The role of 2 - 4m Telescopes in the Era of the Large and Extremely Large Telescopes

19 - 22 October 2010, Dornburg castle, Germany

1st Announcement

Tautenburg Observatory 50th Anniversary Symposium 19 - 22 October 2010

Big Science with Small Telescopes: The role of 2 - 4m Telescopes in the Era of the Large and Extremely Large Telescopes

Currently the number of 8m class telescopes is comparable to those of 4m telescopes. Shortly, we will be in the era of 30m class telescopes. In spite of their size, 2 - 4 m class telescopes can still make significant contributions to observational astrophysics. Many scientific programs do not require large aperture telescopes, but rather significant time resources which cannot be offered by larger, oversubscribed facilities. There are scientific niches ideally suited to small telescopes.

This colloquium will focus on ways to maximize the scientific return of small telescopes. There are a number of fields that can exploit small telescopes (e.g. asteroseismology, large surveys, exoplanets, etc.) Scientific talks will focus on ways that such facilities can make significant contributions to various fields.

      Dates: 19 - 22 October 2010
      Location: Dornburger Castles, Dornburg

Main topics of the colloquium will include:

   - Large scale surveys (e.g. exoplanets, AGNs)
   - Robotic Telescopes (e.g. Transient Phenomena, Transit Searches)
   - Multi-site Observations and Network Telescopes (asteroseismology, microlensing)
   - Innovative instrumentation to keep small telescopes competitive

Preliminary information will be found at the TLS website: http://www.tls-tautenburg.de .
A second announcement will be made regarding registration details.

Please circulate this first announcement colleagues who would be interested in attending. Further information regarding registration details will be forthcoming.