First major astronomy conference comes to Arkansas

Members of the University of Arkansas System are hosting the state's first major astronomy conference in August, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock said Wednesday.

Titled "Structure and Dynamics of Disk Galaxies," the conference will bring to Arkansas several international experts and national scholars to discuss "the formation and evolution of disk galaxies, which are characterized by a flattened circular volume of stars," UALR said in a statement.

Marc Seigar, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at UALR, is organizing the event with the help of his department and the Department of Physics at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

“With new astronomy surveys that have recently been completed and new telescopes coming online, we expect to have a very good meeting with some very exciting recent research results being presented at the conference,” Seigar said in the statement.

Experts from the Max Planck Institute in Germany, the Paris Observatory and Swinburne University in Australia are scheduled to speak.

The conference is scheduled for Aug 12-16 at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute at Petit Jean Mountain near Morrilton.

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