30 December 2025 (Materials updated 8 January)

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

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

Astronomers, educators, students, and journalists will gather in Phoenix, Arizona, from 4 to 8 January 2026 for the 247th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS). This joint conference with the AAS Historical Astronomy Division (HAD) 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: #aas247. 

The venue for this winter's AAS meeting is the Phoenix Convention Center (100 N 3rd St, Phoenix, AZ 85004). The AAS offers complimentary press registration for the meeting to bona fide working journalists and public-information officers (PIOs), as explained below.

Meeting links:

• Main meeting website
• Travel & lodging information
• Daily block schedule
• Press information

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. In addition, attendees agree to the Statement of Care and Masking Policy and our Event Photography/Videography Policy. Please read these guidelines/policies before you come to Phoenix; your participation in the meeting is taken to signify your acknowledgment that you have read them and you agree to adhere to them.

Press Registration

AAS 247 will be an in-person meeting only; there will be no virtual attendance option for the general meeting. The press conferences, however, can be attended both in person and virtually via Zoom.

In-Person Press Attendance:

The AAS offers complimentary in-person meeting registration to bona fide working journalists and public information officers (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); please specify "AAS 247 IN-PERSON 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 247 registration page.

Virtual Press Attendance (press conferences only):

If you do not plan to be on-site in Phoenix but you would like to attend the press conferences virtually, contact the AAS Press Office with your name and media affiliation (or “freelance” if applicable); please specify "AAS 247 VIRTUAL press conference attendance" in the subject line. You will be added to a virtual press conference attendance list and will be sent the press conference schedule and Zoom webinar links in advance of the meeting.

Press registration deadline: Wednesday, 31 December 2025. After this date, we will be unable to process your press registration to attend the meeting. Full instructions and registration links are available on the AAS 247 press information page. 

See our list of current press registrants.

Press Facilities

The AAS will operate a press office in room 130 (street level) of the North Building of the Phoenix Convention Center, with working space, printer/photocopier, power strips, and internet connectivity for reporters and PIOs.

Press office staff:

• Susanna Kohler, AAS Press Officer, +1 202-328-2010 x127
• Kerry Hensley, AAS Deputy Press Officer, +1 202-328-2010 x138
• Lexi Gault, AAS Media Fellow

AAS 247 Astrobites Media Intern Amaya Sinha will also assist in the press office.

There will be no dedicated press interview space at AAS 247; if you’re in need of space, please contact [email protected] to coordinate use of the press conference room outside of press conference hours.

Press Conference Schedule, Topics & Speakers

News briefings will be held each morning and afternoon Monday – Thursday, 5–8 January. The briefings will be held in room 129A of the North Building of the Phoenix 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 MST = UTC − 7 hours):

• Monday, 5 January, 10:15 am & 2:15 pm
• Tuesday, 6 January, 10:15 am & 2:15 pm
• Wednesday, 7 January, 10:15 am & 2:15 pm
• Thursday, 8 January, 10:15 am & 2:15 pm

Briefing audio, slides, and video will be available via a Zoom webinar, 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, 5 January 2026, 10:15 am MST
Galaxies Big and Small (Briefing video)

The Gates of Cibola: Revealing the Stellar Populations of the Starburst Galaxy Messier 82 with JWST
Adam Smercina (Space Telescope Science Institute)
[338.06] | IP

Revealing Polar-Structure Galaxies Across Cosmic Time with DESI and Euclid
Jacob Guerrette (Brigham Young University)
[362.03; 425.04] | IP

Dusty or Dead? Far-Infrared to Radio Insights into the Nature and Properties of Distant Ultramassive Galaxies
Wenjun Chang (University of California, Riverside)
[371.05] | IP | NRAO Press Release | UC Merced Press Release | Keck Press Release

The First RELHIC? Cloud-9 Is a Starless Gas Cloud
Rachael Beaton (Space Telescope Science Institute)
[239.08] | IP | NASA Press Release | NRAO Press Release

Monday, 5 January 2026, 2:15 pm MST
Stars and Their Behavior (Briefing video)

Discovery of the Wake Caused by Siwarha — the Betelgeuse Companion
Andrea Dupree (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian)
[118.05] | IP | CfA Press Release | NASA Press Release

A Volume-Complete All-Sky Spectroscopic Census of More Than 2,100 Nearby K Dwarfs: Insights from the RKSTAR Project
Sebastian Carrazco-Gaxiola (Georgia State University; RECONS Institute)
[231.06] | IP | Press Release

