The Search for Life Beyond the Solar System: Exoplanets, Biosignatures & Instruments

Tucson, Arizona, March 17-21, 2014

Paul Gabor¹, Dániel Apai²

¹     Vatican Observatory Research Group, Dpt of Astronomy, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ 85721-0065

²     Department of Astronomy and Department of Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ 85721-0065

Second Announcement

Motivated by the rapidly increasing number of known earth-sized planets, the increasing range of extreme conditions in which life on Earth can persist, and the progress toward a technology that will ultimate enable the search for life on exoplanets, the Vatican Observatory and the Steward Observatory announce a major conference entitled Exoplanets, Observations & Biosignatures: The Search for Life Beyond the Solar System.

The goal of the meeting is to help the international astronomical community toward the long-term goal of finding life beyond the solar system by bringing together the communities working on the observations and modeling of extrasolar planets, the development of exoplanet-focused instrumentation, biosignatures suitable for remote sensing, and the limits of life on Earth.

The sessions of the five-day meeting will include invited review and contributed talks, followed by extended discussions. There will be posters, but no parallel sessions. We will limit the number of attendees to 250 to allow interactions between the participants. The conference will include a banquet (Wednesday evening) and an afternoon break (Tuesday) and two evening slots for collaborative team meetings. The Friday morning session will include a coordinated discussion that will provide input for a conference summary.

The conference proceedings will be published as a special issue of the International Journal of Astrobiology (Cambridge University Press). Contributions will be available through the NASA ADS system.

Registration and Abstract Submission

Registration and abstract submission is open on the conference website www.ebi2014.org. Registration is available at a discounted rate until November 1st. For other important dates see the website.

Invited Speakers

Venue

The event will be in the new El Conquistador Hilton Resort close to Tucson, next to the scenic Catalina Mountains. Tucson has an international airport and can also be reached via the major airline hub in Phoenix, AZ. Tucson is a favorite tourist destination in the spring and hosts world-class golf courses, and offers excellent hiking, cycling, rock-climbing, canyoning, and other outdoor activities. Optional social programs will include visits to the Grand Canyon, the UA’s Mirror Lab, the MMT and LBT telescopes, the Biosphere 2, and the Mt Lemmon Sky Center.

Astrobiology School

An independently organized 3-day astrobiology school will precede the conference. The school will provide an introduction to graduate students and postdoctoral researchers to the multiple disciplines and concepts the conference builds upon. The school will be held at the University of Arizona’s unique Biosphere 2 facility and lectures will be given by some of the invited speakers and University of Arizona faculty. The school, including accommodation and food, will be free for 25 competitively selected participants of the EBI2014 conference. The Dean of the Astrobiology School is Dr Rory Barnes (University of Washington). Instructors of the school include Rory Barnes, John Baross, Olivier Guyon, and George Ricker.

LBT Science Meeting

An independently organized LBT science meeting will follow the conference.

Download/Website: http://www.ebi2014.org/                             Contact: loc@ebi2014.org