›From Exoplanets to Distant Galaxies: SPICA's New Window on the Cool Universe

We invite you to the international conference on the science enabled
by the SPICA (Space Infrared Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics)
mission, to be held on 18-21 June, 2013. The conference is open to
interested scientists from around the world, and will take place at
venue in/around Tokyo, Japan that will be finalized soon.

SPICA is the next-generation space infrared observatory, following in
the footsteps of IRAS, ISO, Spitzer, AKARI and Herschel. With a
cryogenically cooled 3 m telescope, SPICA will have high spatial
resolution and unprecedented sensitivity in the mid- and far-infrared.
These unique capabilities of SPICA will bridge the gap between
ALMA/large submm ground telescopes and JWST/large opt.-IR ground
telescopes, and enable astronomers to address a number of key problems
in present-day astronomy that encompass diverse research areas
from the formation of planets to the star-formation history of the
Universe. SPICA is proposed as a Japanese-led mission, together with
extensive international collaboration, and is targeted for launch in
2022, and has a nominal mission lifetime of three years.

The primary aims of the conference are to introduce the scientific
capabilities of the SPICA mission to the international community, and
to begin discussions in the IR community on how to optimally utilise
this new facility to further explore the physical processes in
the formation and evolution of planets, stars and galaxies.

The conference will be held over a period of four days. Time will be
set aside to provide an overview of the SPICA mission and the
instruments, but the focus of the conference will be on scientific
sessions divided up into several main themes, including cosmological
surveys, extragalactic astronomy, astro-chemistry, and planet formation.
The science sessions will include invited and contributed talks, with
poster sessions interspersed to address the results of research to
date as well as plans forward towards establishing observation programs
for the SPICA mission. Ample time will be reserved for discussions.


We look forward to seeing you at the conference.

Science Organizing Committee of the SPICA Conference 2013


[Science Organizing Committee members ]

Lee Armus (SSC, USA)
Edwin Bergin (UMichigan, USA)
Keigo Enya (ISAS/JAXA, Japan)
Paul Ho (ASIAA, Taiwan)
Takashi Ichikawa (Tohoku, Univ., Japan)
Myungshin Im (SNU, Korea)
Kate Isaak (ESA, Netherlands)
Hidehiro Kaneda (Nagoya Univ., Japan)
Hirokazu Kataza (ISAS/JAXA, Japan)
Dae-Hee Lee (KASI, Korea)
Hideo Matsuhara (Chair, ISAS/JAXA, Japan)
Takao Nakagawa (ISAS/JAXA, Japan)
Peter Roelfsema (SRON/Groningen, NL)
Eckhard Sturm (MPE, Germany)
Motohide Tamura (NAOJ, Japan)
Ewine van Dishoeck (Leiden University, Netherlands)
Rens Waters (SRON, Netherlands)