Starship Asterisk*

The 227th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) will have its opening reception the evening of Monday, January 4, with some related activities getting underway on Sunday, January 3 and during the day on Monday, including a workshop called "Teaching Introductory Astronomy Using Quantitative Reasoning Activities & Research Projects," and several workshops related to computational methods, including the popular two-day Software Carpentry workshop, in addition to other workshops. The meeting this January is in Kissimmee, Florida, best known for proximity to Disney World. The science program for the meeting is available in several formats. As for following along, some options:

Twitter
(Doug Burke is this year unable to do the tweet analysis he's done so well in the past; if someone else does so and I learn of it, I'll pass that info along.)

Press conferences

I will be surprised if no one is live-blogging from the meeting and when I know who is, I will post that information here. A good bet is astrobites, since writers for that site have done so the past couple of years, but there may be others, too.

APOD is holding a splinter meeting at this AAS, as you likely know from this post; I think is the first time APOD has done so. Should be fun!

The head of the National Science Foundation (NSF), astrophysicist France Córdova, is presenting a plenary talk called A New Universe of Discoveries on Tuesday afternoon (abstract below) that I hope to attend, though it is right after a session on software that I've organized, so we'll see.

I'm also hoping to attend the Public Policy Plenary, titled Science to Action: Thoughts on Convincing a Skeptical Public, mostly because William Press is presenting it, though of course the topic is of interest to me, too.

---

Abstract for Córdova's presentation A New Universe of Discoveries: The convergence of emerging advances in astronomical instruments, computational capabilities and talented practitioners (both professional and civilian) is creating an extraordinary new environment for making numerous fundamental discoveries in astronomy, ranging from the nature of exoplanets to understanding the evolution of solar systems and galaxies. The National Science Foundation is playing a critical role in supporting, stimulating, and shaping these advances. NSF is more than an agency of government or a funding mechanism for the infrastructure of science. The work of NSF is a sacred trust that every generation of Americans makes to those of the next generation, that we will build on the body of knowledge we inherit and continue to push forward the frontiers of science. We never lose sight of NSF’s obligation to "explore the unexplored" and inspire all of humanity with the wonders of discovery. As the only Federal agency dedicated to the support of basic research and education in all fields of science and engineering, NSF has empowered discoveries across a broad spectrum of scientific inquiry for more than six decades. The result is fundamental scientific research that has had a profound impact on our nation's innovation ecosystem and kept our nation at the very forefront of the world's science-and-engineering enterprise.

---

Press Kit, 227th AAS Meeting

I did not get to Córdova's talk, I did get to Press's. Other great talks I missed include Alan Stern's and Saul Perlmutter's, alas. The software session I organized on Tuesday was very well-attended (people standing in the back) and went well. Posters Tuesday and Wednesday generated comments and discussion, and the meetings I've had so far have been fruitful.

Open Mic was tonight, and was excellent! Dance act, piano/voice duo (made into an unexpected trio), a guitarist/singer, a spoken word act (poetry), an a capella singer accompanied by his own vocal track, a piano solo (Debussy's Clare de Lune), a hilarious ukulele-accompanied "The Christians and the Pagans, a duo lipsynching and dancing to a Destiny's Child song, a solo guitar/vocal, and an aria, sung a capella, from Handel's Julius Caesar.

Astrobites is blogging about the meeting: Day 1 Day 2

There are probably many who are curious what became of this. Any chance of a future update or a suggestion on where to look?

I'm sure that once the Owl has flown back and put her feathers in order and has had a cup of hot chocolate (or two), she'll begin regurgitating lots of goodies of what went on.

The Owl has spent most of her time in meetings or in the exhibit hall, sometimes even in meetings in the exhibit hall. No science sessions (alas), and tomorrow is the last day! I plan to be in the exhibit hall again tomorrow to see various posters and plan to go to one of the science talks after seeing what I might contribute to a particular project at Hack Day.

The APOD session had four presentations, the longest of which was RJN's on the "behind the scenes" at APOD -- who writes APOD, how images are selected, how it's supported, and more; this was an engaging and interesting talk. I gave a short talk on Asterisk, mirror sites, and some of APOD's social media sites, one of RJN's grad students did a very quick talk about a poster she was presenting that used APOD images, and another member of the APOD advisory committee gave a short talk on the use of APOD in the classroom. There was then a freewheeling discussion with audience members. It was a worthwhile session and we'll probably do it again but plan it earlier so it appears in the meeting program. (This was a late addition to the meeting.)

This is such a big meeting and so much goes on! Too tired, though, to say more; I'm sorry!

And I have no hot chocolate but totally want some, now that Beyond mentioned it!

One reason the APOD meeting at AAS was helpful was that we found out about this. APOD had no idea Dr. Wagner had been doing this until meeting him at this event.