UPDATE
Third Workshop on
"Titan Chemistry ; Observations, Experiments, Computations, Modeling"
Caribe Hilton Hotel
San Juan PR Feb 26-28, 2009
http://www.chem.hawaii.edu/Bil301/Titan2009.html
Announcing the third in a series of workshops on the chemistry of
Titan's atmosphere, co-organized in recent years by Ralf Kaiser, Alex
Mebel, Ian Sims and Arthur Suits. The meeting will include a mix of
observation, experiment, theory and modeling, and will include both
neutral and ion chemistry. We are planning the workshop to begin with
registration and a reception in the evening on Wednesday February 25,
with Gordon conference style sessions beginning the next morning and
continuing through mid-day on Saturday the 28th.
Saturn’s moon Titan possesses a dense atmosphere and is widely
considered as a natural laboratory on the planetary scale to understand
the prebiotic chemistry of proto-Earth. The Cassini-Huygens mission to
Titan has opened a new chapter in Solar System exploration and
extraterrestrial atmospheric chemistry. On January 14, 2005, the
Huygens probe successfully descended through the atmosphere of Titan
and safely landed on its surface. An extraordinary new world has been
unveiled. The scientific data obtained by the Huygens experiments and
by the Cassini Orbiter - currently being archived and analyzed – are
far from being understood.
This workshop is part of the NSF-Collaborative Research in Chemistry
(CRC) Network "Chemistry of Unsaturated Hydrocarbons in Titan's
Atmosphere” and the third in a series of annual meetings aimed to
better understand the hydrocarbon chemistry taking place in the
atmosphere and on the surface of Titan. It brings together atmospheric
modelers, astronomical observers, mission specialists, planetary
scientists, physical chemists (dynamics, kinetics, photochemistry),
theoreticians (electronic structure, dynamics calculations),
astrobiologists, and organic chemists. By focusing on the interplay
between observational & mission data, modeling, and fundamental
investigations of the underlying chemical reactions and photochemical
processes, we also seek emerging generalized concepts on the chemical
processing of hydrocarbon-rich atmospheres of planets and their moons
in the Solar System. By exploring the current boundaries of planetary
science and chemical knowledge, we can more effectively design new
laboratory experiments under well-defined conditions (and recommend
promising directions for further observational searches) and upcoming
Solar System missions to resolve hitherto unanswered aspects of
molecular synthesis in our Solar System.
The workshop will feature invited (35 min + 10 min discussion) as well
as contributed talks (20 min + 5 min discussion) as well as several
keynote lectures, and is limited to 60 participants. Visits are planned
to the Arecibo radio observatory as well as El Yunque National
Rainforest.
Detailed information concerning registration and housing may be found
at http://www.chem.hawaii.edu/Bil301/Titan2009.html
Confirmed Speakers:
D. Ascenzi - University of Trento
S. Atreya – University of Michigan
J. M. Bowman – Emory University
A. Coustenis – Observatoire de Meudon
T. E. Cravens – University of Kansas
R. Kaiser – University of Hawaii
R. Lorenz – Johns Hopkins University
A. Mebel – Florida International University
D. Osborn – Sandia National Laboratory
D. Schroeder – IOCB, Prague
S. Le Picard - University of Rennes
M. Smith – University of Arizona
A. G. Suits – Wayne State University
M. Tolbert- University of Colorado
V. Vuitton - Univ. J. Fourier, Grenoble
R. Yelle - University of Arizona
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