Herschel conference - From Atoms to Pebbles: Herschel’s view of Star and Planet Formation

The “From Atoms to Pebbles: Herschel’s view of Star and Planet Formation” Symposium
will take place from Tuesday 20 to Friday 23 March 2012

How do stars and planets form and evolve in time?

 

Since mid-2009, the Herschel Space Observatory provides new light on these long-standing astrophysical questions. With its 3.5m primary mirror, it delivers observations in the 55-671 micrometer range with unprecedented sensitivity, spatial and spectral resolution, revolutionising our understanding of the star and planet formation processes.

Approaching the three year anniversary of the launch of Herschel, the French Space Agency (CNES) and the Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG), are organising an exceptional Symposium: From Atoms to Pebbles: Herschel’s view of Star and Planet Formation. This event will be held over 3.5 days, from 20^th to 23^rd of March 2012, in Grenoble (the heart of the French Alps), France.

The symposium will bring together researchers in Star and Planet Formation from around the world. At the time of the conference, most of the observations for the Herschel Guaranteed Time and Open Time Key Projects will have been carried out, and Open Time 1 projects will have largely started. Data reduction will have significantly improved, and in-depth data analysis and detailed modelling will be ongoing. The symposium will thus offer a great opportunity to share the new exciting results obtained with Herschel and to leverage on them for the scientific exploitation of new facilities like ALMA, as well as for triggering new modelling efforts.

The scientific themes of the symposium will be centred around the physical and chemical evolution of gas and dust in star and planet forming environments and on the impact of the low-and high-mass star formation processes on the surroundings. Specific sessions will be dedicated to :

• The pre-collapse phase,
• The protostellar phase,
• Planet-forming circumstellar disks,
• Debris disks, together with their connection to extra-solar planets.

 

Please consider your participation at this event and reserve the week from 20 to 23 March 2012 in your agenda. More details and key dates will be reported in the second announcement, planned to be circulated in one month, as well as on the Symposium web site http://www.herschel2012.com

http://www.herschel2012.com/information/