241st meeting

Press Information

241
Seattle, Washington
241st meeting of the American Astronomical Society
Seattle, Washington
8 – 12 January 2023

27 December 2022

Contact:
Dr. Susanna Kohler
AAS Press Officer
+1 202-328-2010 x127

Dr. Kerry Hensley
AAS Deputy Press Officer
+1 202-328-2010 x138

Around 3,000 astronomers, educators, students, and journalists will gather in Seattle, Washington, from 8 to 12 January 2023 for the 241st meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS). This joint conference with the AAS Historical Astronomy Division (HAD), the High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD), and the Laboratory Astrophysics Division (LAD) will feature a variety of scientific presentations, workshops, town halls, and more. Of particular interest to reporters, the AAS Press Office will also host eight press conferences on the latest discoveries in astronomy, planetary sciences, space sciences, and more. Meeting hashtag: #aas241. 

The venue for this winter’s AAS meeting is the Seattle Convention Center, 705 Pike Street Seattle, WA 98101. The AAS offers complimentary press registration for the meeting to bona fide working journalists and public-information officers (PIOs), as explained below.

Meeting links:

Important Preliminaries

All attendees at the meeting — including press registrants — are expected to follow our Guide to AAS Meeting Etiquette, Anti-Harassment Policy for AAS & Division Meetings & Activities, and Code of Ethics. Your participation in the meeting is taken to signify your acknowledgment that you have read these guidelines/policies and your agreement to adhere to them. Accordingly, please read them before you come to Seattle and abide by them once you arrive.

Please note that the AAS Press Office will be understaffed in early 2023 and all press activities at AAS 241 may be subject to change, postponement, or cancellation. Expect delayed responses if you contact the AAS Press Office. We ask that you bear with us as we operate to the best of our abilities!

AAS 241 Virtual Access

All in-person and virtual attendees will have access to the online meeting platform, vFairs, in both desktop and app form. In addition, all attendees will be able to join the AAS 241 Slack community, which will include a channel for press communications. Instructions for accessing these platforms will be sent to registrants via email before the meeting.

Press Registration

The AAS offers complimentary press registration to bona fide working journalists and PIOs. To request press registration, first check our eligibility criteria, then contact the AAS Press Office with your name and media affiliation (or “freelance” if applicable). If your eligibility is confirmed, you'll receive a special promotional code that you can use to register for the meeting the same way regular attendees do, i.e., via the AAS 241 registration page.

The press registration deadline is Wednesday, 4 January 2023.

See our list of current press registrants.

Press Facilities

The AAS will operate a press office in Room 309, Level 3, Seattle Convention Center, with working space, printer/photocopier, power strips, and internet connectivity for reporters and PIOs. Thanks to the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) for generously sponsoring the press office with refreshments for on-site press registrants!

Press office staff:

Astrobites Media Intern Zili Shen will also assist in the press office.

There will be a dedicated press interview room in Suite A, Level 6 directly off of the lobby, Seattle Convention Center. Use the online signup sheet to reserve this room for use for press interviews at specific dates and times.

Press Conference Schedule, Topics & Speakers

News briefings will be held each morning and afternoon, Monday, 9 January, through Thursday, 12 January, in Room 307/308 on Level 3 of the Seattle Convention Center. The press conference room will be equipped with a sound system and internet connectivity. Note that morning and afternoon briefings occur in parallel with morning and afternoon oral science sessions. 

Following is the press-conference program, which remains subject to change (all times are PST = UTC − 8 hours): 

Briefing audio, slides, and video will be available via livestream to the virtual vFairs platform, where registered journalists will be able to ask questions of the presenters via text chat with an on-site press officer. The briefings will also be livestreamed to the AAS Press Office YouTube channel, where attendees will be able to view the stream but not ask questions. (See below.)

In [square brackets] under the speakers’ names are the abstract or session numbers on which their presentations are based. Next to the session number, the designation IP or V indicates whether the speaker will be presenting their press briefing in person or virtually, respectively.

All findings are embargoed until the time of presentation at the meeting. “Time of presentation” means the start time of the oral or poster session in which the paper will be given, or the start time of the corresponding press conference (if any), whichever comes first. See the complete AAS embargo policy for more information.

Note: All new discoveries are subject to confirmation by independent teams of scientists. Inclusion here does not imply endorsement by the American Astronomical Society. The AAS does not endorse individual scientific results.

