This week, AAS Nova and Astrobites are attending the American Astronomical Society (AAS) summer meeting in Anchorage, AK.
AAS Nova Editor Kerry Hensley and AAS Media Fellow Lexi Gault will join Astrobites Media Interns Lucas Brown and Maggie Verrico along with Astrobiters Olivia Cooper and Karthik Yadavalli to live-blog the meeting for all those who aren’t attending or can’t make it to all the sessions they’d like. We plan to cover all of the plenaries and press conferences, so follow along here on aasnova.org or on astrobites.org! You can also follow Astrobites on Bluesky at astrobites.bsky.social for more meeting content.
Where can you find us during the meeting? We’ll be at the Astrobites booth in the Exhibit Hall all week — stop by and say hello! You can also find Kerry and Lexi at the press conferences Monday through Wednesday, with AAS Nova Editor Susanna Kohler assisting online. AAS press conferences are open to all in-person and virtual meeting attendees, and they can also be viewed on the AAS Press Office YouTube channel for anyone not attending the meeting.
Finally, you can read the currently published AAS 246 keynote speaker interviews, which were conducted by Astrobiters Neev Shah, Lucas Brown, Maria Vincent, Sowkhya Shanbhog, Maggie Verrico, and Karthik Yadavalli. Be sure to check back all week as the remainder are released!
Education, Outreach, and More at AAS 246
AAS 246 features a broad range of sessions related to education and outreach. For a comprehensive and curated list of sessions, check out this post from AAS Education Program Manager Tom Rice. Here are a few highlights (all times AKDT; must be logged in to aas.org for links to work correctly):
Monday will kick things off with multiple education-related poster sessions in the Exhibit Hall from 9:00 to 10:00 am. This poster session will immediately be followed by the Education and Public Engagement oral session from 10:00 to 11:30 am, and there will be an eclipse-related special session from 2:00 to 3:30 pm. Close out your day at 49th State Brewing with an informal gathering of astronomy educators starting at 7:30 pm; RSVP here (optional but encouraged).
Tuesday begins with an education-related special session, Sharing Astronomy with Blind and Low Vision Audiences, from 10:00 to 11:30 am, immediately followed by an outreach event at the Anchorage Museum from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm. This event will feature a Sun observation table, solar telescopes, live music, and more; learn more about the event here. In the afternoon, check out the education-related parallel oral sessions Undergraduate Research with the Rubin Observatory and Moving Toward Mutuality in Astronomy Today from 2:00 to 3:30 pm.
On Wednesday, you can take your pick of six education-related parallel sessions, three in the morning from 10:00 to 11:30 am and three in the afternoon from 2:00 to 3:30 pm.
Thursday begins with three education-related poster sessions, Education and Public Outreach, Education Research, and Community and Profession, from 9:00 to 10:00 am in the Exhibit Hall. Finally, be sure to stick around for the closing plenary from 11:40 am to 12:30 pm, “The Current Landscape for Science Policy and How YOU Can Make a Difference.”