From Exoplanets to Distant Galaxies:

           SPICA's New Window on the Cool Universe

                18-21 June, 2013 Tokyo, Japan

                      -- 1st Announcement –

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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.

Further details on the conference will soon be available from the website below:

http://www.ir.isas.jaxa.jp/SPICA/spica2013/

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)