A Previously Unknown Binary Star System in the Eagle Nebula
Steven Cromwell and Tyler Peters (San Diego State University)
[215.05] | IP | Press Release

Compact Objects and the Physics of Accretion Survey (COPAS)
Wendy Mendoza (The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley)
[433.00] | IP 

Witnessing Giant Planet Formation in the Act
Charles Law (University of Virginia)
[348.01] | IP | Press Release

Tuesday, 6 January 2026, 10:15 am MST
News from the High-Redshift Universe and Local Analogs (Briefing video)

A New Multi-Wavelength Survey Reveals Early Galaxies Grow Up Fast
Andreas Faisst (California Institute of Technology)
[144.01] | IP | Caltech Press Release | NRAO Press Release

A New Population of Point-Like, Narrow-Line Objects Revealed by JWST
Haojing Yan (University of Missouri–Columbia) and Bangzheng Sun (University of Missouri–Columbia)
[453.08] | IP | U Missouri Press Release | STScI Press Release

Supermassive Stars as the Engines Behind JWST's Little Red Dots
Devesh Nandal (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian)
[262.07] | IP | Press Release

Webb Reveals Early-Universe Analog’s Unexpected Talent for Making Dust
Elizabeth Tarantino (Space Telescope Science Institute)
[164.06] | IP | Press Release

Tuesday, 6 January 2026, 2:15 pm MST
The Milky Way and Stellar Explosions (Briefing video)

Resolving Iron Doublets for Galactic Center Molecular Clouds with XRISM
Stephen DiKerby (Michigan State University)
[240.05] | IP | Press Release

Continued Monitoring with Chandra of Kepler's Supernova Remnant for Over 25 Years
Jessye Gassel (George Mason University/NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)
[139.07] | IP | Press Release

Where Do Stars Explode in the Interstellar Medium?
Sumit Sarbadhicary (Johns Hopkins University)
[143.06] | IP | Press Release

Wednesday, 7 January 2026, 10:15 am MST
Asteroids, Low-Mass Stars, and a Mystery from History (Briefing video)

Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s First Asteroid Discoveries
Sarah Greenstreet (NSF NOIRLab)
[344.09] | IP | Rubin Press Release | NOIRLab Press Release | SLAC Press Release

Dearth of Photosynthetically Active Radiation Suggests No Complex Life on Late M-Star Exoplanets
William Welsh (San Diego State University)
[115.05] | IP | Press Release

Surprising Space Weather Around a Young Low-Mass Star
Luke Bouma (Carnegie Observatories)
[231.09] | IP | Press Release

E.E. Barnard's Mystery Star Near Venus: An Unexpected Solution to a 120-Year-Old Enigma
William Sheehan (Grasslands Observatory)
[165.02] | IP

Wednesday, 7 January 2026, 2:15 pm MST
Cosmology and Galaxy Clusters (Briefing video)

The Strongly Lensed Supernova Pantheon as Revealed by JWST
Conor Larison (Space Telescope Science Institute)
[156.06] | IP | Press Release

The Discovery of a Strongly Lensed Protocluster Core Candidate at Cosmic Noon
Nicholas Foo (Arizona State University)
[338.02] | IP | Press Release

ODIN: Mapping the High-Redshift Cosmic Web via Protoclusters and Filaments at Cosmic Noon
Vandana Ramakrishnan (Purdue University)
[241.02D] | IP 

Scorching Hot Intracluster Gas in a Baby Galaxy Cluster 12 Billion Years Ago
Dazhi Zhou (University of British Columbia)
[437.04D] | IP | NRAO Press Release | UBC Press Release

Thursday, 8 January 2026, 10:15 am MST
High Redshifts and High Energies (Briefing video)

An Unlensed Barred Spiral Before Cosmic Noon
Daniel Ivanov (University of Pittsburgh)
[338.01] | IP | Pitt Press Release | UMass Press Release

A Precessing Radio Jet Drives Super-Heated Gas Outflow from a Disk Galaxy
Vivian U (Caltech/IPAC)
[338.08] | IP | Keck Press Release | NRAO Press Release

A Close Quasar Pair in a Massive Galaxy Merger at z=5.7
Minghao Yue (University of Arizona)
[375.01] | IP 

An Ultra-Luminous Fast Transient Powered by Rapid Accretion of a Star Onto a Black Hole
Daniel Perley (Liverpool John Moores University)
[451.01] | IP | Summary | LJMU Press Release | NRAO Press Release

