The Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) is a division within the American Astronomical Society

American Astronomical Society

The American Astronomical Society is an American society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC...

 (AAS) devoted to solar system research.
It was founded in 1968. The first organizing committee members were: Edward Anders, L. Branscomb

Lewis M. Branscomb

Lewis M. Branscomb is an American physicist, government policy advisor, and corporate research manager. He is best known as former head of the National Bureau of Standards and, later, chief scientist of IBM; and as a prolific writer on science policy issues.Following World War II service in the...

, J. W. Chamberlain, R. Goody, J. S. Hall, A. Kliore, M. B. Elroy, Tobias Owen, Gordon Pettengill

Gordon Pettengill

Gordon Pettengill is a noted American radio astronomer and planetary physicist.-Early life and education:Pettengill was born in Providence, Rhode Island. As a young man he was enthralled with radio and electronics, taking apart and building old radios...

, Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan

Carl Edward Sagan was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, science popularizer and science communicator in astronomy and natural sciences. He published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and was author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books...

, and Harlan James Smith

Harlan James Smith

Harlan James Smith was an American astronomer.He was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, the son of Paul and Anna McGregor Smith. While attending Wheeling High School he was named first runner up in the "Westinghouse National Science Talent Search". From 1943 until the end of World War II he served...

. As of 2009, it is the largest special-interest division within the AAS.

DPS sponsors five prizes. The Kuiper Prize honors outstanding contributions to the field of planetary science. The Urey Prize recognizes outstanding achievement in planetary research by a young scientist. The Masursky Award

Masursky Award

The Harold Masursky Award for Meritorious Service to Planetary Science, usually called the Masursky Award, is awarded annually by the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society...

 acknowledges outstanding service to planetary science and exploration. The Carl Sagan Medal

Carl Sagan Medal

The Carl Sagan Medal for Excellence in Public Communication in Planetary Science was established by the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society to recognize and honor outstanding communication by an active planetary scientist to the general public...

 recognizes and honors outstanding communication by an active planetary scientist to the general public. The Jonathan Eberhart Planetary Sciences Journalism Award

Jonathan Eberhart Planetary Sciences Journalism Award

The Jonathan Eberhart Planetary Sciences Journalism Award was established by the Division for Planetary Sciences to recognize and stimulate distinguished popular writing on planetary sciences. The winning author will receive a prize of $1,000 plus a citation. The award is named after science...

 is a prize that recognizes and stimulates distinguished popular writing on planetary sciences.

DPS meets annually, with the next meeting (the 41st), scheduled for October 4–9, 2009 in Fajardo, Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

.