AAS Logo
The American Astronomical Society (usually shortened to AAS) is an association of US professional astronomers. Here’s their mission statement:
The American Astronomical Society (AAS), established 1899, is the major organization of professional astronomers in North America. The membership (~7,000) also includes physicists, mathematicians, geologists, engineers and others whose research interests lie within the broad spectrum of subjects now comprising contemporary astronomy. The mission of the American Astronomical Society is to enhance and share humanity’s scientific understanding of the Universe.
The American Astronomical Society was founded in 1899 by solar astronomer George Ellery Hale, who wrote the original constitution with, George Comstock, Edward Morley, Simon Newcomb and Edward Charles Pickering. It began with 114 members, but has grown to more than 7000 members in 2009.
They publish four astronomy research journals: Astronomical Journal, Astronomy Education Review, Astrophysical Journal, and the Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society.
The home office for the AAS is located on the fourth floor of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) building in Washington, DC.
The AAS has two major meetings every year where they announce a tremendous amount of news to the public, and Universe Today often has reporters at the meetings to present the findings. For example, the 217th AAS meeting is scheduled to be in Seattle for January 9-13th, 2011, and the 218th meeting will be in Boston from May 22-26th, 2011.
We have written many articles about the American Astronomical Society for Universe Today. Here’s an article about the AAS Meeting Day 2, and here’s an article about Accessible Astronomy: Touching the Night Sky.
If you’d like more info on the American Astronomical Society, check out the American Astronomical Society Homepage, and here’s a link to the AAS Solar Physics Division Page.
We’ve also recorded an entire episode of Astronomy Cast all about the American Astronomical Society. Listen here, Episode 20: What We Learned from the American Astronomical Society.
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