Thursday, 8 January 2026, 2:15 pm MST
Active Galactic Nuclei Across the Universe (Briefing video)

Hidden Hearts: The Central Galactic Structures That Grow Black Holes
Michael Koss (Eureka Scientific, Inc.)
[356.04] | IP

From Dwarfs to Giants: A Complete Census of Active Galactic Nuclei
Mugdha Polimera (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian)
[305.08] | IP | Press Release

Monsters and Misalignment: Do Active Galactic Nuclei Influence Counter-Rotation in Low-Mass Galaxies?
Dominic Schwein (Colorado College)
[405.06] | IP | Press Release

Galactic Rain: Cool Gas Inflows in Red Geyser Galaxies
Arian Moghni (UC Santa Cruz)
[305.01] | IP | Press Release

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 webinar links that will be sent out to registered journalists in advance of the meeting. 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 Events

Press registrants have a choice of two tours on Friday, 9 January, after the meeting ends: the official press tour to NSF Kitt Peak National Observatory, and an alternative guided tour of Whipple Observatory. More details below.

Press Tour to NSF Kitt Peak National Observatory

On Friday, 9 January, press registrants will have the opportunity to take part in an exclusive media visit to what is arguably the largest collection of major optical research telescopes on Earth. This full day of US-funded astronomical discovery will give press participants the unique opportunity to tour the NSF McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope (once the world's largest solar telescope), the new Windows on the Universe exhibition, the WIYN 3.5-meter Telescope with the state-of-the-art exoplanet-discovery machine NEID, and the NSF Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope, where astronomers using the DOE-funded Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) are expanding the largest-ever 3D map of the universe to probe dark energy. 

The tour will depart from the Phoenix Convention Center at 8 am on Friday, 9 January, and arrive back around 7 pm. Participation is free for press registrants.

To participate, please fill out the online signup form.

When attending, wear sturdy/hiking footwear and winter coats. Bring water, snacks, and a government-issued ID (or a passport, if you are not a US citizen), as the bus will cross through a border control checkpoint.

All-Day Guided Tour of Whipple Observatory

Join us for a rare, all-day behind-the-scenes tour of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory — a part of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. This limited tour will begin at Whipple Observatory’s newly opened Science Center in Amado before ascending the winding mountain road to the Ridge and summit telescopes. Participants will explore the VERITAS gamma-ray array, enjoy panoramic views from the Ridge, and experience the 6.5-meter MMT Observatory — a partnership with the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory — up close, guided by site scientists and staff. Along the way, you’ll learn about groundbreaking discoveries in astrophysics, enjoy lunch at the Observatory’s dining hall with sweeping vistas of southern Arizona and Mexico, and gain unique insights into the challenges and rewards of doing astronomy in the Arizona desert. This field trip offers an unforgettable opportunity to connect with both the science and the setting that make Arizona a global leader in astronomy.

This tour includes transportation to/from Whipple Observatory, lunch, snacks, and water. 

Please note: This tour will depart from the Phoenix Convention Center. A meeting place will be sent closer to the event.  

Date: Friday, January 9, 2026
Time: 7am-6pm
Includes lunch, snacks

Whipple Observatory is located on the line between Pima County and Santa Cruz County in Southern Arizona and does *NOT* cross any government or border patrol checkpoints. Your normal ID is sufficient for visiting this observatory.

Members of the press corp may use this link to book their tickets for this tour free of charge. Please do not share this link outside of media attendees. Non-media attendees of AAS must use the regular attendee link to purchase tickets and attend this tour. 

Additional Program Highlights

Please see the 1st Media Advisory for a list of additional program highlights at AAS 247 that may be of interest to journalists. 

For additional information, visit the AAS 247 Block Schedule, which can be filtered by session type to identify specific events of interest like Plenaries, Town Halls, or Attendee Events.

AAS on Social Media

During the meeting, the AAS Press Office will post announcements of interest to reporters on Bluesky at @press.aas.org and on X/Twitter at @AAS_Press. Other AAS Bluesky handles include @aas.org, @policy.aas.org, and @aasnova.org; other AAS X/Twitter handles include @AAS_Office, @AAS_Policy, @AAS_Publishing, and @AASNova. Journalists (and scientists) posting from the meeting are encouraged to use the hashtag #aas247.

A Note on Visas and Travel Restrictions to the United States

If you are an international traveler, you are responsible for determining any 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.