IAU Exoworld Ceremony and Astronomy Public Talk

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) will host its 2015 General Assembly from August 3 to 14 at the Hawai‘i Convention Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. The triennial conference will welcome over 2,500 astronomers from 75 countries around the globe to the General Assembly and will also offer several free community events to the general public.

 

On Tuesday, August 11, the IAU will start this event with an announcement of the beginning of public voting for the NameExoWorlds contest. In August 2013, the IAU established a contest to involve the public in the selection of names for some newly discovered exoplanets; planets around other stars. The voting will be initiated at this special ceremony that will precede the public talk. The ceremony will be hosted by Dr Lisa Kaltenegger, Director of the Carl Sagan Institute.

The talk will feature two guest speakers. Dr. Gunther Hasinger, director of the University of Hawai‘i Institute for Astronomy, will present on the development of modern astronomy in Hawai‘i. Dr. Andrea Ghez of the University of California, Los Angeles Galactic Center Institute, will share her insights on the black hole in the Galactic Center. By imaging the Galactic Center at infrared wavelengths using the W.M. Keck Telescope, Ghez and her colleagues have been able to peer through heavy dust that blocks visible light, producing images at the center of the galaxy. This method has also made it possible to follow the orbits of stars surrounding the black hole, now one of the best demonstrated cases for a supermassive black hole.