The recent revolution in artificial intelligence (AI), together with technical advances in telescopes and computing, has opened new frontiers for astronomy data processing and analysis. Meanwhile, open, rich, massive datasets are the lifeblood of AI innovation. In the current big-data era of astronomy new facilities like the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) and Vera C. Rubin Observatory are generating a firehose of new data. Planned facility upgrades, like the next-generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) and Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), ​​will routinely yield datasets containing 1 trillion voxels, exceeding current processing capacity and requiring fresh AI developments.

 

 Accepting Contributed Abstracts

Stellar evolution lies at the heart of many fundamental questions in astrophysics, from the formation of compact objects to the enrichment of galaxies with heavy elements. While decades of theoretical modeling and observational breakthroughs have shaped our current understanding, the increasing complexity and computational demands of stellar evolution modeling could benefit from innovative approaches.

This special session aims to explore how machine learning can transform the way we model, interpret, and predict stellar evolution and afterlife. We will highlight recent advances in emulating stellar models with neural networks, uncovering patterns in large multi-dimensional datasets, and accelerating simulations to explore complex phenomena such as supernova explosions, the evolution of gravitational-wave sources, and the asteroseismic signals emitted by stars.

Through invited talks, contributed presentations, and a discussion, we will exchange ideas, identify current challenges and advance our understanding on how to build interpretable, physically consistent, and efficient machine learning models to the study the evolution and fate of stellar systems.
 

 Accepting Contributed Abstracts

Cultural Astronomy is an interdisciplinary field that explores how human cultures—past and present—observe, interpret, and integrate the sky into their worldviews. This includes the scientific, symbolic, and practical uses of celestial phenomena, encompassing subfields like archaeoastronomy (study of ancient sky knowledge) and ethnoastronomy (study of living sky traditions). It brings together astronomy, anthropology, history, art, and storytelling to deepen our understanding of how the night sky shapes human experience.

This Special Session invites attendees on a cross-cultural journey through time and space—highlighting how constellations, star lore, and sky practices connect us globally. We’ll explore how the merging of ancient sky traditions and modern astronomical science can be communicated through art, music, humor, and narrative—creating powerful tools for education and engagement.
 

 Accepting Contributed Abstracts

The Southwestern United States, where this conference is being held, is home to many descendent cultures with rich astronomical knowledge.  This heritage includes current practices of traditional astronomical knowledge ways and thousands of years of archeological and oral history evidence. The Southwest has provided big skies and dryer weather for star gazers. That Southwest dryness has contributed to the preservation of indigenous archaeological sites encoded with their celestial knowledge.

The emerging field of Cultural Astronomy is interdisciplinary, encompassing astronomical knowledge in ancient and contemporary culture, along with sub fields of archeoastronomy and ethnoastronomy.  Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences, cultures both ancient and contemporary have used the motions in the sky in many ways: calendrical, farming, hunting, religious, ceremonial, and beyond.

To connect globally, we are collaborating with others in the recently formed Commission C5 Cultural Astronomy in the IAU.  This group allows the world-wide astronomy community to coordinate efforts and partner with ongoing initiatives.

In this special session, we will feature a range of topics including Southwestern cultural landscapes and practices, preservation of starry skies, and education and public outreach methods. Keynote talks will emphasize the importance of including indigenous knowledge keepers in the research process.  We invite oral presentation and iPoster contributions that pertain to cultural astronomy in the Southwest region.

This session will be co-hosted by the Society for Cultural Astronomy in the American Southwest (SCAAS).  SCAAS promotes public understanding of the cultural significance of astronomical knowledge among cultures of the American Greater Southwest, past and present, by supporting research, education and its public dissemination.
 

 Accepting Contributed Abstracts

The AAS Working Group on Accessibility and Disability (WGAD), in collaboration with members of the AAS Education Committee, proposes a special session to highlight a variety of efforts to make astronomy more accessible in education and outreach.

Disabled astronomers, students, and other community members are often underserved by outreach and education efforts; however, recent efforts using modern technologies such as 3D printing and data sonification have begun to provide new ways to make astronomy accessible to all. Although there is a great deal of inspiring and fruitful work in this area being done by astronomers, it is often difficult for those beginning their journey into accessible education and disability advocacy to find these existing resources and a community of professionals in the area. This special session aims to lower this barrier and sow the seeds of connection between educators of all levels and specialties who are interested in making their efforts more accessible, ideally empowering more people to join and collaborate on projects related to accessibility in education/outreach. Accessible education/outreach also faces more challenges than ever in the current climate, making a strong community of practitioners and allies even more critical to the success of these efforts.

This Special Session will feature approximately five to six speakers, each of whom is involved in an effort to make education and/or outreach in astronomy accessible for everyone. They each have expertise in a specific approach to accessibility, their lived experience as a disabled astronomer/educator/student, and/or service for a specific audience, including outreach for d/Deaf audiences, tactile materials for blind and low vision students, data sonification, accessibility at conferences, principles of universal design, and more. Each speaker will share best practices and lessons learned from their work and/or experiences in the field. A representative from WGAD will also briefly introduce the working group, its mission and goals, and how people can get involved. Lastly, this session will include a period of semi-structured networking to encourage attendees to build connections with others interested in similar issues, and to provide space for discussion.

