Dr. Maran is an astronomer and science writer with decades of experience in the space program. The author or editor of 12 books and more than 100 popular articles on astronomy and space exploration, and many more scientific publications, he retired from NASA on October 1, 2004, after more than 35 years with the agency. On August 31, 2009, he retired after 25 years (most of them overlapping with his NASA service) as AAS press officer.

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The American Astronomical Society (AAS) is pleased to announce that the first Lancelot M. Berkeley – New York Community Trust Prize for Meritorious Work in Astronomy is being awarded to William J. Borucki and David G. Koch. Both at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, Borucki and Koch (rhymes with "Bach") serve as principal investigator and deputy principal investigator, respectively, of the Kepler space mission, which — in the words of the prize committee's citation — "is discovering new exoplanets while making major advancements in the search for terrestrial planets around other stars."

The American Astronomical Society (AAS), the major organization of professional astronomers in North America, today endorsed the decadal survey recommending priorities for the most important scientific and technical activities of the next 10 years in astronomy and astrophysics. These include a balance of small, medium, and large initiatives, with ground- and space-based telescopes across the electromagnetic spectrum. The report of the Astro2010 Survey Committee, more than two years in the making, was released this morning during a briefing and webcast at the Keck Center of the National Academies in Washington, DC.