Vol. 56, Issue 1 (Obituaries, News & Commentaries, Community Reports)

Spectrum is an Access, Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (AJEDI) grassroots organization committed to empowering equitable excellence through sustainable change.

This article identifies important science questions whose answers may be obscured by human activities on the Moon.

Schrijver lead research on the magnetic fields of cool stars like the Sun, advancing our understanding of the mechanisms governing stellar activity.

Robert Mark Wagner, an astronomer accomplished in research and observatory operations, died after a brief illness on September 2, 2023. He was 68 years old.

Pesch was known for his photometric studies of galactic open clusters, several objective-prism surveys and for the discovery of the first triatomic molecule, CaOH, detected in a stellar atmosphere.

Jenkins was a pioneer in UV spectroscopy who made key measurements of the multiphase interstellar medium

Dick Miller was the first faculty member in astronomy at Georgia State University (GSU), where he helped build a successful PhD graduate program.

Fredrick was instrumental in building the modern-day UVA Astronomy Department, and he was a valued colleague to several generations of astronomers

Edward C. Stone, former director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was project scientist for the Voyager program from 1972 to 2022

Welch pioneered the field of millimeter-wavelength astronomy, discovered the first polyatomic molecules in space, and was a strong advocate of SETI

Molnar pioneered ultraviolet photometric studies of magnetic stars.

Allam was an active researcher in multiple and varied fields of observational astronomy, including dust and star formation in galaxies, strongly lensed galaxies, photometric calibration, and the optical follow-up of gravitational wave events.

Riccardo Giovanelli was a pioneer in the application of observations of the HI 21 cm line of atomic hydrogen to probe galaxy evolution, to map the filamentary structure of the distribution of galaxies, and to trace dark matter on large scales in the local Universe.

I provide a synopsis of many of the scientific advances made by Gaia, through to the end of 2023, by means of a hyperlinked index to weekly essays that I been writing since the start of 2021.

Warner pioneered the field of high-speed photometry and was known internationally for his work on cataclysmic variable stars.

This paper reviews roughly 60 years of recommendations from US astronomy and astrophysics decadal reports and their respective resource allocations, followed by a discussion of gender balance in the committees and a concluding analysis of other issues that came to light.

Commentary from the AAS Journals

Emerging Researchers in Exoplanetary Science (ERES) is an annual symposium aimed at early-career astronomers. This Bulletin documents the experiences of the 2023 organizers, aiming to disseminate lessons learned to other early-career conference organizers.

Feldman was a leader in the study of astrophysical and laboratory plasmas using innovative high-resolution spectroscopic techniques.

Lynds developed instrumentation for the national observatories and Hubble Space Telescope and was among the first to investigate gravitational lensing and the spectra of quasars.

Throughout most of his career, Schultz provided instrumentation and observational support to NASA’s Space Telescope Science Institute and the Goddard Space Flight Center.