ICQ
Fifth International Workshop on Cometary Astronomy (IWCA V) and III Simposio Iberoamericano de Cometas de la LIADA
August 8, 2009, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT
An international meeting on cometary astronomy to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 2009 August 8 (Saturday) is being organized jointly by the Ibero American Astronomy League (Liga Ibero Americana de Astronomia = LIADA) and the International Comet Quarterly (ICQ). The meeting will include the participation of both professional and amateur astronomers. [The original plan to hold the LIADA meeting on Friday and the IWCA meeting on Saturday has been revised.] The morning sessions will be conducted in English as IWCA V, and the afternoon sessions will be conducted in Portuguese and Spanish as the LIADA meeting.
The LIADA, through its Comets Section, will call this the Third Ibero American Symposium on Comets of LIADA, and it will be the fifth International Workshop on Cometary Astronomy (IWCA) co-sponsored by the ICQ. The meeting will be held in the Planetarium of Rio de Janeiro.
These events will take place in the midst of the XXVII General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), which will be held in Rio de Janeiro between August 3 and 14, 2009. The IAU General Assembly will be attended by thousands of astronomers from around the world.
We are planning two days of activities, divided in the following way.
Morning, Aug. 8: Fifth International Workshop on Cometary Astronomy. Joint meeting between professional and amateurs astronomers to be conducted in the English language. For this second part of the two-day comet meeting, there may be 3-4 presentations from recognized professional astronomers in the field of comets, and a similar number of presentations from members of the Comets Section of LIADA.
Afternoon, Aug. 8: Meeting of the Comets Section of the LIADA, held in Portuguese and Spanish languages. There will be presentations from invited professional and amateur astronomers. At the end of the sessions, the Fourth Ibero American Symposium on Comets of LIADA will be announced (to be held in Canoas, Brazil, in the second semester of 2010), co-hosted by the Universidad de UNILASALLE.
This is an excellent opportunity to strengthen and expand the joint work between professional and amateur astronomers -- one of the main objectives of LIADA, that has been put into practice with very good results.
The members of the Organizing Committee of this joint meeting are: Dan Green, ICQ (USA); Gonzalo Tancredi, Depto. Astronomia, Uruguay (and member of IAU Task Group on Cometary Magnitudes); and Luis Mansilla, Jose Aguiar, Gerardo Addiego, Leonardo Severi, and Leandro Guedes, Comets Section of LIADA.
We will soon present more details of the organization of this event. Please contact: cometas@astronomiaonline.com