingdom.
The appointment makes Professor Dougherty the first woman to hold the role since it was created 350 years ago.
Lord Martin Rees, the previous Astronomer Royal, has announced his retirement from the role.
Professor Dougherty was approved by the King to take up the position, the first woman to do so since the Astronomer Royal role was created in 1675.
An advisor for the stars
The Astronomer Royal today is largely an honorary role awarded to a leading astronomer, with the responsibility of advising the British monarch on matters astronomical.
However, when it was first created, the Astronomer Royal was tasked with the goal of calculating how to determine longitude at sea when no land is visible.
Accordingly, the Astronomer Royal was then based at the Royal Observatory Greenwich.
The list of previous Astronomer Royals is largely a who's who of some of the most famous British astronomers.
It includes John Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal, Edmond Halley, Sir George Biddell Airy and Sir Frank Dyson.
There is also an Astronomer Royal for Scotland, and that role is currently taken up by Professor Catherine Heymans, who was appointed in 2021.
The appointment of Professor Michele Dougherty as Astronomer Royal means that both roles are now filled by women for the first time in history.
You can listen to our 2023 interview with Professor Dougherty below.
The new Astronomer Royal
Professor Dougherty holds the Astronomer Royal position alongside her current positions as Executive Chair of the Science and Technology Facilities Council, President-elect of the Institute of Physics and a Professor of Space Physics at Imperial College London.
She was previously the Principal Investigator of the Magnetometer Instrument on the Cassini mission at Saturn, measuring the ringed planet's magnetic field and how it interacts with Saturn's moons.
"I am absolutely delighted to be taking on the important role of Astronomer Royal," she says.
"As a young child I never thought I’d end up working on planetary spacecraft missions and science, so I can’t quite believe I’m actually taking on this position.
"In this role I look forward to engaging the general public in how exciting astronomy is, and how important it and its outcomes are to our everyday life."
