sci23006 — Announcement

Announcement of the Hubble & Webb “Stars, Gas & Dust in the Universe” Conference

15 December 2023

- Chris Evans -

We are delighted to announce the latest in our series of ESA-sponsored conferences, in collaboration with STScI, which highlight science with the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes. The Stars, Gas & Dust in the Universe conference will be held in Porto, Portugal from 29 April to 2 May 2024, in the week after the 34th anniversary of Hubble’s launch.

After much anticipation of the complementary capabilities of these two pioneering observatories, we are now in the remarkable position of having them both in science operations at the same time. Results from Hubble and Webb are giving us unique views of stars, gas and dust across all distance scales. These span nearby star and planet formation, the properties of the interstellar medium, dust production in supernovae and evolved stars, and star and dust formation in the early Universe.

Of course, Hubble and Webb are far from working alone. A broad range of ground-based and space-borne facilities are helping to provide us with a multi-wavelength view to unlock our understanding of the Universe. These include the rich legacy from the Gaia mission, the start of science operations with Euclid to explore the dark Universe, the exquisite resolution and sensitivity of ALMA in the submillimetre, and the upcoming first light of Vera C. Rubin Observatory. Looking ahead, the second half of the decade will bring major new space missions, such as Roman, PLATO and ARIEL, and the first light of the European Southern Observatory’s Extremely Large Telescope.

The conference programme will feature a combination of invited and contributed talks, as well as the possibility of poster presentations. The objectives of the conference are to:

• highlight the latest Hubble and Webb results in studies of stars, gas and dust over all scales, with a focus on results with strong synergies between the two missions and with other facilities;
• identify key topics for new programmes and initiatives that will harness the powerful combined capabilities of these two observatories; 
• explore future synergies of Hubble and Webb with other existing and planned facilities; and
• look ahead to the future scientific questions that will shape astrophysics in the 2030s and beyond.

Registration and abstract submission will open on 18 December here. The deadline for abstract submissions is 26 January 2024.

I look forward to seeing many of you in Porto next year!

Contacts

Chris Evans
ESA/HST & ESA/JWST Project Scientist
ESA Office, STScI Baltimore, USA
Email: hubblenewseurope@stsci.edu