ESO Workshop on Minor Bodies in the Outer Solar System

ESO Headquarters, D-85748 Garching near Munich, Germany

November 2 - 5, 1998

Final Announcement

Final Programme

Information for Arriving Participants

Abstracts - .pdf - .ps

Sycorax (S/1997 U 2) Hale 5-m, Palomar courtesy B. Gladmann

1996 TP66 INT 2.5-m, LPO courtesy A. Fitzsimmons

(2060) Chiron ESO 2.2m, La Silla courtesy H. Rauer

Scope and Format

A four-day ESO Workshop on Minor Bodies in the Outer Solar System (ESO MBOSS-98) is held at ESO Headqurters in Garching, Germany on November 2-5 1998. The discoveries of Kuiper-belt objects and centaurs, together with continuing research on other distant minor bodies, have greatly expanded our knowledge of the outer Solar system. There is an emerging image of connections between Trojans, the Centaurs, KBOs, cometary nuclei, interplanetary dust and the moons of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

The purpose of the workshop is to review and discuss current knowledge of all minor bodies beyond the asteroid belt, as well as their origins and inter-relationships. Special emphasis will be placed on current research programmes (both observational and theoretical), and the possible uses of next-generation observational facilities such as the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT).

A primary role of MBOSS-98 is to pose a number of questions for debate, for which answers are required in order to advance our overall picture of the formation, evolution and interaction of these bodies. The workshop allows observers and theoreticians to get together and discuss plans for future studies in this rapidly advancing field. As such, it is expected that MBOSS-98 will provide a rich forum for the planning of future studies of the outer Solar system during the first years of the next millenium.

Practical Arrangements

The meeting is held in the ESO main auditorium on November 2 - 5, 1998. Information for arriving participants is available. General information concerning Garching and ESO can be retrieved following the link to Travel and Local Information.

The meeting consists of a series of sessions of between 90 and 120 min each. The main subject areas are introduced by 30-min invited discourses, followed by 20 min contributed papers. Special attention is given to the need of having extensive discussions about the status and prospects in this very active field.

The Final Programme is available. Abstracts of individual talks are available in .pdf and .ps format.

The proceedings will be published in the ESO-Springer conference series. Please follow this link for information on submitting your manuscript.

The meeting poster is available.

Scientific Organising Committee (SOC)

The Scientific Organising Committee has the following members:

• Rudi Albrecht (ST/ECF, Garching, Germany)
• Mark Bailey (Armagh Observatory, N. Ireland, UK)
• Hermann Boehnhardt (ESO, Santiago, Chile)
• Martin Duncan (Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada)
• Julio A. Fernandez (Universidad de la Republica, Montevideo, Uruguay)
• Alan Fitzsimmons (Queen's University, Belfast, N. Ireland, UK; SOC Chair)
• David Jewitt (Institute of Astronomy, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA)
• Hans Rickman (Astronomiska Observatoriet, Uppsala, Sweden)
• Alan Stern (South-West Research Institute, Austin, Texas, USA)
• Jun-ichi Watanabe (National Observatory, Tokyo, Japan)
• Richard West (ESO, Garching, Germany; LOC Chair)

Programme

The Final Programme is available. Abstracts of individual talks are available in .pdf - .ps format.

The meeting consists of a series of sessions of between 90 and 120 min each. The main subject areas are introduced by 30-min invited discourses, followed by 20 min contributed papers. Special attention is given to the need of having extensive discussions about the status and prospects in this very active field.

Announcements and Deadlines

The following schedule for the preparation of the Workshop has been adopted:

• November 2 - 5, 1998: ESO MBOSS-98 Workshop
• December 1, 1998: Delivery of camera-ready manuscripts to editors

More Information

For further information, pls contact:
a.fitzsimmons@qub.ac.uk (scientific matters)
rwest@eso.org (local arrangements).