To submit an abstract for the meeting, you must first log into the system using your AAS Login.

• If you are a member of the AAS you should already have a login.
• If you are not a member of the AAS you may create an AAS Login if you do not already have one.

If you are an Undergraduate Student Member, inactive member, pending member, or nonmember of the AAS you will need to select a sponsor (a sponsor is an active AAS Full Member. The sponsor will be notified by email, but no action is required on their part) during the submission process to finalize submitting your abstract to the system.

• Any member or affiliate of the AAS may submit an abstract.
• The abstract must be submitted through the online system.
• A nonmember may submit an abstract with a sponsor once every 10 years.
• Pending members of the AAS may submit an abstract. Please contact the Membership Department to submit your membership applications.
• Presenters must be listed as the first author on the paper.
• Presenting/first author must register for the meeting.
• Presenting/first author must be the presenter at the meeting.
• On rare occasions, AAS will consider exceptions to this rule in the case of a major illness or other emergency. The first author should e-mail the three AAS Vice-Presidents in advance of the presentation, explaining the situation and suggesting a backup presenter.

AAS Members

• Any AAS member may submit an abstract. You can verify your membership status in the Member Directory.
• Undergraduate Student Members must name a sponsor during the abstract submission process.
• Suspended/Inactive members must reinstate their membership.

AAS Affiliates

• Affiliates are required to have a sponsor who is an active AAS Full Member; the sponsor will be notified via email, but no action is required on their part.
• Educator Affiliates may only submit education related abstracts.
• Suspended/Inactive affiliates must reinstate their membership.

Nonmembers

• Nonmembers can only present once every 10 years.
• Nonmembers are required to have a sponsor who is an active AAS Full Member; the sponsor will be notified via email, but no action is required on their part.
• Undergraduate nonmembers must submit an abstract as a nonmember and are subject to the usual rules governing presentation of abstracts by nonmembers.
• Society of Physics Student Affiliates are considered nonmembers for abstract submission, and may register at the Undergraduate Student Member rate.

Abstracts Per Meeting

You may submit the following Regular abstracts per meeting:

• One Research Contributed abstract (oral, or iPoster-Plus/iPoster) or Dissertation abstract (oral)
• Up to two History abstracts (oral and/or iPoster-Plus/iPoster)
• Up to two Education abstracts (oral and/or iPoster-Plus/iPoster)

In addition, you may be invited to give an oral presentation in one of the following types of sessions:

• Plenary Session (prize or invited talk)
• Special Session (summer and winter) or Meeting-in-a-Meeting (summer only)

Abstracts for invited presentations in Plenary, Special, or Meeting-in-a-Meeting sessions do not count against your allotment of Regular abstracts.

In addition, you may submit a Regular Research Contributed abstract (oral or iPoster) to a Special Session or Meeting-in-a-Meeting session that is accepting contributed oral and/or iPoster presentations. This abstract does not count against your allotment of Regular abstracts, but acceptance is subject to approval by the session organizer. If your oral or iPoster presentation is not accepted into the requested Special Session or Meeting-in-a-Meeting, it will be scheduled in a regular oral or iPoster session unless doing so would cause you to exceed the number of abstracts permitted per meeting as described above.

If you have not submitted any Regular abstracts of any type listed above, you may submit one Late iPoster abstract.

There is no limit to the number of Regular or Late abstracts that you may co-author.

Plenary Presentations

• Prize Lectures
• Invited Lectures

Plenary sessions are 50 minutes long; no other sessions or events are scheduled in parallel with them. To allow time for introductions, prize presentations, and question-and-answer (Q&A) periods, prize and invited lecturers should plan to speak for at most 40 minutes. Plenary speakers will receive special abstract and presentation instructions from the AAS Executive Office.

Contributed Presentations

• Research Contributed Oral Presentations
• Research Contributed iPoster-Plus/iPoster
• Dissertation Oral Presentations

History Presentations

• History Oral Presentations
• History iPoster-Plus/iPoster

Education Presentations

• Education Oral Presentations
• Education iPoster-Plus/iPoster

Regular, history, and education oral presentations, as well as dissertation oral presentations, are arranged by topic and are scheduled in 90-minute sessions of five to nine talks each. For a regular, history, or education oral presentation, allow 5 minutes for the talk, 3 minutes for Q&A and 2 minutes for change over. For a dissertation oral presentation, allow 15 minutes for the talk, 3 minutes for Q&A and 2 minutes for change over.

Regular, history, and education iPosters allow far more time and flexibility than the corresponding oral presentations. iPosters are arranged by topic and are created online using easy-to-use, web-based templates. Your iPoster will be displayed in the iPoster Gallery and will be downloadable to smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers during the meeting and for at least one year after it concludes. You can add as much text, media content and recorded narration as you need to present your research with all the detail it deserves.