Accessibility is essential for equity in the field, and disabled astronomers, students, and community members interested in the cosmos deserve inclusive opportunities to learn about our universe. Plus, as said in the description of WGAD, “a mindset of diverse access makes the experience of learning, working, and collaborating stronger for all.”

With this special session, we hope to inspire more astronomers to consider accessibility in their education and outreach, and to build a stronger community of astronomers engaging in disability- and accessibility-focused work and advocacy.
 

 Accepting Contributed Abstracts

Observations in the MeV gamma-ray band provide huge potential for obtaining fundamental results on topics ranging from nucleosynthesis via studies of nuclear emission lines to multimessenger astrophysics (MMA) through detections of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and other gamma-ray transients.  Due to the challenges of operating in the MeV band, it is one of the least explored regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, leaving a large potential for discovery.  In order to take advantage of this scientific opportunity, the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) satellite mission will be launched in the near future.  COSI is a NASA Small Explorer (SMEX) mission with a planned launch in 2027. 

Using the Compton technique, COSI will survey the entire sky at 0.2-5 MeV.  COSI provides imaging, spectroscopy, and polarimetry of astrophysical sources, and its germanium detectors provide excellent energy resolution for emission line measurements, including the positron annihilation line at 511 keV and nuclear lines.  The instantaneous field of view is >25% of the sky for the germanium detectors, and they are surrounded by active scintillating shields, providing background rejection as well as allowing for detection of GRBs and transients over most of the sky.  COSI also will include a Student Collaboration instrument, the Background and Transient Observer (BTO), consisting of two NaI scintillator detectors that extend COSI's overall energy coverage down to ~30 keV.

COSI will be ~1.5 years from launch at the time of this meeting, which is the ideal time for community engagement.  COSI software for data analysis and simulations (the "data challenges") is publicly available, allowing for the community to play a part in optimizing the software and to prepare for their scientific investigations with the actual on-orbit data in the near future.

This session will feature talks on the COSI mission and its scientific prospects, including expectations for its key science goals and new topics that have been advanced since the mission was originally selected in 2020.  We will plan to include at least one student presenting on the Student Collaboration (BTO) instrument and at least one presentation providing information on how the AAS community can get involved in the data challenges or the science planning for COSI.

 Accepting Contributed Abstracts

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has opened up vast new territory awaiting exploration. One especially fruitful area is time domain science. This special session is motivated in part to discuss an envisioned ~1000 hours of JWST Director’s

Discretionary Time (DDT) to monitor the transient sky. The AAS is the ideal forum for communicating this science and drawing ideas from the community. Some key areas that will serve as a basis for discussion are measurement of cosmological parameters, tests of fundamental physics, and the study of high-redshift stars and variability in Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs).

According to a NASA Press Release, one of the most surprising results of JWST is the discovery of the Type Ia SN “SN H0pe.” This high-redshift SN appears in three different locations due to gravitational lensing. The difference in the arrival time of the light into each of the images, or “time delay,” yielded a value for H0 for only the second time in history by this method, and the first time using a standard candle. This “late-time” value of H0 is in tension with the “early time” value provided by the Planck telescope. If “cosmic tension” is real, then it exposes a crack in the standard model for cosmology. Recently, a second multiply-imaged SN Ia has been discovered with JWST, “SN Encore,” that is yielding another value for H0 by this same method. This special session enables a discussion on the role for time-delay cosmography to elucidate the Hubble tension, which is one of the biggest questions in cosmology.


Thanks to gravitational lensing, individual, massive stars in the distant universe are now routinely discovered by JWST.  While the first discovery of such events was first made by the HST in 2017, JWST has taken this field to a new level. These sources are situated close to the caustic in highly magnified background arcs, and are further magnified by intracluster stars. The stars act as microlenses whose brief but strong magnifications boost the brightness of the sources above the detection threshold, making them transients. JWST astrometry of the lensed stars near a critical curve can reveal the presence of sub-galactic dark matter subhalos as small as millions of solar masses, pushing the frontier of constraining the type of dark matter. This special session will present recent developments and pave the way to astrophysical objectives relating to galaxy formation and evolution  (e.g., constraining the initial mass function) and the microscopic nature of dark matter.

High-redshift SNe have remained a relatively unexplored field until JWST owing to a lack of resources. In a relatively short time, JWST has expanded our view of the transient universe to z~5, including hundreds of SNe and dozens of rest-frame UV-IR spectra for transients reaching z=4. The JWST high-redshift SN sample with both imaging and spectroscopy now includes the most distant Type Ia SNe (used for cosmological measurements) discovered to date, and a wide variety of core-collapse SN sub-types from a previously unexplored phase of the transient universe.

JWST studies of variability of extragalactic objects, which are believed to be instigated by AGN, are providing insights on the physics of accretion. The AGN unification model, while has been challenged (by e.g. changing-look AGNs), is largely successful in explaining the different AGN types. Based on this model, variable AGNs should be predominantly type 1, while type 2 AGNs rarely vary. However, some recent JWST results give a more subtle picture that supports a change to the unification model. This special session will promote discussions on these new findings.

In sum, JWST has a unique role to play in the area of time domain studies, yet its potential is still not fully realized. Through this special session, our goal is to engage the community and gather inputs to plan for the next step.
 

