The Forum builds on the progress made at two previous Forums (held in Washington DC in 2006, and in Mountain View CA in 2007). Its purpose is to give the extrasolar planet science community an opportunity to reflect on the report of the Exoplanet Task Force (ExoPTF) as well as the selections from the Astrophysics Strategic Mission Concept Studies (ASMCS) competition, and to discuss potential paths forward for exploring and characterizing exoplanets. We anticipate that the details and wide-ranging recommendations of the ExoPTF Report will generate a lot of discussion by this community.

All members of the exoplanet science and technical communities are invited to participate. Areas to be addressed include theory, observations, instruments, missions, and potential strategies for future progress. The results of the Forum will be published in book form, as a record of the presentations and discussion, in a format that will be accessible to a broad range of scientists and helpful to science policy makers. The publication target date is the end of summer 2008.

For questions about topics for presentations, contact Wes Traub or Steve Unwin. We will set up a website for the Forum, with information on hotels, transportation and other local details. This message is a heads-up to help you plan your travel schedule.

This event is sponsored by the NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program, and the Center for Exoplanet Science at JPL. The Exoplanet Exploration Program is part of the new organization of the Astrophysics Division, and it includes the missions and activities of the former Navigator Program.

View the pdf version of this announcement .

Last Updated:
 27 Feb 2008