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Jess Soto and Laura-May Abron examine the VAR! plate

Jess Soto and Laura-May Abron examine the VAR! plate
Jess Soto and Laura-May Abron examine the VAR! plate Jess Soto, public engagement specialist at Carnegie Science, watches as astrophysicist Laura-May Abron uses a magnifier to examine Edwin Hubble’s original VAR! plate at Carnegie’s Hale Library in Pasadena, California, on Oct. 13, 2026. Soto spearheaded the effort to get a congressional resolution supporting National Beyond the Milky Way Day. Abron, a museum guide at Griffith Observatory and vice president of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society, attended the ceremony and shared her experience of seeing the historic plate in person on this episode of Planetary Radio. Sarah Al-Ahmed / The Planetary Society