Meteoroids 2004 Conference

http://aquarid.physics.uwo.ca/meteoroids2004/

The University of
Western Ontario
Department

PRESENTS

Meteoroids 2004
Conference in London, Ontario, Canada
16-21 August, 2004


INTRODUCTION

This conference will be the fifth in a series of meteoroid meetings which
have been held every few years since 1992, the last in Kiruna, Sweden in
2001. It will accommodate a broad range of meteoroid research ranging from
the dynamics, sources and distribution of these bodies, their chemistry and
their physical processes in the interplanetary medium and the Earths
atmosphere to their impact on space weather and their hazard to space
technology, and laboratory studies of meteorites, micrometeorites and
interplanetary dust. The high activity of the Leonid stream and the
appearance of the very bright comet, Hale-Bopp provided new data related to
meteoroids in recent years. Furthermore, the accurate measurement of orbits
for several recent meteorite falls and detailed observations and modeling
of their behaviour is providing a bridge between meteoritic material
studied on Earth and composition of Near Earth Asteroids. The discovery of
solid particles entering the solar system from interstellar space and
improved dust measuring capabilities on interplanetary spacecraft broaden
the range of experimental data. Current research further benefits from the
use of large aperture radar facilities to detect fainter meteors and the
general availability of high powered computing facilities to support
dynamical model calculations. Special emphasis of the discussion will be on
the observational sensitivities and biases that arise from the recent
application of different observation methods. With this theme we wish to
address both the dynamics of small bodies in the solar system as well as
the evolution of solid matter which provides a bridge to include aspect of
astrobiology and astromineralogy that currently is enabled through IR
astronomical obersvations. The meeting will be of interest to researchers
from astronomy, astrophysics, cosmochemistry, mineralogy and space physics.

TOPICS

Scientific areas:

+ Dynamics, sources, and spatial distribution of meteoroids including
sporadic, shower, and interstellar meteoroids
+ Physics and chemistry of meteoroids and their interaction processes in
the atmosphere including ablation studies and radar head echo and
trail effects
+ Fireball and bolide phenomenology from modeling and observational
studies and in connection with meteorite falls
+ Mineralogy, chemistry and physical properties of extraterrestrial
materials (meteorites, micrometeorites, IDPs)
+ Influence of meteoric constituents on atmospheres
+ Hypervelocity impacts on spacecraft
+ Space debris and meteoroid models and flux - defining the natural
particulate environment in space.
+ Interelation of meteoroids, meteorites, IDP's, asteroids and comets

Experimental and observational methods:

+ Optical observations of meteors including ground-based visual,
photographic, video, and telescopic techniques
+ Satellite observations of meteors in various passbands
+ Measurements of meteoric atoms in the atmosphere by lidars and other
techniques
+ Acoustic measurements using infrasound and seismic detection
techniques
+ Radio detection of meteors (VLF, ELF - relation to electrophonic
sounds)
+ Meteor- and large aperture radar observations
+ Observations, in-situ satellite and laboratory measurements of dust
and
+ meteorite material

ACTIVITIES

+ Thursday (2004-08-19): Shakespearean theatre at Stratford-on-Avon
+ Saturday (2004-08-21): bus tour to Niagara Falls

SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

+ Jack Baggaley, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
+ Martin Beech, Campion College, Regina, Canada
+ Addi Bischoff, Institute of Planetology, University of Muenster,
Germany
+ Jiri Borovicka, Astronomical Institute ASCR, Ondrejov Observatory,
Czech Republic
+ Peter Brown, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
+ Eberhard Gruen, Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik, Germany
+ Robert Hawkes, Mount Allison University, Canada
+ Peter Jenniskens, NASA Ames Research Center, United States
+ Ingrid Mann, Institute of Planetology, University of Muenster,
Germany, (Chair)
+ Tadashi Mukai, Kobe University, Japan
+ Asta Pellinen-Wannberg, Space Research Institute Kiruna, Sweden
+ Olga Popova, Inst. for Dynamics of Geospheres RAS, Russia
+ Vladimir Porubcan, Astronomical Institute SAV, Bratislava, Slovakia
+ Douglas O. ReVelle, Los Alamos National Laboratory, United States
+ Frans Rietmeijer, University of New Mexico, United States
+ Junichi Watanabe, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Japan
+ Iwan Williams, University of London, UK

LOCAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Peter Brown, Margaret Campbell-Brown, Peter Jedicke, Alan Webster
(University of Western Ontario)
Robert Hawkes (Mount Allison University) (co-chairs)