Letters of Intent received in 2015

LoI 2017-269
Surveys at ultraviolet wavelengths: the needs and the means

Topics

Solar System objects, Exoplanets, Interstellar Matter, Galaxies, Intergalactic Matter, Instrumentation

Rationale

This proposed IAU Symposium on Ultraviolet Astronomy is prompted by the growing interest in the topic, as demonstrated by three previous meetings organized by the Network for UltraViolet Astronomy (NUVA) and associated bodies: 1st one in 2007 in Spain, 2nd one in 2010 in Russia, and 3rd one in 2013 in Germany. The 3rd meeting already emphasized this growing interest in UV astronomy that became truly global, as it was co-organized by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and by the Instituto de Astronomia, Geofisica e Ciencias Atmosfericas (IAG-USP), Brazil.

This is a crucial time in UV astronomy. The ESA/ NASA programs that created the community are reaching completion and future missions, apart from the World Space Observatory-UltraViolet (WSO-UV) produced by Russia and Spain that will launch later in this decade, are small-class, some operating from balloons or sounding rockets. We mention here, in particular, the expected 2015 launch of the Indian mission of ASTROSAT, carrying two UV-imaging telescopes whose first results might be expected by mid-2016.

In the optical domain, the 10-m class telescopes and the projects for extremely-large telescopes, such as the E-ELT, the TMT, and the GMT, allow the efficient ground-based exploration of a fraction of the UV spectrum that, albeit small, it is of extraordinary scientific interest. Space UV astronomy offers the theoretical possibility of exceedingly sharp image quality, if large and diffraction-limited optics (at UV wavelengths) can be manufactured and launched. Spectroscopic exploration of the rich UV spectrum, with its many resonance lines of important atoms, allows the testing of models and the determination of the physical conditions of the explored objects. These goals, and many others, have not yet been reached.

The purpose of this proposed IAU Symposium is to gather the international community interested in UV astronomy to discuss the present and future of the field, with specific emphasis on survey science. Invited talks and reviews will cover topics of UV astronomy from the Solar System, to exoplanets, abundances of stars at various stages of evolution, resolved stellar populations in the Galaxy and beyond, the star-formation history of the Universe, and the properties of the diffuse interstellar and intergalactic medium.

In addition, recent progress on UV detectors will be reviewed, as well as technical possibilities opened by balloon-based, sounding rocket, and nano-satellite experiments. The current status of research on novel reflective and transmissive coatings for the UV as well as on data bases of UV molecular transitions will be addressed. While a significant part of the proposed program will focus on survey science, we plan to include also specific, focused presentations about single objects, or small samples of objects.