Monday, 9 January 2023, 10:15 am PST
Eyes on Galaxies with JWST (Briefing video)

An Early Look at the Evolution of Galaxy Structure at z = 3–9 with JWST
Jeyhan Kartaltepe (Rochester Institute of Technology)
[102.01] | IP | Press Release

Finding Peas in the Early Universe with JWST
James Rhoads (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)
[153.03] | IP | Press Release

Zooming In on the Shocked and Turbulent Intergalactic Medium in Stephan's Quintet with JWST and ALMA
Philip Appleton (California Institute of Technology)
[448.08] | IP | Press Release

A Large Number of Candidate Galaxies at z ~ 11–20 Revealed by the JWST Early Release Observations
Haojing Yan (University of Missouri – Columbia)
[177.41] | IP | Press Release

Unveiling the Dusty Hearts of Galaxies with JWST
Vivian U (University of California, Irvine)
[418.07] | IP | Press Release

Monday, 9 January 2023, 2:15 pm PST
Mergers, Bursts & Jets (Briefing video)

The Closest-Separation Confirmed Multiwavelength Dual Active Galactic Nuclei
Michael Koss (Eureka Scientific, Inc.)
[311.07] | IP | Press Release

First Results from the Deep Synoptic Array: A Large Sample of Fast Radio Burst Host Galaxies
Vikram Ravi (California Institute of Technology)
[239.01] | IP | Press Release

Hypermassive Neutron Stars Found in Short Gamma-ray Bursts
Cecilia Chirenti (University of Maryland)
[464.03] | IP

Using ALMA to Observe a Rare Hydrogen Recombination Line Maser–Emitting Star
Sirina Prasad (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian)
[474.04] | IP | Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian Press Release | NRAO Press Release

Tuesday, 10 January 2023, 10:15 am PST
New Developments in the World of Planets (Briefing video)

The Next Generation Planetary Radar System on the Green Bank Telescope
Patrick Taylor (National Radio Astronomy Observatory)
[104.11] | IP | Press Release

A Second Earth-Sized Planet in the Habitable Zone of the M Dwarf TOI-700
Emily Gilbert (NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
[152.02] | IP | Press Release

Exoplanet Watch: Inviting Citizen Scientists to Observe Transiting Exoplanets
Rob Zellem (NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
[126.01] | IP | Press Release

Direct Discovery of the Inner Exoplanet in the HD206893 System
Sasha Hinkley (University of Exeter)
[142.06] | V | Press Release

Tuesday, 10 January 2023, 2:15 pm PST
Stars and Their Activity (Briefing video)

Discovery of the Shortest-Period Ultracool Dwarf Binary
Chih-Chun "Dino" Hsu (Northwestern University)
[347.07] | IP | Press Release

To Rain or Not to Rain: Correlating Solar Flare Class and Coronal Rain Statistics
Kara Kniezewski (United States Naval Academy)
[202.02] | IP | Press Release

Measuring Ages of Stars Through Their Angular Momentum
Marina Kounkel (Vanderbilt University)
[341.06] | IP | Press Release

Discovery of the Deepest and Longest Known Blinking Giant Star Gaia17bpp
Anastasios Tzanidakis (University of Washington)
[315.01] | IP | Press Release

Starspots and Magnetism: Testing the Activity Paradigm in the Pleiades and Messier 67 Star Clusters
Lyra Cao (The Ohio State University)
[429.05D] | IP | Press Release

Wednesday, 11 January 2023, 10:15 am PST
Building Systems in Our Local Universe (Briefing video)

JWST Images of a Young Planet-Hosting Debris Disk System
Kellen Lawson (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)
[154.01] | V | Press Release

Nearby Earth-Sized Exoplanet Confirmed with JWST Transmission Spectrum
Jacob Lustig-Yaeger (Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory) and Erin May (Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory)
[159.07] | IP | Space Telescope Science Institute Press Release | Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian Press Release

Early Imaging Results with JWST: Young Star Formation in NGC 346
Margaret Meixner (Universities Space Research Association)
[444.09] | IP | Press Release

Protostellar Feedback in Massive Star-Forming Regions
Ümit Kavak (Universities Space Research Association)
[235.01] | IP | Press Release

A 3D Map of the Local Bubble's Magnetic Field
Theo O'Neill (University of Virginia)
[129.02] | IP | Press Release

Wednesday, 11 January 2023, 2:15 pm PST
Discoveries in the Milky Way's Backyard and in the Universe at Large (Briefing video)

Discovery of Three Ultra-Faint Dwarf Galaxies Beyond the Local Group
Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil (Dartmouth College)
[275.08] | IP | Press Release

Astronomers Dig Out Buried Black Holes with NASA's Chandra
Dong-Woo Kim (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian)
[408.03] | IP | Press Release

Revealing the Origins of Ultra-Compact Dwarf Galaxies with Panoramic Deep Imaging
Kaixiang Wang (Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics – Peking University)
[426.04] | IP

The Supernova-Driven Winds of the Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy
Kathleen Barger (Texas Christian University)
[427.01] | IP

The Structure of the Triangulum Galaxy in Stellar Populations Surveyed by the Hubble Space Telescope
Adam Smercina (University of Washington)
[319.04] | IP | Press Release