 Accepting Contributed Abstracts

In late June 2025 the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory shared its first images from the LSST Science Camera with the world and released its first set of processed data products from the LSST Commissioning Camera to scientists as Data Preview 1. This special session will provide a platform for science community members to present their very first results based on Rubin data. At the time of proposal submission, only 3-4 weeks past data release, these results already covered a diverse range of astronomical fields: Solar System objects, an interstellar object, transients, proto-planetary disks, crowded fields, variable stars, machine learning techniques, and galaxy cluster weak lensing.

 Accepting Contributed Abstracts

NASA Citizen scientist volunteers have characterized exoplanets, classified galaxies, found brown dwarfs, and discovered a hypervelocity star. As data rates from NASA missions reach astronomical levels over the next decade with the launch of new missions such as Euclid, SPHEReX and Roman, we'll need their help even more, and we need even more astronomers to facilitate their participation.

This special session will feature invited talks by leaders of successful NASA citizen science projects. We will then open the floor for participants to ask questions of panel of the leaders of successful NASA citizen science projects and provide time for networking to foster collaboration. Over the course of the session, topics such as pairing citizen science with AI and machine-learning, citizen science and education, and co-authoring with volunteers will be discussed. We’ll brainstorm future citizen science projects, including bringing more early career scientists into citizen science, to harness the deluge of upcoming NASA data. Join this session learn how to do awesome astronomy while sharing the joy of doing it!

Accepting Contributed Abstracts

The Historical Astronomy Division meets each January joint/concurrent with the winter AAS meeting.  Typically, HAD is allocated 4 oral sessions and one poster session, and one town hall (submitted as a separate proposal)
 

Accepting Contributed Abstracts

In this session, we will introduce participants to the Effective Practices for Physics Programs (EP3) Guide, a resource developed by the APS and AAPT to curate recommendations that astronomy, astrophysics, and physics programs can adapt to meet their local needs and contexts. The Guide (https://ep3guide.org/) includes 34 published sections with evidence-based practices that cover topics such as career preparation, research-based teaching practices, community engagement and outreach, departmental culture and climate, and leadership skills. Content on the EP3 Guide website is developed using a thorough contribution, synthesis, and peer review process; to date, over 250 people from over 100 institutions have participated in developing the EP3 Guide. This initiative also includes a process through which existing content is reviewed and updated along with the development of new content.

Much of the EP3 Guide content can be used by individuals within and outside the physics and astronomy community to either improve their own practices and/or advocate for change in their programs, and we will share several examples during the session. After an introduction to the EP3 Guide, we will lead participants through three scenarios for using the Guide to support local change efforts. These scenarios will explore different topics, including how to implement active learning, provide students with information and opportunities to learn about diverse career options, and advance inclusion and belonging. We will also reflect on how different roles and positionalities, such as being a student, early-career faculty member, or department leader, impact what actions someone might take with the EP3 Guide. Participants will have structured opportunities to explore a topic of interest in the EP3 Guide and determine / discuss what their next steps will be to enact change. Finally, we will also consider what resources, data, etc. can help participants determine how to adapt EP3 Guide content recommendations to their local contexts to create sustainable change.

 Accepting Contributed Abstracts

The launch of JWST has revolutionized multiple fields in astronomy & astrophysics, from small bodies in the Solar System to the most distant objects in the Universe. The facility's high infrared sensitivity, high angular resolution, and spectroscopic reach make it particularly suited to advance studies of the lowest-mass stars and substellar objects, particularly L, T and Y dwarfs spanning temperatures of 250 K to 2500 K. This special session will highlight several of the exciting discoveries that are emerging from the multitude of approved JWST programs ongoing or published, from detailed characterization of the coldest directly-detected atmospheres; to the youngest and lowest-mass free-floating objects in young clusters; to our first examples of ancient brown dwarfs in globular clusters, Galactic streams, and satellite galaxies. We will also feature the theoretical insights that are emerging from these observational studies, from low-temperature atmosphere dynamics and chemistry to the extremities of star formation, and magnetic.

 

 Accepting Contributed Abstracts

The James Webb Space Telescope has already spent hundreds of hours executing deep surveys. Aside from discovering galaxies at the highest redshifts, these surveys have led to the discovery of mysterious “Little Red Dots” and quenched galaxies in the epoch of reionization. Other topics include abundance patterns at high redshift that differ from the patterns seen in low redshift galaxies, evidence for bursty star formation, and more puzzles in the relationship between galaxies and their nuclear black holes. Evidence for dust playing a larger role than thought earlier is accumulating. A new paradigm for galaxy formation, star formation, and early black hole growth will be needed to fold these findings into a broader framework for galaxy formation and evolution. This session presents results from a sampling of JWST observations and theoretical work to explain these observations.

 Accepting Contributed Abstracts

This session focuses on experiments conducted at DOE facilities, such as Sandia National Laboratories, to produce energetic photoionized light sources for targets at high density (~10^(20) cm^(-3)), along with theoretical support and astrophysical implications. Such experiments include measuring the opacities of iron and oxygen at conditions relevant to the solar tachocline, where helioseisomology disagrees with theory by 15-sigma; measuring Si and Fe spectra at conditions relevant to the abundance anomalies associated with black-hole accretion disks; and H and He line profile measurements relevant to white dwarf atmospheres.

