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AUI Sponsors Student Outreach Event at 232nd AAS Meeting

Recent News

Radio Observations of Compact Symmetric Objects Shed New Light on Black Hole Phenomenon

Compact Symmetric Objects (CSOs) harbor supermassive black holes that emit powerful jets traveling at near-light speeds in opposite directions. However, unlike their counterparts in other galaxies, these jets remain compact, not extending out to great distances as expected. For decades, scientists presumed that CSOs were youthful entities, with their jets destined to expand over time. New findings, published in three papers in The Astrophysical Journal, challenge this notion.

NRAO and SpaceX Coordinate to Protect Radio Astronomy

Supported by the National Science Foundation, NRAO and SpaceX are developing a system called Operational Data Sharing (ODS) that provides the current status (position in the sky and observing frequency) of two of its telescopes: the VLA in New Mexico and the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in West Virginia.

AUI Sponsors Student Outreach Event at 232nd AAS Meeting

Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI) sponsored the American Astronomical Society (AAS) local student outreach event at the AAS 232nd summer meeting held this June in Denver, CO.

As part of AUI’s role in serving as ambassadors of science and encouraging the next generation the next generation of scientists and engineers, the event provides middle and high school students in underserved populations an opportunity to spend a day learning about STEM.

The society welcomes local student groups, STEM program participants, home schooled students, and families for an interactive afternoon of science.
Students had the opportunity to participate in hands-on demonstrations and speak with world famous scientists and engineers at the forefront of astronomy research.

At the 232nd AAS meeting, the students received a welcome talk by Dr. Keivan Guadalupe Stassun, Professor of Astronomy at Vanderbilt University, and were chaperoned into the AAS Exhibit Hall to meet with several exhibitors for exciting hands-on activities covering topics such as discovering exoplanets, building an interferometer, dark matter, infrared cameras, light spectrum, radio astronomy, and more.

As the students departed, they received an AUI backpack full of resource materials from numerous exhibitors to further their exploration. There were more than 150 students in attendance from the Denver area.

AAS Press Release

Recent News

Radio Observations of Compact Symmetric Objects Shed New Light on Black Hole Phenomenon

Compact Symmetric Objects (CSOs) harbor supermassive black holes that emit powerful jets traveling at near-light speeds in opposite directions. However, unlike their counterparts in other galaxies, these jets remain compact, not extending out to great distances as expected. For decades, scientists presumed that CSOs were youthful entities, with their jets destined to expand over time. New findings, published in three papers in The Astrophysical Journal, challenge this notion.

NRAO and SpaceX Coordinate to Protect Radio Astronomy

Supported by the National Science Foundation, NRAO and SpaceX are developing a system called Operational Data Sharing (ODS) that provides the current status (position in the sky and observing frequency) of two of its telescopes: the VLA in New Mexico and the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in West Virginia.