For the Media
- August 5, 2013 Press Release: DPS Denver Meeting Media Invitation
- September 13, 2013 Press Release: DPS Denver Meeting Second Media Invitation
13 September 2013
** Contact details appear below. **
PRELIMINARY PRESS-CONFERENCE PROGRAM SET FOR THE
45TH MEETING OF THE AAS DIVISION FOR PLANETARY SCIENCES
New discoveries in planetary science, covering everything from Mercury near the Sun to giant planets circling distant stars, will be featured in three press conferences at the 45th annual meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel, 1550 Court Place, Denver, CO 80202, from Sunday, 6 October, through Friday, 11 October 2013. More than 700 planetary scientists, astronomers, educators, and journalists are expected. Twitter hashtag: #dps45.
The AAS/DPS offers complimentary press registration to bona fide working journalists and public-information officers (PIOs); see details below.
Main meeting website (including information on travel & lodging):
http://aas.org/meetings/45th-meeting-division-planetary-sciences
Search or browse the meeting program:
http://aas.org/meetings/dps45/science_program
Meeting Highlights
There will be a wide range of invited and prize talks by distinguished planetary scientists, including “Voyager at the Edge of Interstellar Space” by Ed Stone (Caltech), “End-of-the-World: Using Science to Dispel Public Fear” by David Morrison (NASA Astrobiology Institute), “The Chelyabinsk Airburst Event” by Mark Boslough (Sandia National Labs), “Titan’s Spectacular Volte-Face” by Caitlin Griffith (Univ. of Arizona), and “Finding Near-Earth Objects Before They Find Us” by Don Yeomans (Jet Propulsion Lab).
Special events include a reading of “And the Sun Stood Still,” a new play about Copernicus by science writer Dava Sobel, performed by the Boulder Ensemble Theater Company; Agency Night with John Grunsfeld (NASA) Jim Green (NASA), Maria Womack (NSF), and Yvonne Pendleton (NASA); and workshops on the New Horizons Earth-Based Pluto Observing Campaign and professional-amateur collaboration.
Complimentary Press Registration
Registration is free for bona fide media representatives; please contact DPS Press Officer Dr. Vishnu Reddy ([email protected]) prior to your arrival in Denver.
Press Office
A press office will be set up at the Sheraton in Plaza Court 7 and will be open to journalists during normal conference hours. Among other amenities, it will offer workspace and wireless Internet connectivity.
During the meeting you may reach DPS Press Officer Dr. Vishnu Reddy via cell phone at +1 808-342-8932. Assisting in the press room is AAS Press Officer Dr. Rick Fienberg ([email protected], cell +1 857-891-5649).
Press Conferences
News briefings for the media will be conducted during the lunch break (12:00 pm to 1:30 pm MDT) in Governor’s Square 11, Monday through Wednesday, 7-9 October.
Listed below are the press-conference speakers and topics; these remain subject to change, and several additional speakers have been invited.
All findings are embargoed until the time of presentation at the meeting. “Time of presentation” means the start time of the oral or poster session in which the paper will be given, or the time of the corresponding press conference (if any), whichever comes first. The complete AAS/DPS embargo policy is online here: http://aas.org/media/press-releases/embargo-policy-aas-division-meetings
Note: All new discoveries are subject to confirmation by independent teams of scientists. Inclusion here does not imply endorsement by the American Astronomical Society and/or the Division for Planetary Sciences. The AAS and DPS do not endorse individual scientific results.
Monday, 7 October, 12 noon to 1:30 pm MDT
* Apostolos Christou, “A Genetic Cluster of Martian Trojan Asteroids”
* Benoit Noyelles, “Mercury’s Entrapment into the 3:2 Spin-Orbit Resonance”
* Feng Tian, “Atmospheres of Potentially Habitable Planets”
Tuesday, 8 October, 12 noon to 1:30 pm MDT
* Maria Gritsevich, “A Comprehensive Study of the Chelyabinsk Meteorite”
* Amy Mainzer, “Recent Results and Observations of Tiny Near-Earth Objects”
* Mark Showalter, “New Hubble Results on Neptune’s Moons and Rings”
Wednesday, 9 October, 12 noon to 1:30 pm MDT
* Nadine Barlow, “Origin of Martian Low-Aspect-Ratio Layered Ejecta Craters”
* Mona Delitsky, “Diamond in Saturn’s Deep Atmosphere”
* Harold Levison, “Forming the Small Satellites of Pluto”
* Jian-Yang Li, “Early Characterization of Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON)”
Remote Access to Press Conferences via Webcast
Journalists unable to attend the meeting in person may tune in to our briefings streamed live on the Web. Since the webcast includes audio, video, and PowerPoint slides, you must have a broadband (high-speed) Internet connection to watch and listen. Also, your Web browser must have the free Adobe Flash plug-in (http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/).
The webcast also includes a chat window whereby remote participants may ask questions. We can’t guarantee that all questions received from webcast viewers will be asked aloud — it depends on how much time we have and how many questions we’re getting from onsite reporters.
AAS/DPS Press Conference webcasts:
* http://aas.org/media-press/aas-press-conference-webcasts
* Make sure your pop-up blocker is disabled or that it allows pop-ups from aas.org.
Instructions:
* Password: Contact DPS Press Officer Dr. Vishnu Reddy ([email protected]) or AAS Press Officer Dr. Rick Fienberg ([email protected]) for the password, which is for journalists only; the AAS/DPS pays by the “viewer hour,” so we can’t afford to open the live webcast to the public. After the meeting, archived webcasts will be freely available publicly via our online archive (http://aas.org/media-press/archived-aas-press-conference-webcasts).
* Once the webcast window opens, press the Play (>) button.
* Press the Open Chat Window button. You’ll be asked to enter your name; please use your real first and last names, not a cutesy Internet nickname.
* You can resize the chat window and move it to any convenient position on your screen.
* To ask a question, type it into the input box near the bottom of the chat window and click the Send button.
Contact:
Dr. Vishnu Reddy
DPS Press Officer
+1 808-342-8932
[email protected]