SAN ANTONIO — January 8. 2026 — Southwest Research Institute’s Dr. Alan Stern, a planetary scientist and associate vice president in SwRI’s Space Sector, has been named a Fellow of the American Astronomical Society (AAS). Fellows are recognized for their original research and publications, innovative contributions to astronomical techniques or instrumentation, significant contributions to education and public outreach, and other noteworthy service to astronomy.

The seventh ISEE Award was presented posthumously to Professor Hiroyuki Yamada (Former Professor, Faculty of Science, University of the Ryukyus) in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the establishment of high-altitude penetration flight observation techniques for typhoon eyes, as well as to the pioneering of typhoon research based on these techniques.

Solar physicists say they have found a key source of intense gamma rays unleashed when Earth’s nearest star produces its most violent eruptions.

In findings published in Nature Astronomy, scientists at NJIT’s Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research (NJIT-CSTR) have pinpointed a previously unknown class of high-energy particles in the Sun’s upper atmosphere responsible for generating the long-puzzling radiation signals observed during major solar flare events for decades.

Carnegie's Luke Bouma presented exciting new research at the American Astronomical Society meeting revealing how large clumps of cool plasma that are trapped in an M dwarf star's magnetosphere can be used as a "space weather station" to better understand the ways that particles from stars contribute to planetary conditions.