AAS Press Releases
Recent press releases issued by the American Astronomical Society. (If you're looking for press releases from other organizations, see Astronomy in the News.)
EHT's Shep Doeleman to Receive 2020 Berkeley Prize
25 Jul 2019
Sheperd S. Doeleman (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian) is being honored with the 2020 Berkeley prize for his scientific contributions to, and his leadership of, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project...
Jo Bovy Awarded DDA's Vera Rubin Early Career Prize
21 Jun 2019
The AAS Division on Dynamical Astronomy is awarding its 2019 Vera Rubin Early Career Prize to Jo Bovy (University of Toronto) for his work on the structure and dynamics of the Milky Way galaxy.
American Astronomical Society to Acquire Sky & Telescope
18 Jun 2019
The AAS has agreed to acquire Sky & Telescope (S&T) magazine and its related business assets, including skyandtelescope.com, SkyWatch, digital editions, astronomy-themed tours, and S&T-branded books, sky atlases, globes...
AAS Issues Position Statement on Satellite Constellations
10 Jun 2019
In response to the launch by SpaceX of 60 Starlink satellites with plans for thousands more, the AAS Board of Trustees expresses concern over these satellites' potential to interfere with astronomical observations and...
Bulletin of the AAS Publishes Astro2020 White Papers
6 Jun 2019
What are the big topics in astronomy research that we’ll be working to address in the next decade? Astronomers have a pretty good guess, and they’ve shared what they think in a series of white papers that are part of the...
Astronomers Make a Case for Science on Capitol Hill
14 Mar 2019
Fifteen astronomers and planetary scientists from the American Astronomical Society visited Capitol Hill on Wednesday, 13 March 2019, to advocate for strong, sustained federal support of astronomy, planetary science, and...
AAS Aims to Improve Diversity, Inclusion in Graduate Education
1 Mar 2019
After a two-year study, the American Astronomical Society has recommended more than a dozen steps that colleges and universities can take to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups who earn graduate...
AAS Names Alice Shapley as Kavli Foundation Plenary Lecturer
19 Feb 2019
At the 234th AAS meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, on 10 June 2019, the Kavli Foundation Plenary Lecture will be given by Alice Shapley (University of California, Los Angeles), who will explore one of the great challenges...
AAS Names Recipients of 2019 Awards & Honors
8 Jan 2019
At its 233rd semiannual meeting in Seattle, Washington, AAS President Megan Donahue announced the recipients of the Society's 2019 prizes for outstanding achievements in scientific research, instrument development, and...
WorldWide Telescope Visualization Tracks New Horizons
24 Oct 2018
The AAS has created a visualization of the voyage of NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto and beyond using the WorldWide Telescope “Universe Information System." It looks ahead to the New Year’s Eve/Day 2019 flyby of...
Astronomy Rewind Fast-Forwards to Reanimate "Zombie" Astrophotos
9 Oct 2018
More than 30,000 celestial images that were all but lost to science are about to find their way back into researchers’ hands thanks to the efforts of thousands of citizen scientists participating in the Astronomy Rewind...
AAS Joins National Effort to Achieve Educational Equity
6 Sep 2018
In partnership with several other professional associations of physical scientists, the American Astronomical Society has received funding from the National Science Foundation to strengthen US science, technology...
AAS Press Officer to Receive NASA Medal for Eclipse Outreach
25 Jul 2018
The AAS is thrilled to announce that AAS Press Officer Dr. Richard Tresch Fienberg is being honored with NASA’s Exceptional Public Achievement Medal “for exceptional service to the nation in [his] tireless efforts for...
AAS & AGU Awarded Grant to Advance Exoplanet Science
12 Jul 2018
The AAS and the American Geophysical Union have received a grant from The Kavli Foundation to advance exoplanet science through a joint steering committee, special sessions at both societies’ annual meetings, and topical...
AAS Names Greg Laughlin as Kavli Foundation Plenary Lecturer
25 Jun 2018
At the 233rd AAS meeting in Seattle, Washington, on 7 January 2019, the Kavli Foundation Plenary Lecture will be given by Greg Laughlin (Yale University), who will explore the implications of the discovery of 'Oumuamua...