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an international conference at the
organized by the
Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya
Barcelona, Spain
June 11-15, 2007
INTRODUCTION
This conference will be the sixth in a series of meteoroid meetings that have been held every few years since 1993, the last being in the University of Western Ontario, Canada in 2004. It will accommodate a broad range of meteoroid research: orbital dynamics, sources and distribution of these bodies, the physics and chemistry of their interaction process with the atmosphere as well as their origin and link with minor bodies: asteroids and comets. Due to the exciting new results of interplanetary missions to study asteroids and comets, special sessions will be devoted to these bodies with emphasis on meteoroid origin and chemical composition.
In the last decade research on minor bodies was revitalized in Spain. The
Spanish Meteor and Fireball Network (SPMN)
is an interdisciplinary group of research that has joint efforts in the study of meteors, fireballs,
and meteorite falls. The study of the Villalbeto de la Peña bolide that occurred on Jan 4, 2004 allowed them to make the first
meteorite recovery in Spain in 57 years, and to establish the first heliocentric orbit of a meteorite fallen in Spain. The
members of this team form the
Local Organizing Committee (LOC) that is committed to promote developing this research field in Spain, and the newly
established Spanish Fireball Network. The
Scientific Organizing Committee (SOC) includes some of the most prominent researchers
in topical areas that are scheduled for this international meeting. The organization of this meeting in Barcelona will bring to Spain the latest developments
in several research areas such as meteoroids, comets, asteroids, meteorites, micrometeorites, interplanetary dust particles, astrobiology, and laboratory
simulations. All together this meeting will provide a unique opportunity to all students
and researchers in these fields to learn of first hand the latest
studies on minor bodies. The main objective of this meeting is to provide an updated view
of the advances made in our knowledge of
interplanetary matter. To encourage student participation special registration prices will be
available as well as a limited number of travel grants for participants from foreign countries.
In 1961 the International Astronomical Union Nomenclature Committee defined a meteoroid
as a solid object moving in interplanetary space, of a size considerably smaller than an asteroid but considerably larger than an atom.
Bodies in the upper limit (i.e. larger than 10 meters) are defined as asteroids or comets. The study of meteoroids in an
astrophysical and cosmochemical context is important because, while asteroids and comets
rarely collide with the Earth, meteoroids are continuously reaching the terrestrial atmosphere
thereby participating in the continuous accretion of interplanetary matter to our planet. It is likely that the accretion of meteoroids during the early
stages of planetary formation was an important source for water, organics, and other volatiles probably essential prior to the development of
life. The study of the atmospheric interaction of meteoroids with the atmosphere under the present and past physico-chemical
conditions is an area of considerable interest in astrobiology.
Meteoroids reaching the Earth are sampling numerous minor bodies in the solar
system, and, more rarely, the Moon and Mars. The study of the meteor, phase that
a meteoroid produce when entering into the atmosphere, can provide valuable
clues on the origin, composition, and age of these particles reaching the Earth.
Meter-sized meteoroids are able to survive atmospheric interaction, producing impressive luminous events called fireballs
or bolides. Their fragments that survived ablation and reached the Earth's surface are called meteorites. Meteor studies can help
us to answer fascinating questions such as "are all types of incoming meteoroids well represented in the meteorite collections?"
The meteoroids are interplanetary bodies following heliocentric orbits. Due to their relative small masses they
suffer appreciable orbital changes produced by planetary perturbations and non-gravitational effects on very short timescales.
Consequently, detailed orbital studies are valuable to understand better dust trails' orbital evolution and
meteoroid stream dispersion. Estimates of the spatial fluxes and mass distributions of meteoroid streams produced by asteroids and comets provide
direct information on the evolution, dust production and destruction rates of minor bodies in the solar system.