 Accepting Contributed Abstracts

This session focuses on recent advancements in expanding the inventory and multielement isotope data of presolar supernova grains identified within primitive meteorites and the interpretation of such data.  Highlighted will be current work in which experimental results provide insight into stellar nucleosynthesis, dust formation in stars, ISM processes, and/or the origin and evolution of the solar system.

 Accepting Contributed Abstracts

Explosive and bright phenomena typically emit most of their radiation at short wavelengths, but monitoring at longer wavelengths is a key tool for the identification of the progenitors and emission type (synchrotron, thermal), as well as for the general characterization of the contextual environment and underlying processes at play. Transient sources tend to be faint and rapidly dampening  at sub-mm wavelengths, over timescales varying from hours to months - proving to be challenging targets for detection. Recent results, especially based on ALMA data, have shown an increased interest in this technique as a complement to rapid follow-up in the optical and X-ray domain. Sub-mm transient studies can include science cases as varied as monitoring the activity of accreting and merging systems (AGNs, protostars, novae, neutron mergers) and detecting the afterglows of bright transients (GRBs, XRFs, FRBs) likely originating from explosive phenomena during stars’ end of life.

In the current emerging era of extensive transient detections – in particular from LSST and Roman - the complementarity of highly sensitive and timely sub-mm observations will prove essential for rapid and effective monitoring of a large range of sources.

ALMA is now undergoing a major upgrade - the Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade (WSU) – including an upgraded digital signal processing and transmission system, a new correlator, and four new wideband receivers, with additional receiver bands to follow. In addition to the transformational increase in instantaneous spectral grasp and correlated continuum bandwidth, the improved receiver temperatures and overall system efficiency will eventually increase continuum sensitivities by a factor of 3 or more  in upgraded bands. For transients, ALMA-WSU will open sub-mm monitoring to a new regime of fainter and farther sources.

This session will feature presentations of recent impactful results on a variety of progenitors and phenomena, highlighting the specific role of sub-mm observations and the impact of ALMA-WSU to time-domain subfields.
 

 Accepting Contributed Abstracts

This Special Session is an update for the astrophysics community about the current activities and future plans of the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), a future NASA flagship astrophysics mission concept in response to the Astro2020 Decadal Survey.  HWO will be a large-aperture ultraviolet/optical/infrared space telescope designed to search for signs of life on terrestrial planets in the habitable zones of nearby stars. At the same time HWO will be one of the most versatile astronomical telescopes ever flown, capable of conducting transformative science across nearly all of astrophysics in the legacy of missions such as Hubble, Webb, and – soon – Roman.  In this Special Session, representatives from NASA Headquarters and the HWO Technology Maturation Project Office will share the community-driven development of the mission concept to date, avenues for future involvement, and plans for next steps.  This session is open to all AAS attendees, and will feature an extended Q&A session for discussion and feedback from the community.

Accepting Contributed Abstracts

This session will focus on early science results from the X-ray Imaging and Spectrometry Mission, or XRISM, which was launched on September 7, 2023 from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. XRISM is a JAXA/NASA collaborative mission, with ESA participation, whose mission is to investigate the Universe via high-resolution spectroscopy in the X-ray band. This session will feature talks on a variety of remarkable science results obtained thus far on all types of objects, including black holes, clusters of galaxies, the interstellar medium, supernova remnants, X-ray binaries, and more. Additionally, we will provide an update on the status of the spacecraft and the Resolve and Xtend instruments, a summary of the General Observer selection process, statistics, and plans for future cycles, and ample opportunity for question and answer from the astronomical community.

Accepting Contributed Abstracts

Advanced X-ray Imaging Satellite (AXIS) is an X-ray telescope concept that was proposed to NASA as a probe-class mission and addresses the priorities laid out in the 2020 Decadal Survey. It is one of the two missions that NASA recently selected for Phase A with a target launch in 2032. With a high effective area for soft X-rays, a PSF that is uniformly sharp over a wide field of view, agile design, and with 70% of its time dedicated to the Guest Observer (GO) program, AXIS has a strong potential to revolutionize X-ray astronomy. This special session will bring together the X-ray astronomy community members interested in the capabilities of AXIS and the wide range of science cases it will enable. We will present an overview of AXIS directed science and recent technical developments during Phase A, highlighting science cases for the guest observer program. 

 Accepting Contributed Abstracts

Euclid is an ESA mission with NASA participation to study the geometry and nature of the dark Universe. Euclid launched on 1 July 2023. During its 6 year mission, Euclid will survey about 14,000 sq. deg. of extragalactic sky and obtain images in the optical (530-920nm band) and near-infrared (Y,J,H), together with slitless grism spectra (1206nm-1892nm, R~480). Euclid data will be made public to the international community after a proprietary period.  Quick Data Release 1 (Q1; 63 sq. deg.) data became public on March 19, 2025, and the first year of data will be released in Data Release 1 (DR1; almost 2000 sq. deg.) in 2026. Data will be available from the ESA’s Euclid Archive System and from the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive (IRSA).  In this session, we will give an overview of Euclid mission status and the science results from Q1. We will discuss the opportunities and science potential for archival research with public Euclid data, and the plans for future data releases.
 

