Tag Archives: American Astronomical Society

American Astronomical Society’s Popular Science Writing Award

I just heard that I earned a 2012 Popular Science Writing Award given annually by the American Astronomical Society’s Solar Physics Division. The award was given for an article I wrote in Science News last year about why the sun remains unusually quiet, even near the peak of its 11-year activity cycle. The award’s citation reads:

This review by Mr. Cowen of an ongoing scientific debate about possible underlying causes of fluctuations in solar cycles is accurate and informative while remaining succinct and educational.

Exoplanets and the 2012 American Astronomical Society Winter Meeting [NPR Science Friday]

NPR’s Science Friday invited me to talk about exoplanets and the 2012 Winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society:

Kepler Telescope Spots Tiniest Exoplanets Yet

At a meeting of the American Astronomical Society, scientists talked about mapping dark matter, measuring the ‘graininess’ of spacetime, and discovering the smallest exoplanets ever, using the Kepler space telescope. Ron Cowen, who reported on the meeting for Nature, discusses those findings.

Go ahead and listen to me with Ira Flatow on the Science Friday Web site!