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20 April 2003

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/stardust2003/

Workshop on Cometary Dust in Astrophysics
Crystal Mountain, Washington
August 10-15, 2003

FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT 
April 2003 

Hosted by University of Washington 

Sponsored by 
University of Washington
Lunar and Planetary Institute
NASA Johnson Space Center 

Meeting Organizers -
 Don E. Brownlee
 Lindsay P. Keller
 Scott R. Messenger 
 
Scientific Organizing Committee -
 Don E. Brownlee, University of Washington
 John P. Bradley, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory
 Lindsay P. Keller, NASA Johnson Space Center
 Martha S. Hanner, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
 Scott R. Messenger, NASA Johnson Space Center
 Scott Sandford, NASA Ames Research Center
 Rens Waters, University of Amsterdam

WHEN AND WHERE   

Cosmic Dust in Astrophysics I will be held August 10-15,
2003, at the Crystal Mountain Lodge near Mount Rainier in Washington
State.  Attendance will be limited to 80-100 participants and limited
funds are available to support graduate student travel to the
workshop. Crystal Mountain Lodge is located approximately two hours
southeast of Seattle. The locality is a ski resort on the slope of
Mount Rainier and its isolation and facilities provide an excellent
Gordon Conference-like environment where attendees have maximum
opportunities for interactions at meals, breaks, hikes, etc.

SCOPE AND PURPOSE   

The collection and return of dust from Comet Wild 2 by the Stardust
spacecraft promises to connect a range of scientific disciplines
related to the origin and evolution of stars, the solar system, and
interstellar matter. The comet studies also have strong ties with
astrobiology because of the roles that comets, asteroids, and dust
might play in transporting "biogenic elements" and compounds to
Earth-like planets residing in stellar habitable zones. Cometary Dust
in Astrophysics I will bring together researchers from the fields of
observational astronomy, sample science, and laboratory astrophysics
in an informal workshop approximately four months prior to the Wild 2
flyby by Stardust. The purpose of the meeting will be the integration
of astrophysical observations of comets and
interstellar/circumstellar dust with laboratory analyses of
interplanetary dust particles, stardust, and meteorites, and to
discuss what we hope to learn from comet samples to be returned by
Stardust in 2006.
 
This is a timely meeting, following the recent rendezvous with Comet
Borrelly by Deep Space 1 and preceding the imminent arrival of
Stardust at Comet Wild 2 and return of Genesis samples. Several new
missions will launch in the next few years (e.g., Rosetta, MUSES-C).
In addition, significant new observational data is provided by the
Infrared Space Observatory (ISO), HST NICMOS, along with new data to
be added with the SIRTF, SOFIA, ABE, and new groundbased IR
capabilities. All these advances are occurring at a time when
laboratory analyses of extraterrestrial materials have achieved an
unprecedented level of sophistication such that the physical and
chemical properties of materials can be determined at nearly the
atomic scale. This is a remarkable time for synergy between the
fields involved.

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