The Society

The Society has adopted a structure in which topical interest groups may be formed, known as Chapters. Currently there are two Chapters:

• the Australian National Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (ANITA), a virtual institute which aims to raise the profile of Australian theoretical astrophysics, and
• the Education and Public Outreach Committee(EPOC), serving to advance the level of public awareness of the excitement of astronomy.

The Society provides a representative on:

• the National Committee for Astronomy (NCA) of the Australian Academy of Science (AAS). The AAS is Australia's link with the International Council for Science (ICSU) and its constituent bodies and committees, in particular the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The NCA is the standing committee of the AAS which advises on astronomical matters including international relationships.
• the Australian Gemini Steering Committee that oversees the operation of the Australian Gemini Office and advises the Australian Government on matters relating to Australian membership of the International Gemini Partnership.
• the Standards Australia committee LG2 (Road Lighting) and LG10 (Obtrusive Lighting)
• the committee administering the Donovan Astronomical Trust.

The ASA is Trustee of the Foundation for the Advancement of Astronomy (FAA). The FAA is a tax-deductible Foundation intended to enhance the ASA's efforts to promote Astronomy and related fields in Australia, and to recognise and support excellence in those fields. The purposes of the FAA are very broadly defined to allow the support of prizes, scholarships, research and facilities.

The Society is a member of:

• the Federation of Scientific and Technological Societies (FASTS) which aims to represent the interests of scientists and technologists throughout Australia.
• the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) which aims to to preserve and protect the nighttime environment.

The ASA web pages are primarily intended to provide information for the professional astronomy community. The ASA also provides the Australian Astronomy web site which provides information on astronomy in Australia for the amateur astronomy community and the general public. The ASA also 'owns' the Australian International year of Astronomy 2009 web site although it is managed by the Australian IYA organisers.

Information is distributed to members primarily via an Email Exploder, with recent emails archived.

The ASA publishes an on-line refereed journal, the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia (PASA). Immediate on-line access is a privilege of most classes of ASA membership, or may be purchased by libraries and other organisations. All papers are archived at the NASA ADS archive. There are no pages charges. PASA is published by CSIRO Publishing.

IAU 2003 - XXVth General Assembly (GA) of the IAU Through the NCA and ASA, Australian astronomers accepted an invitation by the IAU to host the XXVth General Assembly (GA) of the IAU between July 13 and 26, 2003. Many ASA members participated in all aspects of the organisation of the General Assembly which was extremely succesful, presenting Australian astronomy to the visiting astronomers and the public. The Final Report (pdf 43 pages/480kB) on the General Assembly is available, along with Report Annexes (pdf 116 pages/3.8MB) giving more details and associated documents.

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• 2008
• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004
• 2003
• 2002
• 2001

Prior to this, written President's reports were distributed at the Annual General Meeting, but Society activity was also summarised in the Activity Report published in PASA.

Activity Reports

• 2000
• 1999
• 1998
• 1997
• 1996
• 1995
• 1994
• 1993
• Earlier reports can be found in the relevant volumes of PASA

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The business of the Society is conducted by a Council elected by a ballot (if necessary) of the members each year.

The current Council members are:

President
	Prof. Warrick Couch	(wcouch -@- astro.swin.edu.au / Swinburne University)
Vice-President
	Prof. Lister Staveley-Smith	(lister.staveley-smith -@- uwa.edu.au / University of Western Australia)
Immediate Past President
	Prof. Gary Da Costa	(gdc -@- mso.anu.edu.au / ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics)
Secretaries
	Dr Marc Duldig	(marc.duldig -@- aad.gov.au / Australian Antarctic Division)
	Dr John O'Byrne	(j.obyrne -@- physics.usyd.edu.au / University of Sydney)
Treasurer
	Dr Diana Londish	(Diana.Londish -@- csiro.au / ATNF)
Councillors
	Dr Kate Brooks	(kate.brooks -@- csiro.au / ATNF)
	Dr Simon Ellingsen	(Simon.Ellingsen -@- utas.edu.au / University of Tasmania)
	Dr Stephen Hughes	(sw.hughes -@- qut.edu.au / Queensland University of Technology)
	Assoc.Prof. Geraint Lewis	(g.lewis -@- physics.usyd.edu.au / University of Sydney)
	Dr Stuart Ryder	(sdr -@- aaoepp.aao.gov.au / Anglo-Australian Observatory)
Chair, PASA Editorial Board
	Prof. John Lattanzio	(j.lattanzio -@- sci.monash.edu.au / Monash University)
Prizes and Awards Coordinator
	Dr Tanya Hill	(thill -@- museum.vic.gov.au / Melbourne Planetarium, Scienceworks)
The Council also invites one student member to attend meetings as an observer, to represent the interests Australian postgraduate students at the meeting and report back to the student members.
Student Representative
	Mr Max Spolaor	(mspolaor -@- astro.swin.edu.au / Swinburne University)

Past Council members (prior to July 2007) are listed in the following files:

• Presidents
• Vice-Presidents
• Immediate Past Presidents
• Secretaries
• Treasurers
• PASA Editors
• Donovan Astronomical Trust representatives (no longer a Council position)
• Prizes and Awards Coordinators
• General Committee members


• By name
• By years of service


• Public Officers (not a Council position)

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