Jan. 8-12, 2012. AAS is the American Astronomical Society, and attendance levels at this event were, well… astronomical. Rather than focusing on sidereal matters, we found ourselves learning what a great building the ASA has in Washington. The building was “designed with science in mind. Completed in 1994, the front sidewalks have a model solar system embedded in the concrete, with the aphelia of the planets on Florida and the perihelia on 20th. The lobby is designed to represent the folded layers of the Earth’s crust and the front desk is a large slab of petrified wood. The outer façade features surface patterns — tan bricks with blonde brick stripes and red accents — that suggest geological striations as well as a narrow belt of relief sculpture, which is a pattern of the Earth, Moon and planets”. And there was you thinking you needed a telescope or something…
