First announcement

Meudon, 3 February 2010

Dear Colleague,

Please find below the first announcement of the

ELSA conference 2010
Gaia at the frontiers of astrometry
Sèvres, France, 7-11 June 2010

Registration is now open and you are kindly invited to register and submit abstracts for contributed posters or talks before 16 April 2010. Early registration closes on 16 April 2010. All abstracts will be reviewed by the SOC and the selection will be announced by 30 April 2010.

Apologies if you receive this message more than once.

Complete information at http://wwwhip.obspm.fr/gaia2010/

Key dates
3 February 2010 : 1st announcement
15 March 2010 : application for grants
5 April 2010 : grant notification
16 April 2010 : early registration and abstracts submission
30 April 2010 : selection of oral contribution and posters
18 May 2010 : deadline of late registration

Objectives of the Symposium
The Symposium "Gaia: at the frontiers of astrometry" will be the closing conference of the European Marie Curie Research Training Network "ELSA" (European Leadership in Space Astrometry). It will be held in Sèvres (near Paris and Meudon) from 7 to 11 June 2010.

The network started in October 2006 for a duration of four years. It is a coordinated action between 14 European institutes involved in the preparation of the European Space Agency mission Gaia (to be launched in 2012). The objectives of this network are the development of theoretical tools and analysis methods for various aspects of the Gaia mission and the transfer of the European expertise in space astrometry acquired with Hipparcos to the new generation of scientists.

The objectives of the Symposium are to present the results obtained in the framework of the ELSA network and to review the progress of the mission, and of the preparation of the data analysis and of the scientific data exploitation. The Symposium will also be an opportunity to present other aspects of the preparatory work for the scientific exploitation of the Gaia data, not covered within the network, both in terms of theory, modelling and ground-based observations. Finally, Gaia will be put in the 2015 context, and progress on parallel or connected topics will be presented: progress on other astrometric satellites, performance of light detectors in astronomy, processing of massive data sets, real-time classification of transients, access to massive data sets, and prospects for ground-based observations in complement to astrometry.

A preliminary programme is available at http://wwwhip.obspm.fr/gaia2010/spip.php?rubrique11

Participation
The conference will take place at Centre International d’Etudes Pédagogiques (CIEP), former Royal Porcelain Works of Sèvres, just 10 minutes from Paris and Meudon. See
http://wwwhip.obspm.fr/gaia2010/spip.php?article20

The conference will be limited to, at most, 110 participants, and local accommodation is available in CIEP for about 100 participants (90 rooms). First registered, first served.

The early registration fee is 180 euros and gives free access to conference facilities, the abstract booklet, the welcome cocktail, the coffee breaks and lunches, the social dinner and conference proceedings.

Accommodation is available in the conference centre: 62 € for night + breakfast; 22 € for the dinner. Nights and dinners have to be reserved and paid in advance, through the registration form. See http://wwwhip.obspm.fr/gaia2010/spip.php?rubrique3

Grants
There are limited funds to support participants. Priority will be given to young scientists. Applications should be sent to Catherine Turon before 15 March 2010. See http://wwwhip.obspm.fr/gaia2010/spip.php?article25

Publication
The proceedings are planned to be printed and referred to in ADS.

Scientific Organising Committee
Catherine Turon (chair)
Anthony Brown, Leiden Observatory
Ronald Drimmel, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Torino
Stefan Jordan, Astronomisches Rechen-Institut ARI/ZAH
Mary Kontizas, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Lennart Lindegren, Lund Observatory
Thibaut Prod’homme, Leiden Observatory
Paola Re Fiorentin, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Torino, and University Ljubljana
Daniel Risquez, Leiden Observatory
Michael Weiler, Observatoire de Paris

Local Organising Committee
Yves Viala (Chair)
Frédéric Arenou, Céline Delle Luche, Daniel Hestroffer, Nicolas Leclerc, Olga Martins, Frédéric Meynadier, Annick Oger, Mireille Petit, Sophie Rousset, Michael Weiler

We look forward to seeing you in Sèvres,
Catherine Turon and Yves Viala on behalf of the SOC and LOC