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246th meeting
Press Information
246
246th
meeting of the American Astronomical Society
Anchorage, Alaska
8
–
12 June 2025
30 April 2025 (Updated 6 May with new facility locations)
Contacts:
Susanna Kohler
AAS Press Officer
+1 202-328-2010 x127
Kerry Hensley
AAS Deputy Press Officer
+1 202-328-2010 x138
Media Invited to 246th AAS Meeting in Anchorage in June
Astronomers and affiliates from across the country will be gathering in Anchorage, Alaska, this June for the 246th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS). From 8 to 12 June 2025, astronomers, students, educators, and journalists will come together at the Dena’ina Civic & Convention Center (600 W 7th Ave) and the William A. Egan Civic & Convention Center (555 W 5th Ave) for a full schedule of scientific presentations, community-building workshops, town halls, career sessions, and more. Social media hashtag: #aas246
The AAS offers complimentary press registration to bona fide working journalists and public-information officers (PIOs), as explained below. AAS 246 will feature both an in-person registration option and a limited virtual registration option. In-person press registrants at AAS 246 will also be able to participate in a tour to the University of Alaska Anchorage Planetarium & Visualization Theater, on Wednesday, 11 June; see below for details.
AAS 244 Meeting Links
- Home Page
- Travel & Lodging Information (deadline for hotel reservations at the discounted AAS group rate: 16 May or whenever sold out)
- Press Information
Press Registration
he AAS offers complimentary press registration to bona fide working journalists and PIOs who meet the eligibility criteria, as described on the AAS press website.
There will be two options available to press registrants at AAS 246:
- In-Person Press – Full Meeting Registration
This option provides admittance to all in-person meeting events, sessions, and spaces, and it includes access to all virtual content. We ask that you only select the full registration if you do intend to go to Anchorage, so that we can obtain an approximate on-site head count in advance. - Virtual Press Registration
This option provides online access to limited meeting content, which will include press conferences, live-streamed plenary talks, and the NASA and NSF town halls; the iPoster gallery; and the AAS 246 Slack workspace. Content excluded: in-person receptions, workshops, press tour, town halls (except for NASA and NSF), and all oral sessions.
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); please specify "AAS 246 IN-PERSON press registration" or "AAS 246 VIRTUAL press registration" in the subject line. 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 246 registration page.
Press registration deadline: Wednesday, 4 June 2025. After this date, we will be unable to process your press registration to attend the meeting. We strongly advise you register in advance to avoid last-minute complications; please send your email request to [email protected] as soon as you know you’re attending the meeting. Full instructions and registration links are available on the AAS 246 press information page.
Press Facilities
The AAS will operate a press office in the Ballroom D, Level 3 of the Dena'ina Civic & Convention Center, with working space, printer/photocopier, power strips, and internet connectivity for reporters and PIOs.
Press conferences will be hosted daily Monday – Wednesday, 9–11 June, to showcase some of the most exciting recent astronomical discoveries. The briefings will be held on-site and live-streamed on Zoom for virtual press conference viewers. They will also be live-streamed on the AAS Press Office YouTube channel (where you will not be able to ask questions; to do that, you will need to participate via Zoom) and archived there.
Press conferences will be held in Ballroom E, Level 3 of the Dena'ina Civic & Convention Center. Briefing schedule, topics, and speakers will be announced via another media advisory closer to the meeting date; as always, the press program will be subject to change.
There will be a dedicated press interview space in the Spurr Room, Summit Hall (lower level) of the Egan Civic & Convention Center. To reserve the space, please use the online signup sheet here.
Press Event
Press registrants will have the opportunity to join for a special event during AAS 246: a visit to the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) Planetarium & Visualization Theater for a show and a special presentation for the media given by UAA professor Travis Rector. The event will be held on the afternoon of Wednesday, 12 June; more information will follow in a future announcement. To help us gauge interest in this tour, please fill out the online expression of interest form by 30 May.
Program Points of Interest
Division Meetings
This summer's AAS meeting will be jointly held with the AAS’s Laboratory Astrophysics Division (LAD) and Solar Physics Division (SPD). William McKinnon (Washington University in St. Louis) will give the LAD plenary lecture on icy ocean worlds, the Europa Clipper mission, and the search for a second genesis. The SPD meeting will include a number of sessions on topics ranging from the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission’s first light to solar flare forecasting to star–planet interactions. SPD’s George Ellery Hale Prize lecture will be given this year by James Klimchuk (NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center) on why the solar corona and the coronae of other stars are so hot.
Prize Lectures & Invited Talks
AAS 246 will offer 13 prize and invited talks by distinguished astronomers. The meeting opens on Monday morning, 9 June, with the Fred Kavli Plenary Lecture, which will be presented by Steven Finkelstein (The University of Texas at Austin) on behalf of the JWST Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) collaboration. The CEERS survey focuses on answering questions about when and how galaxies first formed out of the cosmic dark ages.
In addition to the talks already listed, several other AAS and Division award winners will give prize lectures at the conference. We’ll hear from Susan Clark (Stanford University), who will give the Helen B. Warner Prize lecture. And the Historical Astronomy Division’s Donald E. Osterbrock Book Prize lecture will be given by Seb Falk (University of Cambridge) on how past astronomers found their place in the universe — and on Earth.
In addition, there will be a host of invited plenaries by distinguished speakers. On Monday, we'll hear from Dan Milisavljevic (Purdue University) on supernova remnants and transients. Tuesday will feature Meredith Hughes (Wesleyan University) on planetary debris disks, Sean Carey (IPAC/Caltech) on infrared surveys, and Erin Hicks (University of Alaska Anchorage) on galaxy evolution. On Wednesday, Jennifer Wiseman (NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center) will speak about Hubble’s 35th anniversary, Dimitri Mawet (California Institute of Technology) will discuss the advancement of exoplanet characterization, and K.E. Saavik Ford (CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community College/American Museum of Natural History) will present on active galactic nuclei. On Thursday, the closing plenary session will be a public policy community discussion on the future of astronomy.
Town Halls, Special Sessions, Splinter Meetings
Further programming includes 11 Town Hall meetings for NASA, the National Science Foundation, Space Telescope Science Institute, the Vera Rubin Observatory, and more. Additionally, 12 Special Sessions will include topics like “Visualizing Large-Scale Astronomical Data,” “Sustainable Strategies and Protections for Space as an Environment,” and the latest results from the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE).
A Note on Visas and Restrictions for Travel to the United States
Visa requirements for international travelers to the USA have become more stringent, and travel restrictions and measures may be in place for US citizens and international citizens entering the country. If you are an international traveler, you are responsible for determining the current 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 the AAS Press Office 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.