 Accepting Contributed Abstracts

As lunar exploration surges forward, this special session centers the Moon not as a future destination, but as an essential scientific platform for the present. With the Artemis program gaining momentum, CLPS missions already begun and scaling up, and new public-private models emerging, the question is no longer if we go to the Moon - but how we maximize its potential for scientific return. In particular, our goal is to focus on the near term and what actions can we do now: the next 6 months to 5 years. By shifting focus from long-term aspirations to immediate opportunity, this session aims to galvanize the AAS community around lunar science as an urgent and actionable priority.

This session will highlight concrete pathways for near-term lunar science through two interlinked panels:



Panel 1: Strategic Levers for Lunar Science Now

This panel will convene invited leaders from government agencies across nations (NASA, ESA, JAXA, CSA, etc.), academia, industry actors, philanthropic organizations, to explore how cross-sector strategies are enabling science at and around the Moon now. The discussion will explore how these sectors are aligning (or need to align) to enable meaningful scientific activity on the Moon now - not decades from now. We will discuss public-private mechanisms, new partnership models, global cooperation under Artemis and international cooperation route, and the evolving role of science policy in driving lunar research. It will also cover shared bottlenecks, funding gaps, infrastructure coordination, and enabling policy.



Panel 2: Missions We Can Launch Now

This community-oriented panel will focus on lunar science missions and concepts that are technologically ready or nearly ready for deployment within the next 6 months to 5 years. We will issue a community-wide call for lightning talks (5 min), to showcase feasible, creative lunar science initiatives. Examples include CLPS-enabled mission concepts, interferometric arrays, gravitational waves detectors, low-frequency radio telescopes, or international missions. We aim to showcase mission concepts aligned with CLPS, small landers, cubesats/orbiters, and other flight opportunities already available or emerging, such as early human exploration efforts. We invite contributions from our community working on lunar science concepts that are viable in the near term and hope to catalyze new collaborations across disciplines and sectors.


Call for Participation:

We will issue an open call for short mission concept presentations (5-min lightning talks), with a particular emphasis on early-career researchers and underrepresented voices in lunar science. The call will be circulated via AAS channels and lunar science networks.

 

 Accepting Contributed Abstracts

PRIMA (PRobe Infrared Mission for Astrophysics) is a far-infrared probe mission concept in Phase A for NASA’s call for Astrophysics Explorers (APEX). PRIMA’s cryogenic design and highly sensitive detectors enable unprecedented far-infrared science. PRIMA’s PI science focuses on the astrochemical signatures of planet formation, the co-evolution of galaxies and their supermassive black holes across cosmic time, and measuring the formation and buildup of galaxies, heavy elements, and interstellar dust from cosmic noon to today.

With at least 75% of its observing time available for General Observer (GO) science, PRIMA will be a community mission and is designed to address a wide range of astrophysics. In this special session, we invite the astronomical community to come learn about this mission concept, share their ideas for GO programs, and help make this mission their own. The special session will feature two talks from PRIMA team members describing an overview of PRIMA, its science goals and capabilities. The majority of the session will be devoted to talks highlighting community-led GO science cases for volume 2 of our GO book (120 total submissions, with ~430 unique authors from 34 countries). We will have 4-6 community GO science talks. We hope to welcome posters from all members of the community and aim to have the poster session be a time for community engagement and conversation.
 

Accepting Contributed Abstracts

This special session will showcase how faculty who have participated in the APS Faculty Teaching Institute (FTI) are implementing evidence-based, student-centered teaching practices in astronomy and physics classrooms. Since its inception, the FTI has trained hundreds of physics and astronomy faculty in active learning methods known to enhance student engagement, equity, and persistence — particularly among students historically underrepresented in STEM.


Participants in this session will present concrete examples of how they have adapted and applied these strategies at their home institutions, including:



    Collaborative problem-solving and think-pair-share methods



    Use of clicker questions and peer instruction in large lecture settings



    Strategies for inclusive teaching and supporting diverse learners



    Classroom assessment techniques to monitor student learning and improve outcomes



Faculty presenters will share both successes and challenges, providing insights into institutional contexts, student responses, and outcomes. The session will also include a discussion of the broader impact of FTI on professional identity, departmental culture, and student success.



    6–8 short contributed presentations (6–8 minutes each) by FTI alumni

 

 Accepting Contributed Abstracts

The exponential proliferation of satellites in low-Earth orbit negatively affects our ability to observe and analyze astrophysical phenomena from optical, infrared, and radio observatories. The deep sensitivity and very wide field of view of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory offers tremendous potential for scientific discovery, but also a big target for traversing satellites, which may impact data quality for a substantial fraction of images taken in Rubin’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). The number of satellites affecting Rubin data will most likely continue to grow rapidly throughout the LSST’s decade of operations.

This Special Session will present data on the incidence of satellites in data from the first few months of Rubin operations; discuss data processing and operational strategies to mitigate the effects of satellites on LSST data; and consider the potential scientific impact of satellites on some of the main areas of Rubin science investigation, including Solar System research, time domain studies, and cosmology. The session will include ample time for questions and discussion.

