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Royal Commission for AlUla, SETI Institute Collaborate to Develop AlUla Manara Observatory

The Royal Commission for AlUla logo
The Royal Commission for AlUla logo
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Royal Commission for AlUla, SETI Institute Collaborate to Develop AlUla Manara Observatory

The Royal Commission for AlUla logo
The Royal Commission for AlUla logo

The Royal Commission for AlUla has signed a cooperation agreement with SETI Institute to support the development of the AlUla Manara Observatory, which will act as a leading global center for innovation and excellence in space and astronomy sciences.

The agreement seeks to boost AlUla's status as a leading world destination for star and astronomy exploration tourism.

The collaboration will make AlUla Manara a hub for scientific advancement through joint research projects and initiatives for the growing astro-tourism sector in AlUla, and will provide educational opportunities to develop skills needed to work at the observatory, including supporting research and development programs with the latest systems and equipment. These advancements will enable scientists to conduct comprehensive space surveys and analyze data to identify new stars, planets, and comets.

Supervisor of the AlUla Manara program Eng. Nayef Al-Malik said that the collaboration strengthens AlUla’s role as a vital center for the exchange of science and knowledge.

He said that SETI Institute is one of the world’s leading organizations in research and scientific exploration, equipped with decades of technical expertise and knowledge in space and astronomy.

Al-Malik pointed out that the institute will support the development of data analysis systems for a range of telescopes planned for the observatory.

The observatory's educational centers will enhance local capabilities in space sciences using virtual reality. Furthermore, the awareness center will offer visitors to the observatory the chance to get familiarized with astronomy, in line with the commission’s vision to establish AlUla as a knowledge-sharing global center for research, innovation.

SETI Institute CEO Bill Diamond stressed that the institute’s mission is to share the results of its research with the world, noting that the collaboration with the Royal Commission for AlUla opens new horizons for advancing space sciences, education, and technology development.

"We envision the AlUla Manara Observatory as a beacon of discovery, equipped with advanced and modern telescopes to detect new planets and stars, pushing astronomical research to further frontiers,” Senior Planetary Astronomer and Director of Citizen Science at the institute Frank Marchis said.

He also said that their initiative in astronomical sciences will invite the community and tourists to “stargaze, explore AlUla’s rich scientific heritage, foster international collaboration, and revive humanity's deep connection with the universe.”

The AlUla Manara Observatory is set to open in several phases over the coming years, and carry out continuous research, collaboration, and educational initiatives.

AlUla Manara Observatory, currently under development, is located near the Gharameel area, in AlUla, which is one of the top 10% global locations with clear, dark skies.

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Australia Sweats Through Hottest 12 Months on Record

Australia has just sweltered through its hottest 12 months on record, a period of drenching floods, tropical cyclones and mass coral bleaching. DAVID GRAY / AFP/File
Australia has just sweltered through its hottest 12 months on record, a period of drenching floods, tropical cyclones and mass coral bleaching. DAVID GRAY / AFP/File
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Australia Sweats Through Hottest 12 Months on Record

Australia has just sweltered through its hottest 12 months on record, a period of drenching floods, tropical cyclones and mass coral bleaching. DAVID GRAY / AFP/File
Australia has just sweltered through its hottest 12 months on record, a period of drenching floods, tropical cyclones and mass coral bleaching. DAVID GRAY / AFP/File

Australia has just sweltered through its hottest 12 months on record, a weather official said Thursday, a period of drenching floods, tropical cyclones and mass coral bleaching.

Senior government climatologist Simon Grainger said the rolling 12-month period between April 2024 and March 2025 was 1.61 degrees Celsius (34.9 degrees Fahrenheit) above average -- the hottest since records began more than a century ago.

"This is certainly part of a sustained global pattern," he told AFP.

"We've been seeing temperatures since about April 2023 that were globally much warmer than anything we have seen in the global historical record."

The previous hottest period was in 2019, Grainger said, when temperatures were 1.51 degrees Celsius above average.

"That is a pretty significant difference," Grainger said.

"It's well above what we would expect just from uncertainties due to rounding. The difference is much larger than that."

The record was measured on a rolling 12-month basis -- rather than as a calendar year.

Australia has also recorded its hottest-ever March, Grainger said, with temperatures more than two degrees above what would normally be seen.

"There has basically been sustained warmth through pretty much all of Australia," he said.

"We saw a lot of heatwave conditions, particularly in Western Australia. And we didn't really see many periods of cool weather -- we didn't see many cold fronts come through."

Sickly white coral

From the arid outback to the tropical coast, swaths of Australia have been pummeled by wild weather in recent months.

Unusually warm waters in the Coral Sea stoked a tropical cyclone that pummeled densely populated seaside hamlets on the country's eastern coast in March.

Whole herds of cattle have drowned in vast inland floods still flowing across outback Queensland.

And a celebrated coral reef off Western Australia has turned a sickly shade of white as hotter seas fuel an unfolding mass bleaching event.

The average sea surface temperature around Australia was the "highest on record" in 2024, according to a recent study by Australian National University.

This record run looked to have continued throughout January and February, said Grainger.

"We haven't seen much cooling in sea surface temperatures."

Moisture collects in the atmosphere as oceans evaporate in hotter temperatures -- eventually leading to more intense downpours and storms.

Australia follows a slew of heat records that have been toppling across the planet.

Six major international datasets confirmed that 2024 was the hottest year on record.

Scientists are unanimous that burning fossil fuels has largely driven long-term global warming.

Australia sits on bulging deposits of coal, gas, metals and minerals, with mining and fossil fuels stoking decades of near-unbroken economic growth.

But it is increasingly suffering from more intense heatwaves, bushfires and drought, which scientists have linked to climate change.