The American Astronomical Society (AAS) is a US society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC. The main aim of the AAS is provide a political voice for its members and organise their lobbying.

The group was founded in 1899 by the efforts of George Ellery Hale. The constitution of the group was written by Hale, George Comstock , Edward Morley, Simon Newcomb and Edward Pickering. These men plus four others were the first Executive Council of the society, Newcomb was the first president. The initial membership was 114. The AAS name of the society was not finally decided until 1915, previously it was the Astronomical and Astrophysical Society of America.

The AAS today has over 6,500 members and five divisions - the Division for Planetary Sciences (1968), the Division on Dynamical Astronomy (1969), the High Energy Astrophysics Division (1969), the Solar Physics Division (1969) and the Historical Astronomy Division (1980).

The AAS awards several prestigious prizes annually. Among these are:

• The Henry Norris Russell Lectureship
• The Newton Lacy Pierce Prize in Astronomy
• The Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy
• The Beatrice M. Tinsley Prize
• The George Van Biesbroeck Prize
• The Joseph Weber Award for Astronomical Instrumentation
• The Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics (joint award with the American Institute of Physics )
• The H. C. Urey Prize (awarded by the Division for Planetary Sciences of the AAS)
• The Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy (awarded in concert with the American Association of University Women)

The AAS also manages a Small Research Grant Award program and an International Travel Grant program for its members.

External link

• The AAS Website