Accepting Contributed Abstracts

Led by the Maunakea Observatories and the Hawai'i I ke Alo Mutual Stewardship Project, this is a hands-on working session devoted to translating theory into design and implantation. Facilitators will work with participants to collaborate in areas of focus that will include: understanding impacts and influencing policy through advocacy; deepening alliances with local and indigenous communities; and using limited resources strategically and with purpose. We encourage anyone interested in this discussion from undergraduate to funders to join these sessions.

Accepting Contributed Abstracts

In the current volatile federal funding climate, how can we as a community of Astronomy educators and scholars ensure that we keep the pipeline to careers in Astronomy open for our earliest career members? Summer- and semester-long research experiences for undergraduates are a critical juncture in an Astronomers’ career trajectories, a time when they first come to understand what academic research entails and develop a strong sense of identity as “Astronomers”. A lapse of even a few years in offering such opportunities to a broad swath of undergraduates could have severe impacts on our field as a whole. This session will consist of short presentations by Astronomers involved in undergraduate research internship programs that do not rely on federal science funding. It will be followed by a panel discussion and audience Q&A. We hope that participants in the session will leave inspired and empowered with ideas for how to expand summer undergraduate research opportunities at their own institutes.

This Special Session will host a panel and Q&A discussion to discuss current topics in astronomy graduate admissions. The panel will include representatives from a variety of graduate programs, career stages, and admissions roles, and the session will include substantial time for open Q&A.

We will summarize and discuss the results of the AAS Graduate Admissions Task Force report, which was asked to produce recommendations aimed at improving the state of grad admissions in astronomy. The past decade has seen dramatic shifts in applicant pool sizes and admissions committee best practices that are currently being exacerbated by rapidly-shifting funding and policy challenges. The Task Force surveyed recent applicants to astronomy graduate school and admissions leaders in degree-granting graduate programs, held in-depth conversations with select programs, and explored how other fields approach admissions. Based on this work, the Task Force report quantified recent changes in the astronomy grad admissions landscape, addressed mismatches between perception and reality, and identified several key ways to address some of the field’s current challenges.

We will also share updates on the formation, role, and early work of the newly-formed AAS Working Group on Graduate Admissions (WGGA), formed in response to the Task Force recommendations with the goal of serving as an information and communication hub for the field. This session will focus on the early work of the WGGA, including results from our ongoing conversations with grad admissions programs and plans for implementation of the other Task Force recommendations.

Finally, we will dedicate a substantial fraction of this Special Session to open Q&A discussing the current and rapidly-evolving state of graduate admissions, including how the WGGA can help programs, admissions leaders, and applicants going forward.

A strategic vision for astrophysics inspires the scientific community and establishes direction for National Academies Decadal Surveys in Astronomy and Astrophysics. NASA Astrophysics would like to seek community input in 2026 to plan towards Astro 2030, while taking into consideration the 2020 Astro Decadal, previously developed Concept Study Reports,  Astrophysics strategic documents, new mission concepts as well as commercial spaceflight capabilities. This special session, organized by the NASA Astrophysics Division (APD) Program Offices, is intended to kick off this community discussion. 
 
The session will open with introductory talks from representatives of APD discussing the state of the mid-decadal review and initial Astro 2030 plans, followed by a panel discussion and open Q&A featuring Program Analysis Group members, scientists from the community at large and APD representatives.

The outcomes of this panel discussion will be used as seeds for one or more workshops that will be organized by the Program Offices starting mid-2026.

As astronomers, we have a great opportunity to use the wide interest in our field to help students and the public learn the science content and perspective needed to understand and respond to the threat of climate change. This is true both for those of us teaching Introductory astronomy (i.e., “Astro 101”) and those who engage (or would like to engage) in public outreach. 

We'll discuss how many of the topics we teach (e.g., exoplanets, planetary atmospheres, and astronomical scales) lay the foundations for understanding climate science, and how they develop an "astronomical perspective” that can provide context to climate change. We'll also talk about how climate change is distinct from astronomy. It is a contentious and emotionally difficult topic that requires a different approach. We'll present strategies on how to prepare students or the public to leave your class or outreach effort feeling informed, hopeful, and ready to address the problem. We'll work through different examples of classroom discussion and public interaction. We will include time for group work, so if you are currently teaching, please bring your syllabi and class schedules to share, and if you are already engaged in outreach on climate change, please bring any relevant materials or examples that you use.

Across the field of astronomy, there is a growing commitment to reimagining engagement practices through more sustainable, inclusive, and community-centered approaches. The 2020 Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey urged the astronomical community to adopt Community Models of Astronomy, offering the following guidance:

“The astronomy community should work with experts from other experienced disciplines (such as archaeology and social sciences) and representatives from local communities to define a Community Astronomy model of engagement that advances scientific research while respecting, empowering, and benefiting local communities.”

This special session will explore a longstanding example of such community collaboration. The session will begin with a brief historical overview of Kitt Peak National Observatory, followed by a panel discussion featuring Tohono O’odham tribal leaders. Panelists will offer insight into the over 65-year relationship between the Tohono O’odham Nation and Kitt Peak, reflecting on the evolution of this partnership and its relevance to current efforts to implement Community Astronomy practices

In this special session, the AAS Committee on the Status of Minorities in Astronomy features leaders of grassroots outreach and mentorship organizations to discuss ways to support students and community in today's climate. Recently, severe funding cuts have undermined new and existing programs from training and expanding the workforce. In this special session, speakers will share strategies on how to operate and advocate for vulnerable community members effectively during these times. The goal of this special session is to bring individuals together to brainstorm on how to navigate the changing academic and scientific landscape.