Other Presentations

• Division Prize & Invited Presentations
• Division Contributed Oral and iPoster Presentations
• Special Session Invited Presentations
• Special Session Contributed Oral and iPoster Presentations
• Meeting-in-a-Meeting Invited Presentations
• Meeting-in-a- Contributed Oral and iPoster Presentations

When AAS Divisions meet with the AAS, they organize oral and poster sessions and sometimes, prize and/or invited lectures. The latter are sometimes scheduled into regular oral sessions and may have time limits different from those associated with plenary presentations or contributed oral presentations; Division prize and invited lecturers will receive special abstract and presentation instructions from the AAS Executive Office or their respective Division leaders.

The format of Special Sessions and Meeting-in-a-Meetings are at the discretion of the organizer, who may choose to include invited presentations and/or contributed oral and/or iPoster presentations. Invited lecturers will receive special abstract and presentation instructions from the AAS Executive Office or their respective session organizers. If contributed presentations are welcome, suitable categories will be included on the abstract-submission form. Acceptance of such abstracts is at the discretion of the relevant session organizer, but if a paper is not accepted into the requested Special Session, it will be scheduled in another appropriate session of contributed presentations. If enough iPoster abstracts are received, an associated poster session will be scheduled on the same day(s) as the Special Session.

Abstracts must be submitted through the presenting author's AAS record. Co-authors are not eligible to substitute as the presenting author. The presenting author will be notified once the schedule has been determined.

Abstract Login Instructions

To submit an abstract, you must first log into the system using your AAS Login.

• If you are a member of the AAS you should already have a login. 
• If you are not a member of the AAS you may create an AAS Login if you do not already have one.

If you are an inactive member, pending member, or non-member of the AAS you will need to select a sponsor (a sponsor is an active AAS Full Member. The sponsor will be notified by email, but no action is required on their part) during the submission process to finalize submitting your abstract to the system.

Abstract Form Details

The form contains instructions on the various steps required to complete a submission.

• The abstract must be complete and submitted by the deadline, 11:59 pm EDT, 13 October 2020.
• The abstract body text can be a maximum of 2,250 characters (which includes letters, numbers, punctuation, spacing, returns, and symbols/special characters).
• To enter co-authors, you must have the following: full first and last name, e-mail address, and affiliation.
• You can continue to make changes to your abstract before the deadline. To edit an abstract, sign back in and find the abstract you submitted and make changes. Please remember to resubmit once you have made changes.

To switch the presenting author to a co-author you must submit a new abstract by logging in as the new presenting author.

Categories are used as a guide for the Scientific Organizing Committee to build coherent sessions. The final session assignments and session titles are at the discretion of the Committee.

Research Contributed Presentations

• The Sun
• The Solar System
• Extrasolar Planets: Direct Imaging
• Extrasolar Planets: Radial Velocities
• Extrasolar Planets: Transits
• Extrasolar Planets: Atmospheres
• Extrasolar Planets: Formation of Planets and Protoplanetary Disks
• Extrasolar Planets: Populations
• Stars, Cool Dwarfs, Brown Dwarfs
• Stellar Evolution, Stellar Populations
• Stellar Atmospheres, Winds
• Circumstellar Disks
• Binary Stellar Systems
• Pulsating Variable Stars
• White Dwarfs
• Neutron Stars (Pulsars, Magnetars, Pulsar Wind Nebulae)
• Black Holes
• Cataclysmic Variables, Novae and Symbiotic Stars
• Supernovae
• Planetary Nebulae, Supernova Remnants
• Molecular Clouds, HII Regions, Interstellar Medium
• Dust
• Star Formation
• Young Stellar Objects, Very Young Stars, T-Tauri Stars, H-H Objects
• Star Associations, Star Clusters - Galactic & Extra-galactic
• The Milky Way, The Galactic Center
• Dwarf and Irregular Galaxies
• Elliptical Galaxies
• Spiral Galaxies
• Starburst Galaxies
• AGN and Quasars
• Evolution of Galaxies
• Galaxy Clusters
• Large Scale Structure, Cosmic Distance Scale
• Intergalactic Medium, QSO Absorption Line Systems
• Cosmology
• Cosmic Microwave Background
• Dark Matter & Dark Energy
• Relativistic Astrophysics
• Strong and Weak Gravitational Lensing
• Gravitational Waves and Multi-messenger Astronomy
• Gamma Ray Bursts
• Instrumentation: Space Missions
• Instrumentation: Ground Based or Airborne
• Catalogs
• Surveys and Large Programs
• Computation, Data Handling, Image Analysis
• Astrobiology
• Public Policy
• Observatory Site Protection, Light Pollution, Radio Interference and Space Debris
• Education
• History
• Laboratory Astrophysics
• Other

History Contributed Presentations

• History

Education Contributed Presentations

• Education Research
• Practice, Undergraduat Non-science Majors
• Practice Upper Level Undergraduate and Graduate
• Public Outreach
• Other

iPoster Presentations

Video Tutorial

Guidelines

With the iPoster system, you will be able to create an interactive presentation that includes high-resolution images, high-definition videos, narration, interviews, viewer surveys, and more.

