Issue of March 13, 2026
eds: Jeremy Bailin, Sethanne Howard, Ferah Munshi, Stella Kafka, and Ben Keller
[We hope you all are taking care of yourselves and each other. --eds.]
This week's issues:
1. I Changed Astronomy Forever - Jocelyn Bell in Her Own Words
2. The first astronomer
3. National Woman Astronomers Day
4. 2026 Caroline Herschel Medal:
5. 2026 recommended projects
6. Shaping Tomorrow: Women Leading Scientific Breakthroughs in 2026
7. About Women and Girls in Astronomy
8. AAS tidbits
9. Artemis 2
10. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
11. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
12. Access to Past Issues
An online version of this newsletter will be available at http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/ at 3:00 PM ET every Friday.
In this short documentary by Ben Proudfoot, Bell Burnell tells her story about being raised as a Quaker, her struggle being the only woman in the room in STEM, and how hard it was to pursue that path against the attitude that women were to be in the home. Bell discovered pulsars as a PhD graduate student at Cambridge University, but Proudfoot's documentary reveals why she was not credited at the time.
Read More At:
https://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2026/03/i-changed-astronomy-forever-jocelyn.html
The first astronomer in history was En HeDu'Anna. She lived c. 2334 BCE. She was the 'EN' of the city of Ur (at that time Ur was the port city to the Persian Gulf). The Sumerian word 'en' means ruler. She is sometimes called the 'Shakespeare of the ancient world'. She wrote a great deal of literature. She and her staff (the synod) maintained the lunar calendar. She was the first person to determine that the eastern "star" that appeared sometimes in the morning and the western "star" that appeared sometimes in the western horizon at sunset was actually not a star but the planet Venus. There is no earlier mention of this explanation.
Read more at: http://www.4kyws.ua.edu
Sat Aug 1st, 2026 is National Woman Astronomers Day. National Woman Astronomers Day takes place on this date as a nod to the first American female astronomer, Maria Mitchell, who was born on August 1, 1818.
National Woman Astronomers Day celebrates the wide range of achievements accomplished by women in the world of astronomical science, from discovering and cataloging comets to writing vital textbooks about astronomy and science. In addition, this day is here to shine a light on the importance of inclusion of all people in science, no matter their gender, race, nationality or other factors.
The timeline given by the website contains errors - omitting improtant women in astronomy.
Read More At:
https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/national-woman-astronomers-day/
An exoplanet-hunting astronomer who specialises in the detection of Earth-like alien worlds has been awarded the 2026 Caroline Herschel Medal.
Professor Dr Heike Rauer, of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and Freie Universit??t Berlin, was recognised for her exceptional service to the astronomical community, her outstanding contributions to exoplanet science, and her leading role in the European Space Agency???s (ESA) upcoming PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) mission.
Read more at:
https://www.ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/news/exoplanet-scientist-awarded-2026-caroline-herschel-medal
Every year the OAD receives numerous, good quality proposals that we are unable to support. We compile these projects on to a ???Recommended List???, which is shared here for the benefit of potential supporters and collaborators. The 2026 Recommended List has 13 projects. Read the project summaries below (in alphabetical order).
Read Moe At:
https://astro4dev.org/2026-recommended-projects/
ACS Publications spotlights the women shaping tomorrow???s scientific breakthroughs through a curated selection of Special Issues, Collections, articles, and interviews. ACS Publications celebrates Women???s History Month by recognizing the women whose curiosity, leadership, and scientific breakthroughs continue to shape the future of chemistry. Their contributions strengthen our shared commitment to expanding equitable access and ensuring that every researcher can participate fully in scientific discovery.
Read More At:
https://axial.acs.org/publishing/women-in-science-2026
Every year, Women and Girls in Astronomy brings together people from around the world to celebrate and highlight the contributions of women and girls to astronomy.
Through this Global Theme, the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach aims to inspire the next generation of future scientists and engineers, promote gender equity in science, and foster a more inclusive astronomical community. All over the world, people can engage in workshops, talks and hands-on events, connecting stories and discoveries that remind us the Universe is open to everyone.
Read More At:
https://iauoutreach.org/global-projects/women-and-girls-in-astronomy
https://aas.org/posts/news/2026/03/cast-your-ballot-2026-aas-election
https://aas.org/press/aas-announces-2026-shapley-lecturers
NASA will hold a briefing today [March 12] at 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) at its Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, "to highlight progress toward the Artemis 2 crewed mission around the moon," according to a March 9 statement.
Read More At:
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