News: The symposium program is available here

The formation of galaxies, stars and planets takes place in cold environments, obscured by dust which blocks visible light, which is why the infrared wavelength range is key to their understanding. Similarly, the characterization of exoplanets, solar system bodies, and their atmospheres requires observations in the same wavelength domain, including in situ measurements for the solar system.

The coming decade will see a revolution in infrared observational capabilities. By 2025, JWST, Roman, and the ELT will provide unprecedented sensitivity and resolution, and survey capabilities from near- to mid-IR wavelengths, while several infrared missions that also cover the far-IR and Submm are being considered for 2026-2030, such as LiteBird, OASIS, GEP, Millimetron, LETO, and POEMM. Also, interplanetary missions such as JUICE to the Jovian system or EnVision to explore the surface and atmosphere of Venus will carry a suite of complementary multiwavelength instruments, including infrared ones. New approaches such as time-domain astrophysics at infrared wavelengths and the connection to multi-messenger astrophysics (e.g., gravitational waves, neutrinos) are also of increasing importance.

The Voyage 2050 and US decadal reports have just appeared, and at EAS 2022, the in-orbit performance of JWST will be largely known. It is an ideal moment to gather the international astronomical community to raise awareness of infrared missions under study, especially among young European astronomers who will be their users. The goal of the meeting is to present the latest results in infrared astrophysics, and to discuss how to best use the various upcoming instrumentation opportunities for further scientific progress.

Programme

Opening talk: Infrared instrumentation opportunities in the 2020s and beyond

• Session 1: Formation and evolution of galaxies
• Session 2: Baryon cycle of galaxies
• Session 3: ISM & star formation
• Session 4: Planet formation
• Session 5: Solar system
• Session 6: Exoplanets

Invited speakers

Matt Bradford
Françoise Combes
Dominik Riechers
Susanne Aalto
Tohru Nagao
Melissa McClure
Javier Goicoechea
Ilse Cleeves
Antonio Garufi
Gerónimo Villanueva
Imke de Pater
Sascha Quanz
Giovanna Tinetti

Scientific organisers

Floris van der Tak (SRON / U Groningen; Chair), Marc Audard (U Geneva), Cara Battersby (U Connecticut), Carlotta Gruppioni (INAF Bologna), Paul Hartogh (MPS Göttingen), Doug Johnstone (NRC / U Victoria), Agata Karska (Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torún), Ciska Kemper (ESO / ASIAA), Kotaro Kohno (U Tokyo), Luisa M. Lara (Inst de Astrofisica de Andalucía, Granada), Vianney Lebouteiller (CEA Saclay), Margaret Meixner (SOFIA SMO), Naseem Rangwala (NASA Ames), Peter Roelfsema (SRON Groningen), Marc Sauvage (CEA Saclay), Bernhard Schulz (DSI Stuttgart), Catherine Walsh (U Leeds)

Contact

Floris van der Tak (vdtak @ sron.nl)