The field of exoplanetary science has been firmly established over that past two decades, and is now one of the more dynamic areas of astrophysics research. In fact, the field itself is starting to become so broad and inter-disciplinary, that it is difficult for researchers to keep pace with all new results. At the same time, it is evolving from the initial phase of detecting new planetary systems to a new characterization phase. The driving goal is the possibility of detecting rocky planets within the habitable zone of their parent stars, and later characterize their atmospheres, as this opens the possibility of searching for the signatures of life. However, how is this going to be accomplished, with which observing technique, and when, all remain open questions.

In this symposium we would like to gather experts on all key aspects to solve these questions, to try to portrait the most realistic landscape for the success in this enterprise. The difference from other similar general exoplanet meetings is that this symposium will be entirely focused on small rocky planets in the habitable zone of their stars, on their likely abundances and physical properties, and on the prospects for their atmospheric characterization.

Programme

• Radial velocity limits and future instrumentation for the search of rocky planets
• The TESS+PLATO expected planetary yield
• Transmission spectroscopy from space and ground telescopes
• High-resolution spectroscopy for exoplanet characterization
• Rocky planetary abundance
• The limits of life and biosignatures
• Planetary atmospheres and habitability

Invited speakers
Confirmed Spakers:

• Xavier Bonfils (Obs. Grenoble)
• Peter McCullough (Space Telescope Institute)
• Alvaro Gimenez (ESA)
• Don Pollacco (Univ. Warwick)
• Stephane Udry (Univ. Geneva - To be Confirmed)
• Antigona Segura (UNAM)
• Victoria Meadows (Univ. Washington - To be Confirmed)

Scientific organisers

Contact