"The Group Achievement Award for Geophysics is given to the CHIANTI consortium, the team of scientists who have developed the 'Atomic Database for Spectroscopic Diagnostics of Astrophysical Plasmas.' This is a powerful tool for scientists who use the dispersion of light by wavelength (spectroscopy) to measure the properties of astronomical objects, including their composition, temperature, density and magnetic field strength. The analysis requires detailed knowledge of a large range of atomic elements. The CHIANTI consortium's achievement is the establishment of a systematic, easy-to-use and publically available database to assist this process, with a huge impact on solar and stellar physics."

A full press release is available from the RAS website.