Highest Energies in the Smallest State

This morning, the High Energy Astrophysics Division (aka HEAD) meeting kicks off in Newport, RI. What is this, you might ask? Well, the American Astronomical Society, or AAS, is the country’s largest professional group for astronomers. And because it is so large, they have also created several subdivisions so that scientists of a particular bent can gather to talk about their areas of interest. You can find a full list of the divisions here.

HEAD’s focus is what astronomers consider to be the higher energies of the electromagnetic spectrum – that is, generally anything more energetic than visible light. There’s the official mission statement on the

This week, hundreds of scientists will be on hand to present new results on a bunch of topics – from black holes to planets. In addition to science from Chandra, data from other important telescopes in the high-energy realm like the Fermi Gamma Ray Telescope, Swift, Suzaku and more will discussed. Check the Chandra Twitter feed for the latest from Newport.

-Megan Watzke, CXC