Events of Interest: Week of January 6-11, 2013

Happy New Year!   Welcome to our first 2013 events of interest.    The following events may be of interest in the coming week.  After their marathon sessions last week as the 112th Congress ended and the 113th began, the House and Senate both are in recess this week.  The House returns for legislative business next Monday, the 14th; the Senate on the 21st for the inauguration.

During the Week

Three major conferences are taking place this week:

• the American Astronomical Society (AAS) winter meeting January 6-10 in Long Beach, CA where scientists present recent discoveries in astronomy and astrophysics and NASA holds “town hall” meetings to engage with that community.  The NASA town halls and press briefings are shown in the day-by-day list below.
• the American Meteorological Society’s (AMS’s) annual meeting in Austin, TX, also January 6-10.
• the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) annual Aerospace Sciences Meeting in Grapevine, TX (near Dallas), January 7-10.

Also of particular note for those interested in planetary science is the Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG) meeting in Atlanta on Thursday-Friday, January 10-11.   In the most recent edition of the Planetary Exploration Newsletter, the chair and vice-chair of the DPS urge planetary science community members to listen to Jim Green’s presentation at 8:30 am Eastern Standard Time (EST) on January 10, which will be webcast.  Instructions on how to register for and listen to the webcast are on the OPAG website.   Green apparently will address recent community concerns about the planetary science budget, especially for research and analysis (R&A), although he obviously will not be able to talk about the FY2014 budget, since it has not yet been released.  There is enough uncertainty about the FY2013 budget in any case, with the sequester being delayed for two months, so the Damoclean sword continues to hang over the federal budget.

Sunday-Thursday, January 6-10

• American Astronomical Society Winter Meeting, Long Beach, CA (note NASA Town Hall meetings and press briefings on specific days below)
• American Meteorological Society annual meeting, Austin, TX

Monday-Thursday, January 7-10

• AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Grapevine, TX (near Dallas)

Monday, January 7

• NASA events at AAS meeting
  • Exoplanets Coming and Going Everywhere press briefing, 10:30 am Pacific Standard Time (PST)
  • Physics of the Cosmos (PCOS) Gravitational Wave and X-Ray Astronomy Town Hall, 12:45 pm PST
  • The Hubble Ultra Deep Field Gets Deeper press briefing, 12:45 pm PST
  • A High Energy Astrophysics Extravaganza press briefing, 2:30 pm PST
  • Kepler Town Hall, 6:30 pm PST

Tuesday, January 8

• NASA events at AAS meeting
  •  NASA Town Hall, 12:45 pm PST
  • Journey to the Center of the Galaxy press briefing, 12:45 pm PST
  • Exoplanets from Dust Grains to Brown Dwarfs, 2:30 pm PST

Wednesday, January 9

• NASA events at AAS meeting
  • James Webb Space Telescope Town Hall, 12:45 pm PST
  • Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOPHIA) Town Hall, 12:45 pm PST
• NASA press briefing on commercial crew update, Kennedy Space Center, FL, 2:00 pm EST (watch on NASA TV)
• Space Deterrence and Crisis Stability, featuring Bruce MacDonald of the U.S. Institute of Peace, Stimson Center, Washington, DC, 3:00 pm EST

Thursday, January 10

• NASA event at AAS meeting
  • Galaxies in the Extreme press briefing, 12:45 pm PST

Thursday-Friday, January 10-11

• NASA Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG), Atlanta, GA