Thursday, 12 January 2023, 10:15 am PST
Clouds and Nebulae (Briefing video)

A New Distance Estimate for the High-Velocity Cloud Complex M
Gerrit Verschuur
V | Press Release

A Supernova Origin Story for the High-Velocity Cloud Complex M
Joan Schmelz (Universities Space Research Association)
V | Press Release

An Exceptional Remnant Nebulosity of a Late 12th Century Galactic Supernova
Robert Fesen (Dartmouth College)
[177.48] | IP | Press Release

The Tempestuous Life of the Butterfly Nebula, NGC 6302
Bruce Balick (University of Washington)
[468.05] | IP | Press Release

SOFIA and ALMA Investigate the Case of the Masquerading Monster in BYF 73
Peter Barnes (Space Science Institute)
[308.07] | IP | Press Release

Thursday, 12 January 2023, 2:15 pm PST
Signals from Black Holes and Neutron Stars (Briefing video)

Live to Die Another Day: Discovery of a Repeating Partial Tidal Disruption Event
Eric Coughlin (Syracuse University) and Dheeraj Pasham (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
[473.05] | IP | Press Release

Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Analysis of Tidal Disruption Event AT 2022dsb
Emily Engelthaler (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian)
[301.14] | IP | Press Release

Detection of Seven High-Energy X-ray Flares from the Milky Way's Supermassive Black Hole
Ziyu (Rose) Xu (Bard College)
[421.04] | IP | Press Release

PSR J1023+0038: The Discovery of an Ultraviolet Millisecond Pulsar
Amruta Jaodand (California Institute of Technology)
[233.07] | IP

Press Conference Livestreams

Journalists (and anyone else) unable to attend the meeting in person may tune in to our livestreamed briefings via one of two methods:

  1. Meeting registrants may access the livestreams via Zoom links that will be provided within the vFairs platform for each press conference event. Viewers who join the livestreams via these links will be able to ask questions via a Q&A chat box.
  2. Non-registrants may access the livestreams via the AAS Press Office YouTube channel. Viewers here will not be able to ask questions.

After the meeting, archived webcasts will be freely available via our online archive, which links to the individual briefing videos on the AAS Press Office YouTube channel.

Press Tour to University of Washington Astronomy Labs

Press registrants will have the opportunity to join for a special tour after AAS 241 of several astronomy labs at the University of Washington (UW), spanning from data science to satellite instrumentation.

The Space & Ground Instrumentation group, led by Sarah Tuttle, focuses on ultraviolet and fiber-based instrumentation. The Virtual Planetary Laboratory, led by Vikki Meadows, is leading the way in simulating exoplanet atmospheres and beyond — especially applicable with recent results from JWST. We’ll also touch base with several groups focused on the Vera Rubin Observatory and the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), as well as UW’s eScience institute.

The tour will be held on Friday, 13 January at 10:30 am PT. We estimate it will last approximately 2 hours, followed by an opportunity to meet and talk in more detail with UW astronomers at their weekly pizza lunch at 12:30 pm. To sign up and to ensure you receive future news about this tour, please fill out the online expression of interest form.

Thanks to Sarah Tuttle and colleagues for arranging this tour. 

Additional Program Highlights

Please see the 1st Media Advisory for a list of program highlights at AAS 241 that may be of interest to journalists. 

For additional information, visit the AAS 241 Block Schedule, which can be filtered by session type to identify specific events of interest like Plenaries, Town Halls, or Attendee Events. 

AAS on Twitter

During the meeting, the AAS Press Office will post announcements of interest to reporters on Twitter at @AAS_Press. Other AAS Twitter handles include @AAS_Office, @AAS_Policy, @AAS_Publishing, and @AASNova. Journalists (and scientists) tweeting from the meeting are encouraged to use the hashtag #aas241.

A Note on Visas and COVID-19 Restrictions for Travel to the United States

Visa requirements for international travelers to the USA have become more stringent, and COVID-19 travel restrictions and measures are currently in place for both US citizens and international citizens entering the country. If you are an international traveler, you are responsible for determining the current COVID-19 travel restrictions and visa requirements that apply to you. Additional information is available from the US State Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If you need a letter for a visa application certifying that you are registered for the meeting, please request your complimentary press registration as soon as possible; only after you complete it can AAS Press Officer Susanna Kohler send you such a letter.

AAS Press List

If you don't already receive press releases by email from the AAS Press Office, you should sign up now to guarantee that you receive future meeting advisories as well as other important announcements. To sign up for the AAS Press List at no charge, please fill out and submit the form you'll find linked from our Join the AAS Press List page. With few exceptions, only accredited journalists and PIOs are eligible to receive press releases from the AAS, as described on our press-credentials page.

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