Direct information on the size distribution of meteoroids reaching the Earth is providing valuable data to assess
the impact hazard. Direct applications to forecast the intersection of dense cometary dust trails can help
in the protection of artificial satellites orbiting the Earth. An important aspect of the potentially
impact hazards posed by Near Earth Objects would be the low-strength of their material. Minor meteor streams
intercepting the Earth are sampling these objects, and providing evidence for the evolution of comets into
asteroids.
The following scientific areas are included in this meeting: * Physics and chemistry of meteoroid interaction
process in the atmosphere including both head echo and trail
effects * Meteor spectroscopy and chemical composition of
meteoroids * Interplanetary dust particles and micrometeorites and their link to meteoroids
* Hypervelocity meteoroid impacts on the Moon and with spacecraft * New techniques for detection of meteors and fireballs With observations done with the following
methods: * Radar observations and large aperture
radars * In-situ measurements of meteoroids: IDPs, micrometeorites, and meteorites. Scientific Organizing Committee: Dr. Peter Brown University of Western Ontario, Canada Dr. Valeri Dikarev Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany Prof. Robert Hawkes Mount Allison University, Canada Dr. Diego Janches NorthWest Research Associate/ CoRA Division, Boulder, CO, USA Dr. Peter Jenniskens NASA/Ames Research Center, CA, USA Prof. Jordi Llorca Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain Prof. Ingrid Mann Institute of Planetology, University of
Münster, Germany Dr. Asta Pellinen-Wannberg Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Sweden Dr. Olga Popova Institute for Dynamics of Geospheres, Russian Academy of Science, Russia Dr. Douglas O. ReVelle Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, USA Prof. Frans J. Rietmeijer University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA Dr. Pavel Spurny Astronomical Institute, Ondrejov, Czech Republic Dr. Josep M. Trigo-Rodríguez Institute of Space Sciences (IEEC-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain Dr. Junichi Watanabe National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Japan Prof. Iwan Williams University of London, UK
Local Organizing Committee: Prof. Jordi Isern (ICE-CSIC) director.ice@csic.es Dr. Josep M. Trigo-Rodríguez, chair (ICE-CSIC) trigo@ieec.uab.es Prof. Jordi Llorca, co-chair (UPC) jordi.llorca@upc.edu Mireia Espanyol (secretary) Dr. José L. Ortiz (IAA-CSIC) ortiz@iaa.es Dr. Alberto J. Castro-Tirado (IAA-CSIC) ajct@iaa.es Prof. José A. Docobo (USC) oadoco@usc.es Webmaster: Santi Oliveras The following is a list of confirmed invited speakers. This list will
be updated as more information becomes available. Dr. Peter Brown, University of Western Ontario, Canada Dr. Jiri Borovicka, Ondrejov Observatory, Czech Republic Dr. Matthew Genge, Imperial College of London, London, UK Dr. Diego Janches, NorthWest Research Associate/ CoRA Division, Boulder, CO, USA Dr. Peter Jenniskens, SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA, USA Dr. José L. Ortiz, Instituto Astrofísica Andalucía (IAA-CSIC), Granada, Spain Dr. Joseph A. Nuth, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA Dr. Olga Popova, Russian Academy of Science, Russia Dr. Douglas O. ReVelle, Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, USA Prof. Frans J.M. Rietmeijer, Institute of Meteoritics, Univ. New Mexico, Albuquerque, USA Dr. Pavel Spurny, Ondrejov Observatory, Czech Republic Dr. Josep M. Trigo-Rodríguez, Institute of Space Sciences (IEEC-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain Dr. Junichi Watanabe, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Japan Prof. Iwan Williams, University of London, UKTHE ROLE OF METEOROID STUDIES
TOPICS
* Dynamics, sources and spatial
distribution of meteoroids including sporadic, swarm and interstellar
meteoroids
* Meteor detection including
cameras, telescopes, lidar, seismic and infrasound sensors
ORGANIZING COMMITEES
INVITED TALKS
Dr. Clark Chapman, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO, USA
Website: http://www.spmn.uji.es/meteoroids-2007/
Conference e-mail address: meteoroids2007@ieec.uab.es
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