National Astronomy Meeting 2017: Second media announcement

Around 550 astronomers and space scientists will gather at the University of Hull, from 2-6 July, for the 2017 Royal Astronomical Society National Astronomy Meeting (NAM 2017). The conference is the largest regular professional astronomy event in the UK and will see leading researchers from around the world presenting the latest work in a variety of fields.

NAM 2017 will be held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the UK Solar Physics (UKSP) groups. The conference is principally sponsored by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), and the University of Hull.

Sessions at NAM 2017 will cover a diverse range of topics, including the Sun and its unusually quiet state, the Solar system, results of the search for dark energy, cosmology in the early and distant universe, massive stars, and the science of planets around other stars.

Alongside the formal meeting a suite of events will run for schools and the general public. Highlights include a lecture by Professor Chris Lintott of the University of Oxford, and Sky at Night, on the Galaxy Zoo citizen science project.

During the conference week, there will be a day of activities for primary school children, and a day of activities for secondary students in the form of a student conference. Activities will include the use of a planetarium, telescope workshops and a poster competition that will be judged by some of the astronomers attending the conference. Speakers include Professor Becky Parker, Director of the Institute for Research in Schools (IRIS), and the astrobiologist Professor Lewis Dartnell, who will talk on extraterrestrial life.

Meeting arrangements and a full and up to date schedule of the scientific programme can be found on the official website https://nam2017.org/ and via the conference Twitter account https://twitter.com/rasnam2017

Media representatives are cordially invited to attend the Meeting and can register at no cost. Press room facilities will be available for the duration of the conference - from 0900 BST on Monday 3 July to 1500 BST on Thursday 6 July. A series of releases, issued under embargo, will cover key scientific results presented at the meeting.

For free registration please contact the press team.

From the end of this week (30 June onwards) the embargoed release text and images will be available in advance via a password-protected press area of the conference website.

Provided by Royal Astronomical Society