29th ESLAB Symposium 'Towards the Source of Gamma-Ray Bursts', ESTEC, Noordwijk, April 1995.
In view of the wealth of data from NASA's Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (CGRO), the first results from rapid counterpart searches and hints of repeating GRB sources, and, given the imminent launch of new missions with GRB-detection capability, the meeting provided a timely forum for discussion and debate of the GRB phenomenon.
Organised by K. Bennett and C. Winkler (both ESTEC), the Symposium focused on recent observational and theoretical results on gamma-ray bursts, with the aim of reviewing the situation, and presenting and discussing new developments in this highly active field of astro-physical research. Topics included temporal and spectral studies, locations of bursts and repeaters, global characteristics and counterpart searches. The theory of gamma-ray bursts emission, including Galactic models and extra-galactic models, were also presented.
The Proceedings were published in Astrophysics and Space Science, 231, (1-2), September 1995, Guest Eds. K. Bennett & C. Winkler.
RGO/ESA Workshop 'The Future Possibilities of Astrometry in Space', Royal Greenwich Observatory, Cambridge (UK), June 1995.
The Workshop followed from the Horizon 2000 Plus Survey Committee's recommendation for '...ESA [to] initiate a Cornerstone-level programme in interferometry for use as an observatory open to the wide community. The first aim is to perform astrometric observations at the 10 microarcsec level'. The Workshop, with the Scientific Organising Committee chaired by M.A.C. Perryman (ESTEC), gave very strong support for a new astrometry mission, broadly following the GAIA concept with, at the same time, many suggestions for extending and strengthening the scientific goals, and many ideas for the mission's technological implementation.
The Proceedings were published by ESA (ESA SP-379, Eds. T.D. Guyenne, F. van Leeuwen & M.A.C. Perryman, 1995).
ESO Workshop 'The Role of Dust in the Formation of Stars', ESO, Garching, September 1995.
This ESO workshop was jointly organised by H.U. Käufl and R. Siebenmorgen, the latter of the ISO-SOC team. Dust is ubiquitous in star-forming regions, protostars, young stellar objects and stars in various pre-main sequence stages up to perfectly 'normal' main sequence stars. Observers described and analysed signatures of dust in the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from radio to UV. Successful modelling of these signatures with radiative transfer codes was demonstrated for a great variety of sources. Astrophysical laboratory researchers reported on studies of synthetic prototype samples of interstellar dust. Other topics covered included dust processing, dust agglomeration, dust coupling to the magnetic field or dust electric charging, dust chemical composition, gas-phase chemistry and photo-chemistry. The role of dust as a catalytic agent for star formation was discussed.
The Proceedings were published as ESO Astrophysics Symposia, 'The role of dust in the formation of stars', Springer, ISBN 3-540-61462-1, Eds. H.U. Käufl and R. Siebenmorgen, 1996.
'Science with the Hubble Space Telescope II', Paris, December 1995.
The purpose of the Conference, organised by P. Benvenuti (ST- ECF), F. D. Macchetto (STScI) and E. J. Schreier, was to review the scientific results obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope in the 2 years following the 1993 repair mission. The Conference was opened by a debate on the determination of the Hubble constant, one of HST's canonical goals. The scientific sessions, some of them in parallel, covered most areas of astrophysics, including Solar System, Stellar Population, Interstellar Medium, AGN, Jets, QSOs, Gravitational Lenses and Cosmology. A special session on Education and Outreach activities was also included.
The Proceedings were published as Science with the Hubble Space Telescope II, Space Telescope Science Institute, Eds. P. Benvenuti (ST-ECF), F. D. Macchetto (STScI) & E. J. Schreier, 1996.
Workshop on the FIRST model payload, ESTEC, Noordwijk, February 1996.
A presentation of the FIRST model payload, aimed at the scientific community 'at large', was organised by G. Pilbratt (ESTEC). An overview of the FIRST project preceded a detailed presentation and discussion of the model payload instruments. The purpose was to widen the base of interested people/institutes to identify and plan future work on key technical areas associated with designing an optimum model payload for FIRST. A related goal was to stimulate the community to begin the process of forming instrument consortia with the future AO for FIRST science instruments in mind.
First ISO Science Workshop, ESTEC, Noordwijk, May 1996.
Only 4 months after the end of ISO's in-orbit performance verification phase, the meeting, whose organisation was led by M. Kessler (ISO SOC), was held to present and discuss the initial science results from the mission. Sessions were devoted to the solar system, cosmology, galaxies, main sequence and post-main sequence stars, our Galaxy, and the Interstellar Medium and star formation. Detailed results from all four of ISO's instruments were presented, showing that some of IR astronomy's long sought- after goals, such as the detection of thermal emission from water vapour and the detection of the 28 µm pure rotational line of H2, had finally been achieved.
An ISO-dedicated issue of Astronomy & Astrophysics was published, November (II) 1996.
30th ESLAB Symposium, 'Submillimetre and Far-Infrared Space Instrumentation, ESTEC, Noordwijk, September 1996.
Organised by the Astrophysics Division with G. Pilbratt (ESTEC) as chairman of the Local Organising Committee, the Symposium reviewed the instrumental requirements set by the scientific goals on future missions such as FIRST and Planck and the performance of candidate instruments. Possible future improvements that may help to meet the goals more effectively were discussed.
The Proceedings were published by ESA (ESA SP-388, Eds. E. Rolfe & G. Pilbratt, 1997).
Second INTEGRAL Workshop, 'The Transparent Universe', Saint Malo, September 1996.
The main goals of the workshop, whose organisation was led by C. Winkler (ESTEC), was to discuss recent progress in hard X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy, to put these results in a broader perspective of astrophysics in general, and to compare them with recent results in the IR and radio domains. Scientific topics included: nucleosynthesis, the Centre of the Galaxy and compact objects, extragalactic sources, surveys and the interaction between INTEGRAL and the scientific users community.
The Proceedings were published by ESA (ESA SP-382, Eds. C. Winkler, Th. Courvoisier & Ph. Durouchoux, 1997).
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