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The Future of Astronomy and Planetary Science in the Ultraviolet: January 7th 2016

This out-of-town RAS meeting / Physics Day at Warwick will be on current UK research at Ultraviolet wavelengths, covering both planetary science remote sensing and astrophysics topics. This will include observations with current facilities (e.g. HST) and plans for new missions and instruments, including proposed satellites, the CUBES spectrograph at the VLT, and discussions on HDST (the next big space telescope post-JWST).

The end of HST operations, and subsequent loss of the major source of space-based UV observations, is fast approaching. It is therefore important that the community discusses our current and future needs for observations in the UV. The meeting also represents an opportunity to discuss many new and exciting science areas requiring UV observations, such as measuring the bulk abundances of exo-asteroids, and investigating the evaporation of exo-planets, as well as solar system planetary science goals in studying cometary and planetary atmospheres, and follow up on recent discoveries of outgassing from asteroids and the moons of the giant planets.

One topic of the meeting will be possible science with future small space telescopes, to identify science drivers of interest to the UK community that may be achievable on the budget available to ESA S-class (or even national/bilateral) missions, and how such a fast/cheap project fits into the landscape of expected facilities in the coming decades. Another topic for discussion could be possible proposals for the ESA M5 call, expected to have a deadline in early 2016. On a more long-term timeframe, HDST will be an important mission, and now is the time to start thinking about European (and specifically UK) involvement in planning this observatory.

The meeting will include presentations on current research and future plans / requirements, as well as ample time for discussion. Titles and short abstracts for presentations are invited with a deadline of Dec 1st.

Limited support for student travel to attend the meeting is available, please contact the organisers for more information. We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Royal Astronomical Society and from the Department of Physics at the University of Warwick.

Boris Gaensicke, Boris.Gaensicke@warwick.ac.uk
Colin Snodgrass, Colin.Snodgrass@open.ac.uk

Registration: Please contact

boris.gaensicke@warwick.ac.uk
Colin.Snodgrass@open.ac.uk

Participants

Schedule (with online presentations)

Local Information:

The meeting will be held in PS1.28, first floor in the Physical Sciences building (see the campus map below).

Travel Direction to the University campus map