For the first two weeks of August, Hawaii will be the centre of the Universe when more than 3500 astronomers from at least 75 countries gather in Honolulu for the XXIX General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Expected to be the largest professional astronomy conference since the Big Bang, the 3-14 August 2015 meeting will feature thousands of scientific presentations, numerous policy discussions, and several exciting media events. The IAU offers complimentary press registration to bona fide working journalists and public information officers (PIOs); see details below.

At the General Assembly, held every three years, the world's astronomers come together to advance the astronomical sciences through international collaboration. Participants at the General Assembly in Honolulu will address key topics in contemporary astronomy and assess the latest scientific progress in a number of specialised areas. With six symposia extending over several days, 22 multi-session focus meetings, nine IAU Division meetings, dozens of IAU Commission meetings, and the first-ever daily general poster sessions, the XXIX General Assembly's scientific programme will be the broadest in the union's history.

This will be the first General Assembly to be held in Hawaii and the first in the United States since 1998. The American Astronomical Society (AAS) is the national host organisation, with vital local support from the University of Hawaii at Manoa Institute of Astronomy as well as observatories and other astronomy-related institutions throughout the Hawaiian islands.

Maunakea, on the Big Island, is well known today as the site of most of the northern hemisphere's 8- to 10-metre telescopes. But the history of astronomy in Hawaii goes back to ancient times, when Polynesian sailors navigated among the widely separated islands of the Pacific Ocean primarily using their deep knowledge of the starry sky. The landmark Diamond Head volcano on Oahu, visible from Honolulu's famed Waikiki Beach, was the site of an important 1910 expedition to photograph Halley's Comet. Grote Reber did some of his early work in radio astronomy on Maui, which now hosts a major solar observatory atop Haleakala. And Maunakea itself, first recognised as a superior astronomical site by Gerard Kuiper half a century ago, will soon be home to the Thirty Meter Telescope, one of the next-generation optical-infrared extremely large telescopes slated to usher in the next great age of ground-based astronomy. Representatives of the media in Hawaii for the General Assembly will have an opportunity to visit Maunakea before science sessions begin; see details below.

Overview

Contacts

Lars Lindberg Christensen IAU Press Officer Garching bei Mnchen, Germany Tel: +49 89 320 06 761 Cell: +49 173 38 72 621 Email: lars@eso.org

Raquel Yumi Shida IAU Deputy Press Officer Garching bei Mnchen, Germany Tel: +49 89 320 06 177 Cell: +49 151 5066 2673 Email: rshida@eso.org

Local press contacts

Roy Gal University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy Cell: +1 301-728-8637 Email: rgal@ifa.hawaii.edu

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Media Invitation for the XXIX General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union