 In 1982, Henbest was appointed Media Consultant to the Royal Greenwich Observatory, with special responsibility for publicising the new Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma and the opening of the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope.The Open University invited Henbest to serve as External Assessor on its new Astronomy module, "Matter in the Universe" (S256), in 1984.As well as editing books and magazine supplements, Henbest was appointed as Editor of the "Journal of the British Astronomical Association" in 1985, redesigning and revitalising the publication.