• iPosters are created online using easy-to-use, web-based templates.
• Your iPoster will be displayed at the meeting on large-format HD touch screens and will be downloadable to smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers during the meeting and for six months after it concludes.
• You can add as much text and media content as you need to present your research with all the detail it deserves.
• iPoster presenters will stand at their own touch screen for the hour of the poster session.
• iPoster screens are available at all other times to display the iPosters in the gallery.
• iPoster sessions will be scheduled during the morning poster session and the afternoon poster session. The first author must be present at their assigned terminal during their scheduled session.

Tips

• Viewers can reach out to you via the "Contact Author" button at the bottom of your poster.
• Include narration so attendees can listen to your presentation (while they scroll through your iPoster) even when you're not there.
• After your abstract is scheduled, you will receive a username and password to login and author your iPoster

Learn more about iPosters

iPoster-Plus Presentations

Video Tutorial

Guidelines

With the iPoster-Plus system, you will be able to create an oral presentation using the iPoster interactive presentation that includes high-resolution images, high-definition videos, narration, interviews, viewer surveys, and more.

• You will be scheduled during the morning or evening Poster session in an iPoster-Plus Theater in the Exhibit Hall to present a 10-minute oral presentation, including Q&A.
• You will be using your iPoster on a large format display in front of a seated audience. This is a moderated session with no more than six other speakers.
• iPosters are created online using easy-to-use, web-based templates.
• Your iPoster will be displayed at the meeting on large-format HD touch screens and will be downloadable to smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers during the meeting and for six months after it concludes.
• You can add as much text and media content as you need to present your research with all the detail it deserves.
• Following your presentation, you may stand at an available terminal and answer additional questions from attendees.
• iPoster screens are available at all other times to display the iPosters in the gallery.

Tips

• After your abstract is scheduled, you will receive a username and password to login and author your iPoster
• Viewers can reach out to you via the "Contact Author" button at the bottom of your poster.
• Include narration so attendees can listen to your presentation (while they scroll through your iPoster) even when you're not there.

Student Award Poster Presentations

Please read the Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award Rules for eligibility requirements.

Oral Presentations 

Video Tutorial

Guidelines

To avoid too many oral sessions running simultaneously, the number of oral presentation time slots is limited. Oral presentations can be changed to posters if there are no remaining slots. All authors whose abstracts are changed will be notified.

• Five minutes are allowed for the normal oral presentation and three minutes for open discussion.

Tips

• When preparing your presentation, we suggest a maximum of three slides for a five-minute talk. Slides should be uncluttered and easy to read.
• Practice a few times so the presentation fits comfortably into the five-minute slot.
• Read the AV instructions.

Dissertation Presentations

If you would like to present a dissertation abstract, select the Research Contributed/Dissertation abstract form.

• Dissertation Abstracts are 15 minutes oral presentations plus 3 minutes for discussion. They should be based upon the author’s dissertation material, and will be presented within regular oral sessions of appropriate topics.
• Only students or graduates within one year of having a PhD conferred by their university or college are eligible. The "one year" is measured from the regular abstract deadline date, not the date of the meeting itself. The author’s advisor must attest to this fact in writing. The author must submit a copy of the thesis advisor’s letter in PDF format through the abstract submission website by the abstract deadline. A PDF copy of an email message is sufficient as long as the advisor’s email address is legible. If the advisor letter is not received, the dissertation will automatically be treated as a regular abstract.
• Students or graduates wishing to submit Dissertation Abstracts must be accepted for membership in the AAS by the abstract deadline. (The membership form can be downloaded from the Membership section of the website or obtained from the AAS Executive Office.)
• These abstracts are subject to the same rules of preparation and submission as regular abstracts, but they will be specially marked with a “D” in the program materials.
• Winter Meeting Only: If you would like to be considered for the Rodger Doxsey Travel Prize, please review the background and rules for submission.

The meeting and abstract schedule are published in various formats:

• Online Abstracts — Available prior to the meeting; includes full abstract text.
• Astrophysics Data System (ADS) — Abstracts are sent to ADS and typically published two week prior to the meeting.