ASTRONOMICAL LEAGUE PRESS RELEASE 2004-2

The next professional-amateur astronomer's meeting is scheduled for June 1 in
Denver, Colorado. See details below and please share this message with League
society officers, newsletter editors, and astronomical e-mail lists. Thank
you.

Regards,

Bob Gent
President, Astronomical League

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ASTRONOMICAL LEAGUE PRESS RELEASE 2004-2

April 14, 2004
For Immediate Release

Contacts:
Robert Gent Janet Stevens
President, Astronomical League Pro-Am Coordinator, Astronomical
League
703-566-0971; 505-382-9131;

Professional and Amateur Astronomers to Discuss Strategies for Collaboration

Astronomical League members are invited to participate in a special session at
the upcoming Denver meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), the
nation's premier association of professional astronomers. "Professional-Amateur
Collaborations for Enhanced Research" will convene from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
on Tuesday, June 1st, at the Colorado Convention Center (700 14th St.); see
www.aas.org/meetings/aas204 for details. Reduced one-day registration fees are
available to League members.

The topical session is being held under the auspices of the AAS Working Group
for Professional-Amateur Collaboration (www.aas.org/wgpac), established in 1999
to facilitate interaction between the two communities. Presenters will describe
ways in which scientific research can be enhanced by the involvement of
talented amateur astronomers possessing highly developed observing skills and
sophisticated telescopes, CCD cameras, and other equipment. The goal is to
highlight successful collaborations, in the hope that more professionals will
be encouraged to reach out to amateur astronomers for help with research
projects for which amateurs are ideally suited. Session contributors will also
address how professionals and amateurs can work together in educational and
public outreach efforts associated with scientific projects, for example, NASA
space-astronomy missions.

The AAS pro-am session will feature presentations by professionals and amateurs
and include ample time for discussion. Scheduled presentations include the
following:

· Amateur Spectroscopy: What Is Achievable from the Backyard?
Dale E. Mais (Palomar College) and Robert E. Stencel (University of Denver)

· Blurring the Line: High-End Amateurs as Observers and Data Analyzers
Aaron Price (AAVSO)

· Transitsearch: A Collaboration with Amateur Astronomers to Discover
Transiting Extrasolar Planets
Tim Castellano (NASA Ames Research Center)

· Surveying the Southern Sky with a Robotic Camera
John Gaustad (Swarthmore College) and Wayne Rosing (Las Cumbres Observatory)

· The Small Telescope Science Program for the NASA Deep Impact Mission
Stephanie McLaughlin (University of Maryland), Gary Emerson (Ball Aerospace),
and Lucy McFadden (University of Maryland)

· IAPPP and the Pro-Am Connection
Douglas S. Hall (IAPPP and Vanderbilt University)

· Pro-Am Collaborations on Eclipsing Binary Star Problems
Dirk Terrell (Southwest Research Institute)

· Asteroid Lightcurve Photometry
Alan W. Harris (Space Science Institute)

· Observing Blazar Variability: The GTN-AAVSO Collaboration
Gordon G. Spear (Sonoma State University), Aaron Price (AAVSO), Phil Plait, Tim
Graves, and Lynn Cominsky (Sonoma State University), and Janet Mattei (AAVSO).

· The AAS Professional-Amateur Electronic Registry
Jeff L. Stoner and Janet Stevens (Astronomical League)

· Amateur Astronomers as Outreach Ambassadors: Pro-Am Collaborations for
Education and Public Outreach
Michael Bennett and Suzanne Chippindale (Astronomical Society of the Pacific)

· Professional-Amateur Collaboration in Planetary Studies
Richard Schmude, Jr. (ALPO and Gordon College)

An informal pro-am discussion will take place at 7 p.m. the previous evening
(Monday, May 31st) at the University of Denver's historic Chamberlin
Observatory (2930 E. Warren Ave.). This event is free and independent of the
AAS meeting. Weather permitting, participants will have a chance to observe
Jupiter with the 20-inch Clark-Saegmuller refractor, which saw first light in
1894, both Monday and Tuesday evenings.

Astronomical League club officers are encouraged to share this information with
their members. The best way to convince professional astronomers that the
amateur community can be a vital partner in scientific research is to have a
strong showing of amateur astronomers at the AAS meeting in Denver.

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