Rachel Ross's blog

Every year, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) presents eight awards to the astronomy community including amateur astronomy and outreach, teaching astronomy at various levels, significant contributions to astronomy research, and to outstanding Ph.D thesis.

May 5th saw the 11th annual AstroDay celebration on the Big Island of Hawai'i. Observatories across the state were invited to participate in the event located at Prince Kuhio shopping center in Hilo, including LCOGT. JD Armstrong and Rachel Ross attended along with Heather Kaluna and Marco Micheli, grad students from University of Hawai'i Manoa.

The first 1-meter telescope was installed this morning at McDonald Observatory!  Crews from both LCOGT and McDonald made sure that the installation went smoothly.  Below are some of the first pictures of the 1-meter telescope being (gently) placed in its new home.

Keep watching the News feed for more information as it becomes available.

The American Astronomical Society (AAS) holds two annual meetings, the larger being in January.  With attendance of around nearly 3000, there are always lots of exciting announcements in a variety of areas of astronomy, cosmology, technology, education, and more.  This year’s winter AAS was held January 7 - 12 in Austin, Texas.  

This year's KITP teacher's conference was held on January 14. This conference brings over a hundred science teachers at the middle and high school levels from across the country to Santa Barbara for a day of 'what's new' in different areas of physics with world renowned scientists.