Today both private companies and public agencies have aspirations to build permanent infrastructure in space, colonize other planets, extract resources from the Moon and asteroids, and put hundreds of thousands of satellites into Earth orbit. This session will be a panel devoted to discussing the ethical implications of decisions being made today and consider pathways forward to mitigate harm, bringing together thought partners from science, politics, economics, culture, religion, and environmental sustainability.

The Astro2020 Decadal Survey recommended investment in Time Domain and Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (TDAMM) as the top-priority sustaining activity in space for the coming decade. One aspect of NASA’s response to this recommendation is the Astrophysics Cross-Observatory Science Support (ACROSS) Initiative, a facility to implement science-support capabilities and create community engagement opportunities (including, funding permitting, a funding call directed at supporting TDAMM science cases) in order to perform TDAMM as a whole-of-fleet effort, creating efficiencies and maximizing science throughout the NASA fleet and with ground-based and international partners. ACROSS is designed to support both missions and observers as they pursue TDAMM science and activities.

In this session, we will introduce and demonstrate the first release of the ACROSS web portal and API, including mission state and status information and a joint visibility calculator, and discuss the ongoing development of community-defined observing plans for rare, high-importance transient events (events with occurrence rates much less than once per year). We will also discuss engagement with ground-based and international observatories and observers. Attendees will be able to follow along and interactively participate in the demonstration, and the session’s slack channel will be used to provide technical support and answer questions during and after the session to help users break into using these new tools.

As we confront an ever-evolving landscape of federal support for scientific research and community programs, it is important that we all speak up for science. During this special session, participants will receive a brief overview of the policy priorities for the astronomical sciences, a crash course on the federal funding (appropriations) process, and a forecast of developments that may occur over the next few months. The second half of the session will be interactive, with opportunities for participants to run through mock Congressional meetings, and get support from experienced advocates (including members of the AAS Committee on Astronomy and Public Policy) in crafting messages to convey to their Congressional offices. This special session is hosted by the AAS Policy Office and Committee on Astronomy and Public Policy (CAPP).

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is set to revolutionize time-domain astrophysics (TDA) with its combination of wide-field imaging coverage and infrared sensitivity (~27.5 mag AB). Roman will be capable of discovering Galactic and Extragalactic transients and variables such as the electromagnetic counterparts of neutron star mergers (kilonovae), stellar mergers, tidal disruption events (TDEs), and supernovae. With its launch no later than May 2027, now is the ideal time for the community to prepare for time-domain science with Roman.

In order to enable time-domain science for the Roman astronomical community, the Roman Alerts Promptly from Image Differencing (RAPID) Project Infrastructure Team will provide the following four services:

- Rapid image-differencing of every new Roman Wide Field Instrument science image

- A public alert stream of transient and variable candidates from Roman difference images

- Photometry for every Roman transient source observed more than once in same filter (light curves)

- Forced photometry service at any sky location in available Roman data

The highest priority of RAPID is to generate and disseminate low-latency alerts from image differencing for every Roman imaging observation to enable timely multi-wavelength follow-up.

In this session, we will showcase prototypes of the RAPID services and products and engage with the AAS attendees to prepare for time-domain science with Roman. We will also seek community feedback to encourage a wide representation of science interests to utilize RAPID services. The session will include talks and demos from the RAPID team followed by a panel discussion with planned invitations to several time-domain experts, alert brokers, members of the Roman project, and other stakeholders.

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) continues to provide a wealth of information about the Universe from the ongoing spectroscopic survey of stars, galaxies, and quasars. In this special session, we will present some of the data products and science results based on the first three years of DESI operation. The topics include cosmological implications, galaxy and quasar physics, and low-redshift cosmology.

In 2025, the AAS Education Committee conducted a survey of undergraduate degree-granting programs, which was advertised broadly among AAS members and completed by individuals at 79 unique US institutes of higher education. Survey participants provided information about the name, popularity, course requirements, and learning goals of their undergraduate Astronomy and/or Astrophysics degree programs. The survey results provide a rich and complex picture of the state of undergraduate Astronomy/Astrophysics education in the US. In this session, members of the AAS Education Subcommittee on Undergraduate and Graduate Education will present findings and recommendations from our report analyzing the results of this survey. These include statistics on how many and what types of courses are required for undergraduate majors according to degree type (e.g. BA vs. BS) and name (e.g. astronomy vs. astrophysics), as well as a list of suggested course requirements and learning goals for undergraduate majors. The session will conclude with a community discussion inviting dialogue on the report and its recommendations. We hope that participants will leave the session with ideas for things that they might adopt or improve about their own institutions’ undergraduate degree programs.

Over the past 10 years, the astronomy field has seen a dramatic increase in undergraduates graduating with Bachelor’s degrees in Physics and Astronomy. Despite the increase in this population, the number of available first-year PhD positions has remained relatively stagnant, and has not kept up with the demand of those looking to pursue graduate education. In an attempt to evaluate larger and larger numbers of applicants, graduate admissions programs have often turned to increasingly more rigorous admission metrics such as first author papers and sustained research experience to select their incoming graduate classes, which have previously been known to lead to bias against historically under-represented identities.

