The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore will hold its next annual Spring Symposium “Stellar Populations in the Cosmological Context” on May 3-6, 2010.

Groups of stars that have similar spatial distribution, chemical composition, or ages are called stellar populations. The “Stellar Populations” Symposium will bring together two communities of astronomers – those studying resolved stellar populations in the nearby universe and those focusing on better understanding the properties and evolution of stellar populations in the most distant (highest redshift) systems. Our current understanding of the physical processes and observational characteristics of local stellar populations will be used as a tool for explaining the evolution of general stellar populations throughout cosmic history.

Media interested in attending this conference should contact Cheryl Gundy at gundy@stsci.edu no later than April 26. Please provide your affiliation, surface mail address, phone and fax numbers, and your planned date of arrival. Symposium fees will be waived for science writers (except for the cost of the conference dinner).

For the Symposium schedule and additional information about this conference, visit http://www.stsci.edu/institute/conference/spring2010 .

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. in Washington, D.C.