›Supernovae through the ages: understanding the past to prepare for the future

Scientific rationale:

Supernova (SN) science has entered a golden age with daily announcements of new discoveries. This rate of discovery is only going to increase as we move to an era of large scale non-targeted surveys which will culminate with the LSST. In order to take advantage of this deluge of observations the community needs to evaluate the efficiency of data analysis techniques to ensure that optimal science is achieved. New statistical techniques are needed in order to automate analysis methods. As SN sample sizes continue to drastically increase, well observed nearby events will still provide the most direct insights into progenitor properties and explosion mechanisms. Here, the challenge is to obtain multi-wavelength observations at epochs as earlier as possible post explosion, where constraints on physics are at their most powerful. This conference aims at addressing these challenges (and others) through ‘understanding the past to prepare for the future’. This will be achieved through a focus on past and present surveys, through to future facilities, while also addressing how the study of individual events is evolving to assure the maximum scientific output from explosions in our cosmic neighborhood. In addition, discourse will be included on progenitors, their link to stellar evolution, and our understanding of strange rare events within the growing diversity of SN classes.
The conference is being held on Easter Island, a place rich in history, which will be used to inspire the science discussed at the event, including an introductory talk on archeoastronomy of this unique culture.