This current, hyper-competitive landscape of graduate admissions has led to a stark rise in recently graduated undergraduates in search of research opportunities for what is colloquially known as a “gap year”. To improve their chances for future graduate application cycles, one option that more and more graduates are seeking is the post-baccalaureate or “post-bac”, typically defined as a short-term (1-2 yr), full time paid research position. Through these positions, post-bacs can gain access to high-impact research opportunities that may not have been previously available to them, networking opportunities such as conferences, and mentorship to guide them through the “unwritten curriculum” of our field. In addition to enhancing their graduate application package, these positions also provide recent graduates with the opportunity to more clearly identify their career goals and trajectory.

In light of the current funding crisis, the rising inequities within graduate admissions has been further exacerbated. The graduate admissions cycle of 2024-2025 saw incoming class sizes shrink to a fraction of those in previous years, motivating an even more increasing reliance on inequitable admission metrics in the more competitive environment. As a result, numerous qualified students with significant potential are left out due to factors beyond their control, such as their undergraduate university having limited research opportunities or field-specific coursework, or personal circumstances that preclude their ability to take on unpaid or low-paid research positions.

In this special session, we will discuss the state of the field with regards to graduate school admissions and post-bac programs, and present recommendations for supporting researchers at this critical career stage in the current paradigm, with perspectives from leadership of post-bac programs, mentors, and current and former post-bacs. Through this session, we hope to highlight the unique concerns and increase visibility of this often overlooked and underserved career stage, and to emphasize the need for dedicated and intentional support to this burgeoning community.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is a NASA flagship mission planned for launch no earlier than September 2026. The Roman Space Telescope will perform breakthrough science in dark energy cosmology, exoplanet microlensing, and NIR sky surveys with its Wide Field Instrument. Roman will also feature the Coronagraph Instrument (CGI), a technology demonstration that will directly image and take spectra of exoplanetary systems using several novel technologies together for the first time in space. This session will cover the status of the project and upcoming opportunities for community involvement in planning and executing the science and technology demonstration aspects of Roman.

The Historical Astronomy Division (HAD)advances interest in topics relating to the historical nature of astronomy. By historical astronomy we include the history of astronomy; cultural astronomy; and the application of historical records to modern astrophysical problems. HAD's annual meeting is held concurrently with the main AAS winter meeting, and its business meeting is typically scheduled as a town hall.  

The NRAO/GBO Town Hall will inform the AAS membership about the status of science, operations, and development at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) and Green Bank Observatory (GBO).  This popular event has been a highlight of AAS conferences for over a decade.  A reception will allow AAS attendees to discuss research and opportunities with NRAO and GBO scientists.  This includes recent progress in scientific and technical planning for current and future transformational radio astronomy facilities: 

- The Next Generation Very Large Array (ngVLA)
- The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade (WSU) 
- The Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico
- The Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in West Virginia and next generation Radar (ngRadar) facilities
- The Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA)

Attendees will learn about recent community science results from the NRAO/GBO leadership.

The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) serves the astronomical community through the operation of multiple NASA flagship missions including the Hubble, Webb, and Roman Space Telescopes, the development of the MAST advanced data and science archives, including Kepler and TESS, and the dissemination of astronomical information to the broadest public audiences.  Offering this breadth of resources to help the scientific community advance, STScI provides support and the primary user interface for Hubble, Webb and Roman. 

The STScI Town Hall will serve as the center piece for our AAS 247 presence. We will report on the status of our existing and upcoming missions and describe new opportunities designed to advance astrophysics into the 2030s. In particular, we will present updates on Hubble and Webb operations and MAST support in light of the current budget constraints. We will describe the science opportunities afforded by Roman, scheduled for launch later in 2026. We will include a progress report on the JWST/HST Rocky Worlds Director’s Discretionary Time program and highlight synergies with the upcoming Habitable Worlds Observatory. We will include time for discussion to receive community input regarding new capabilities and to answer questions about our activities in the coming year.
 

NSF NOIRLab is the US national center for ground-based, nighttime optical astronomy, providing the community with cutting-edge facilities, software and infrastructure for astronomical discovery. We look forward to meeting with the community to share the latest news and status of the NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory which has begun operations. Come join the excitement as we celebrate the completion of the project and the start of science with your amazing new discovery machine. We will discuss the full suite of capabilities provided by NOIRLab to take advantage of Rubin’s 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time. This includes updating the community on our progress in renewing Gemini’s instrumentation suite and user-facing software as well as our work with the NSF-funded CosmicAI institute. There will be ample time for discussion.
 

The NASA Update will offer the Astrophysics science community an opportunity to interact with members of the leadership team and staff of the Astrophysics Division (APD) of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.  During the session the APD Director will give a presentation on the current state of APD, followed by a Q&A period.  Topics will include recent scientific and technical achievements, current programmatic milestones and direction, and NASA’s progress towards implementing the recommendations identified in the Astro2020 Decadal Survey: Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s.

The NSF Update will provide an opportunity for the astronomical community to hear the latest information about NSF's Astronomy portfolio, including the status of grants and major facilities programs, and to interact with the leadership of those programs through Q&A.