Nashville, TN, 25-29 May 2003

Photos may be freely downloaded for use by the news media and educators. Unless otherwise stated, all pictures are AAS Photos by Richard Dreiser, copyright 2003 by American Astronomical Society. 

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Monday, 26 May 2003

Distant Supernovae and What They Tell Us

Bob Kirshner (left, Harvard University), Rob Knop (center, Vanderbilt University) and Saul Perlmutter (right, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) presented an update on supernova observations that are being used to determine the acceleration history of the increasingly dark Universe.

Rob Knop (Vanderbilt University) indicates the limits on the properties of dark energy while Bob Kirshner(Harvard University) looks on.

Links to News Stories:
Space.com

Amazing Disks

Joel Kastner (far left, Rochester Institute of Technology) presented new Chandra observations of x-ray emission from young stars and discussed the connections between the x-radiation and the disks often seen in these systems. Jeffrey Bary (second from left) and David Weintraub (third from left) from Vanderbilt University discussed Bary's Ph.D. thesis work on the disappearance of disks in pre-planetary systems, Elizabeth Lada (third from the right, University of Florida) discussed the evidence that most of the smaller particles leave planetary disks within a few million years, presumably swept up into bigger proto-planetary globules. Richard Elston (second from the right, University of Florida) showed images of 7 newly discovered super-sized disks around young stars. Finally, William Herbst (far right,Wesleyan University) showed the record-breaking 3.5 year eclipse of a young star, which was monitored at Wesleyan by undergraduate Roger Cohen.

Tuesday,27 May 2003

Discovery of A New Object in Arp 299

James Ulvestad (left, National Radio Astronomy Observatory) and Susan Neff (center,NASA Goddard Space Flight Center) presented their VLA and VLBA data showing the presence of 4 supernova remnants in a compact region in Arp 299, and the discovery of a fifth supernova that appeared between April 2002 and February 2003 in the same region. Daniel Weedman (right, Cornell University) provided independent commentary on the significance of their discovery.

James Ulvestad (National Radio Astronomy Observatory) demonstrates a light source that produced ten trillion times the energy density on Earth as does the newly discovered supernova in Arp 299.

Robotic Telescopes

Stuart Marshall (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), Richard Gelderman (Western Kentucky University) and Eric Craine (Western Research Company, Inc.) presented information on the status of three different robotic telescope programs.

Richard Gelderman (Western Kentucky University) explains his definitions for different types of robotic telescopes and the plans for fully autonomous operation of the refurbished 1.3 m telescope on Kitt Peak by the Robotic Telescope Consortium.

Eric Craine (Western Research Company, Inc.) answers a question about the GNAT collaboration's plans to analyze the voluminous amounts of data that they are acquiring with their prototype system that currently has 3 operating telescopes.

Stuart Marshall (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) answers a question about the methods that the internationally funded TAOS project will use to spot Kuiper Belt Objects.

Wednesday, 28 May 2003

Gamma Ray Bursts

Deputy Press OfficerLynn Cominsky (left, Sonoma State University) introduces the press conference featuring recent results on gamma-ray bursts that occurred on December 6, 2002 GRB021206) and March 29, 2003 while presenters (L to R) Donald Smith, Eli Rykoff(both University of Michigan), and Dale Frail (NRAO) look on.

Dale Frail (National Radio Astronomy Observatory) demonstrates the fireball model for gamma-ray bursts that is supported by his VLBI measurements of GRB030329.

Steven Boggs (UC Berkeley) demonstrates two different polarization directions for gamma rays detected by the RHESSI satellite in the burst that occurred on December 6, 2002.

Participants at the Gamma-ray Bursts Press Conference (L to R): Donald Smith and Eli Rykoff (both of University of Michigan), Dale Frail (National Radio Astronomy Observatory), Steven Boggs (UC Berkeley) and independent commentator Chryssa Kouveliotou (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center). Smith and Rykoff showed data from the internationally-based ROTSE telescopes. Frail presented high precision radio measurements of the position and size of the radio jet observed in the very bright afterglow of a recent GRB, and Boggs announced the discovery of gamma-ray polarization during a burst using RHESSI.

Andrew Fruchter (Space Telescope Science Institute) shows Hubble Space Telescope Science images of the host galaxy and optical transient associated with GRB030329.

Chryssa Kouveliotou (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center) gives independent expert commentary on the significance of the gamma-ray burst discoveries announced in the press briefing.