Dust Disks and the Formation,
Evolution and Detection
of Habitable Planets
Hosted by the
TPF and Darwin Projects,
the Michelson Science Center
and the Spitzer Science Center
Mission Bay, San Diego, California
Objective
This is the second annual joint TPF/Darwin conference and follows the very successful Heidelberg meeting in April 2003. The main purpose of the conference series is to develop the field of extra-solar planet research with two primary, near-term goals: (1) involve the community in establishing high level goals for TPF/Darwin; and (2) address key areas of research relevant to TPF/Darwin that are important to the design and architecture of TPF/Darwin.
Topics
The Second TPF/Darwin conference will cover three major topics:
Recent results on exo-zodiacal (EZ) disks from Spitzer (previously known as SITRF) and other space and ground observations. We expect exciting new results from Spitzer, HST/ACS, Keck/LBTI Interferometers, and ground-based sub-millimeter telescopes on the evolution, structure, composition, and frequency of debris disks. Among the issues we will address are how to extrapolate from the outer zodiacal clouds (Kuiper belt) detectable with Spitzer to the inner zodiacal clouds that will be measurable with TPF? What do the Spitzer measurements of the outer zodiacal cloud tell us about the presence or absence of planets?
The link between the physical conditions in the early solar nebula and astrobiology, e.g. how might astronomical conditions in the Hadean/Archaen periods affect the formation and evolution of life? Spitzer will provide new information on the properties of zodiacal disks in the first 500 million years of a planetary system's existence. What does a high level of exo-zodiacal emission imply in terms of bombardment and infall? What other astronomical properties of a star and planetary system might be relevant to the formation of stable, habitable planets, e.g. dynamics of giant planets, UV/X-ray output of stars, chemistry of nebular material, etc.?
Discussion of TPF/Darwin designs, science requirements and technology advances.
Scientific Organizing Committee
Chas Beichman (JPL/Caltech) chair
Mike Werner (JPL/Caltech)
George Rieke (U Arizona)
Jim Houck (Cornell U)
Jane Greaves (ROE Edinburgh)
Alycia Weinberger (Carnegie)
Jonathan Lunine (U Arizona)
Geoff Marcy (UC Berkeley)
Stan Dermott (U Florida)
Malcolm Fridlund (ESA)
Thomas Henning (MPI Heidelberg)
Harm Habing (U Leiden)
Alfred Vidal-Madjar (IAP Paris)
Eric Gaidos (U Hawaii)
Kevin Zahnle (NASA Ames)
Victoria Meadows (NAI/Caltech)
Rachel Akeson (MSC/Caltech)
Mike Brown (Caltech)
Local Organizing Committee
Steve Unwin (JPL/Caltech) chair
Keith Grogan (JPL/Caltech)
Karen Willacy (JPL/Caltech)
Debbie Padgett (IPAC/Caltech)
Dawn Gelino (MSC/Caltech)
Thangasamy Velusamy (JPL/Caltech)
Rafael Milan-Gabet (MSC/Caltech)
