[vsnet-alert 10303] 6th Huntsville Symposium on Gamma-Ray Bursts

[Huntsville GRB Symposium 2008]

               6th Huntsville Symposium on Gamma-Ray Bursts
                              October 20-23, 2008

The launch of GLAST on June 11 represents an important milestone in gamma
ray astronomy. For GRB studies specifically, we look forward to unprecedented
spectral coverage. Activation of the spacecraft, the Large Area Telescope,
and the GLAST Burst Monitor has been proceeding very well. Both instruments
are now fully powered up and the teams are engaged in the fine-tuning
required for normal science operations. All of the GBM detectors are working
beautifully and we even detected a weak burst on the first day of operation.
This early success bodes well for the 2008 Huntsville Symposium. We look
forward to many stimulating presentations and discussions on gamma-ray
bursts from GLAST, Swift and other observatories in Huntsville in October.

The 6th Huntsville GRB Symposium Web page is on-line and we invite you
to register and submit your abstracts by July 31st. Please indicate at the
end of your abstract the session where you would like it presented. The list
of sessions and invited speakers is included below and can be also found at

     http://grbhuntsville2008.cspar.uah.edu

SESSIONS
1. The Status of Present and Future Missions
2. GRB Central Engines: Collapsars (GRB-SNe) & Mergers (Short GRBs)
3. Circumburst Medium and Afterglow Physics
4. GRB Host Galaxies
5. Prompt and High-Energy Emission
6. Cosmology or GRBs as Tools

INVITED SPEAKERS
S.D. Barthelmy
J.S. Bloom
L. Hayes
P. Jakobsson
J.E. McEnery
P. Meszaros
J. Morse
E. Nakar
A. Panaitescu
E. Ramirez-Ruiz
J.E. Rhoads
S.E. Woosley

We expect to post an almost final program by the end of August. Besides
the invited reviews, we will have contributed talks of 15 minutes (12+3)
and several discussion sessions. The program also includes an evening
public talk by Neil Gehrels entitled "Black Holes:  From Einstein to
Gamma Ray Bursts".

The Symposium banquet will be held beside a Saturn V! Of the few
remaining Apollo moon rockets on display in the world, this is the best.
It was recently restored to a nearly flight-like condition and is housed
in its own protective building.

The GBM and Swift teams are looking forward to hosting y'all!

The SOC:
D.N. Burrows
E.E. Fenimore
N. Gehrels
J. Granot
J. Greiner
D.H. Hartmann
K. Hurley
C. Kouveliotou (co-chair)
C.A. Meegan (co-chair)
J.X. Prochaska
S.M. Ritz
R.A.M.J. Wijers


We apologize if you receive this announcement more than once.